iPhone Pics July

Addison LOVES her new birthday toy from the Murphy Family!

Thank goodness for crumb catchers

I guess Addison just found the security camera

Addison claimed ownership of the orange chair

Sprinklers, slides and pool

Someone is excited about their very first library card!!

Mommy and Sydney date! We got a library card, ate lunch at Boston's and then went to see 

Despicable Me 2 at the theater

Lala met me and the girls at the park, for Addison's very first time there. She was a little unsure about the swings though.

Had to take a water break

After the park, we went over to the donut wheel for some yummy breakfast

Her bribe foot rubs hurt like hell! #mytoesdontstretchlikethatkid

My nightly hiking partner in her jams

Jerky Time

Lazy Sunday

Kinda love waking up with nothing on the agenda. We decided to let the kids paint outside. Who knew that Chris would enjoy it as much as the kids did? :) I think we finally found an outlet for Chris.

Addison continues to impress us every day. She can hold a crayon, pencil and even paint brush correctly.

Our little budding artist.

I could just sit and stare at them for hours.

What teething baby doesn't love beef jerky? This kid fights me over my jerky bag.

Tempe Sea Life Aquarium

We asked Lala to join us for a little adventure up to Tempe to visit the Sea Life Aquarium. Ok, so I thought it was bigger....A LOT bigger. Sadly, it was located in a strip mall, and the whole thing took us about 20 minutes to walk through. Since the aquarium wasn't as we expected, we took the crew over to Ikea for lunch and shopping! It ended up being a really fun day, it always is with this crew.

In the waiting room counting down the seconds until the doors open

They had a little station where you could pet a starfish. Sydney was pretty freaked out!

Jelly Fish!

Scary!!!

Addie wants to share her mum mum

The Storms a Comin'

We love our Monsoon Season! We get some of the craziest weather, which brings in some cooler temps and very cool sky shows.

The two kiddos playing in the the playhouse

Chris is doing his daily weather forecast

....and simultaneously telling me to buzz off :)

Pure as the Rain

Amazing how a little rain can make this girl feel so happy and free. This is who she is and who I see every day. A perfect, sweet, loving, happy little girl and I hope she never ever changes. They broke the mold with this girl.

Canyon Del Oro League Championship

Sydney had another Championship Swim Meet in the Canyon Del Oro League, which we were pretty excited for since she did so well at the Muppet Meet. That's where she crushed all of her previous times. I can't even express how impressed we are with how far Sydney has come and with her attitude on swimming. She's growing up so fast!

Getting ready for her first heat

Receiving a few words of encouragement from Coach Tessa

Waiting to hear that they can get in the water

Ready to race!

GO BABY GO!!!!

Flagstaff

We decided to head to Flagstaff for one of the days just to explore the town and see the sights. First stop was downtown do do a little shopping and walking around, next was an impromptu trip to the Riordan Mansion and we ended our little adventure by heading to the Snowbowl.

Historical Flagstaff was centered around the railroad, which is where we will be heading in a few months for the North Pole Experience.

We quickly found a parking spot and started shopping in an adorable little eclectic store. We found the girls some dream catchers. I've been talking to Sydney about dream catchers for some time now because she mentioned that she has nightmares occasionally. I explained to her that we needed to find her a dream catcher because it hangs in her room and catches all the bad dreams that would come into your sleep so that you only have good dreams.

Next we headed over to the Coconino County Courthouse to play in the grass.GRASS!! Something our kids never see.

In fact, this was Addison's first time in the grass. Can you tell?

This girl loves her big sissy

Sydney had a hard time believing that at one time, people had to pay money at a store in order to weigh themselves.

Who doesn't love a candy shop?

My baby girl

We decided to go downstairs in the old shops, since I had the stroller, that meant taking the super funky elevator. I took it down, and it scared the wageegee's out of me. I told Chris he had to take it up!

I did a quick google search for some fun stuff to do in Flagstaff and saw that we were pretty close to the Riordan Mansion.

Riordan Mansion State Historic Park includes two almost identical homes built in 1904 by Michael and Timothy Riordan. The homes are connected by a rendezvous room and altogether contain 13,000 square feet of floor space.The Riordan brothers were members of a prominent Arizona family who played a significant role in the development of Flagstaff and northern Arizona and were involved in lumber, railroads, cattle, banking, and politics.

This was a float they used in a parade. Syd wanted one of these at home to play in.

Here's a photo of some of the Riordan crew

Addison walking around in the Museum

The front of one of the home entrances.

The stone circle was designed and used by the family for evening gatherings and fireside talks. It also recalls an Irish tradition that fairies could be deterred from creating mischief inside the house by providing them a place to dance through the night.

Baby girl enjoying the weather

Visitors to the home are encourage to play the original 1902 Steinway piano to keep it working. I just love the look on Addison's face. She was so excited to play the piano.

How cute are these two in front of the whole house?

Next Chris got to make a choice on what to do and he really wanted to go up to the Snowbowl. We drove all the way to the top...even past the sign that says "DO NOT DRIVE PAST THIS SIGN".....and got yelled at by the guy in the truck here. WHOOPS

Then we saw a couple of deer in the woods.