Arizona trip

Our trip to Arizona was short and sweet.  Of the 5 days, 3 of them were primarily travelling.  We had one fun evening and morning in Phoenix and two fun, busy days in Kingman.

We took a lot of pictures, but we missed a lot of fun stuff.  When there's a lot of family, food, playing, etc. going on, we don't seem to manage to get the camera out.  We need to be better about that... not sure being outnumbered 3 to 2 is going to help our chances in the future, though...

Wednesday: Early plane ride to Phoenix, went to Grandma Bonda's house in Sun City.  The boys got to run around in the backyard/ common area, and Anderson really loved seeing the fruit trees and really tall palm trees.  We went out to Abuelo's for dinner, which went really well considering those boys had been on planes for over 6 hours that day.

Thursday:  Grandma Bonda suggested we go to a great park she'd seen.  So after breakfast at the hotel, we headed out.  The park was beautiful and so was the weather.  A perfect plan for our two boys to get to play before the 4+ hour ride to Kingman!

Anderson found a little buddy at the park, and suddenly he was very brave and loved this big slide.

Upon request, Grandma was brave and tried out the slide, too.

We were excited to get a Four Generations photo... 

And found that the boys were unable to sit still and look happy long enough for a picture of the Ives with Grandma Bonda...

We went a little bit out of our way to get to Kingman, because for years I'd talked about Ryan seeing Sedona.  We stayed for an hour or so taking pictures and eating ice cream. :)  It was nice to let all of us out of the car for a little while, and the scenery did not disappoint!

The sun was right in our eyes, so smiling pictures just didn't happen.

That evening when we arrived to Kingman, Mollie and Tim had a bunch of family over for dinner, and we got some delicious homemade spaghetti.  We were all thrilled! :)  The boys definitely weren't themselves (more on this in my next blog), but I had high hopes that after a good night's sleep and a chance to warm up to everyone, their real personalities would come out.  It was great to see everyone, and we all appreciate so much what an effort everyone makes to get together when we are in town (especially for such a short visit!)

Friday:

The big boys went golfing, and the mommas, grandmas and kids were planning to get together at Sarah's house to play.  Or so I thought... Surprise! It's the cutest and most amazingly quickly put together baby shower ever!  The "If You Give a Mouse a Cookie..." theme was so cute and delicious! (Dog- donuts, moose-muffins, cat-cupcakes, etc.  YUM!)  Considering we'd only known our littlest Ives is a boy for one week, I couldn't believe they had put the shower together- including a handmade quilt.  Amazing!  Again, not nearly enough photos, but I have a couple of the boys playing and the adorable decor.

Look how cute!  And I didn't take a picture of the beautiful quilt, but the fabric in the banners is the same as the quilt.  You better believe I grabbed those banners before I left, too.  Thanks for decorating our nursery, Brandi and Sarah!!! ;)

Trudi being so fun as always! (Here she and Anderson are sword fighting)

YUM!!

Anderson LOVED sword fighting... and then we had to take the swords away...

Brady played happily in here (and later in Sarah's awesome backyard) so happily- he would have gladly played with Liam and Colin's toys all day.

Friday night we went to the Hualapi Lodge for a delicious dinner.  Twenty-three of us sat at two tables.  The kids played a lot and ate a little on their end of the table.  Then, they were ready to stretch their leggies right about the time a live band started to play.  A great night is made just perfect with live music!

*Favorite Anderson memory of the trip* As the music began and some of the kids started to play and dance in some open area (we had the back room to ourselves at this point), Anderson was still in his highchair.  He said, "Help Mama, help!" And I said, "What's wrong Anderson?"  He said, "I need to dance!!"  Haha, and dance he did!

Saturday: Last day before heading home already!  The four of us hung out at Grandma's house until 10:00 or so.  We played some soccer in the backyard...

And then my mom came and scooped us all up (she was staying at Mollie and Tim's house) for some Kingman fun and lunch with Shirley.

We went to the big train...

And Anderson and I apparently had our own personal photo shoot... 

We tried for a family photo

Grandma with her boys

Then a cute little train museum, in which the boys were both given train whistles.  Anderson especially was thrilled!

After a yummy lunch with Shirley, we took the boys back to my grandma's house for naps.  The boys did awesome sharing a room!  Anderson slept in his big boy bed "on the floor" (a pallet of quilts and pillows) and Brady was in a borrowed pack-n-play.  They were great little roommates and had great nights' sleep and naps the whole time we were there.  One morning I knew they were awake because I heard Brady's sweet little voice say, "Hi, Anderson!"  Anderson had climbed up on the double-bed to see Brady, who was happy to be visited. :)

That evening was Liam's super fun birthday party, complete with an awesome Spider Man bouncey house.  I think Anderson had the time of his life!  Brady was very happy to play in a little outdoor playhouse and to sit in the bouncey house for small periods of time.  Again, we were having lots of fun, but we didn't even bring the camera. :(

Home that night early so we could be up and out early for a long day of traveling.

Sunday:  The plane rides both directions were great, but coming home was unbelievably smooth.  The longest leg was Vegas to Charlotte, 4 1/2 hours.  Brady did this for 3 1/2 of those hours...

 

*Favorite Brady memory of the trip* Brady was happy to play on my phone for the first 15 or so minutes before we even took off, but then he asked to sit "On momma wap (lap)."  After reading him two books and noticing he kept leaning on my shoulder, he started to sing "Amazing Grace" which I often sing to him before nap or bedtime.  He sang the whole first verse.  I rocked him for maybe 30 seconds and he was out.  Sweet boy.

Anderson didn't nap until we got him in a stroller to book it across the Charlotte airport to get on our connection in time (figures) and then later in the Richmond airport while Mom and Ryan went to get our cars.  But he was very happy with unlimited access to Frozen and his tablet for the 5+ hours he spent on a plane that day.

Such a fun trip!  And as a huge perk of our whirlwind visit, we brought my grandma back to stay for Thanksgiving and Christmas! :)  Thanks for everything, Arizona!!