Trip to Arizona

The first week in October I made a rash decision and purchased a ticket to Tucson, Arizona. It had been WAY too long since I had seen Caylee, Julie, and Spencer... so I was off! I spent the better part of 4 days in Arizona having all kinds of fun, from learning Eden (awesome!), to teaching Killer Bunnies (and then playing it 3 times), to playing catch-up with Julie, and staking my claim on the title of "Favorite Aunt"!

On Friday, Julie and I took Caylee to JC Penny to get her first official portraits taken. This one was probably our favorite:

I'd not seen Caylee since June when we had our family reunion; it was so much fun to see the little person she was becoming. These are some of my favorites of the pictures I took when I was down there... She seriously has the best face ever!

This is probably my favorite of Caylee's smiles. I think I love it because she makes this "he hee" sound when she makes it. Loves it!!

One night for dinner we went over to Manuels (crazy-good Mexican restaurant). On our way to the car in front of the house, I looked down and saw the furry friend you'll see in the next picture. Julie didn't want it in the drive way, so she started throwing rocks at it. It curled its legs up and started angling toward where the rocks were coming from. It guessed slightly wrong (maybe I was throwing rocks too... I don't remember...) and booked it right at me. It moved so crazy-fast that I had to run to get out of the way, but the best part was that Julie let out this piercing scream when it started running. Spencer went to get a shovel to scoop up the spider while Julie and I put Caylee in the car across the street. When Spencer scooped up the spider, it started running up the handle towards Spencer... causing Julie to scream again. :0) Spencer threw the spider up in the air, and it landed so hard it was stunned. Spencer scooped up the spider and walked it to the end of the street to put it in the desert. I tell this story because it was so funny, and partly because I figured that kinda makes us even for the whole lizard thing (details will not follow... bwaha! :0). Anyway... it was definitely hilarious!! This is one reason I'm not chomping at the bit to move to Arizona (it probably spans about 6 inches):

Another day I was there, we went to In'n'Out for a burger. This was a "must-do" as I bleed Californian... I just need a good In'n'Out burger at least once every few months, and so if I'm in the area, the detour must be made! I think Caylee really likes it too! (French Fries!!)

While I was there, we took Caylee for her first trip to the zoo. Caylee loved to look and point at the animals. Because she pets Chloe (their cat) and says soft, she started saying soft as soon as we say the panthers. I think she would have just climbed in there to play with them if we'd let her! :0)

Along with the normal zoo animals, we also saw a giant anteater - which was basically the coolest animal I've ever seen... and slightly freaky looking - and a capybara, which is the world's largest rodent (about the size of a full-grown pot-bellied pig... maybe 50+ pounds!).

On our way home from the zoo, we stopped at Mission San Xavier, which was completed in 1797. It is currently under renovation, but was still really cool looking. You can see in this picture how one side just recently had a refurbish and the other side is ready to be worked on.

Arizona was a blast! Julie actually almost had me convinced to move down there! I totally wish we lived closer, but since we don't, I am definitely planning to visit more often! Thanks for the fun!!