"A hot summer day"

Well, Phoenix wasn't exactly hot while we were there this past week, but I know none of you northerners will have sympathy for me. It rained off-and-on the first couple days we were there, but anytime the sun peeked through, Lily would exclaim, "Ahhh, a hot summer day." It was a nice retreat from our long winter, and we had some great family time.

Some highlights:

Lily's first plane ride

Taking in some historical sites. . .Lily loved playing house here.

Hanging out with Mike's brother, Dale.

Seeing lots of Saguaros. . .I have a weird fascination with these cacti.

Visiting the Phoenix zoo (after waiting out a downpour in the gift shop!)

Finally, on Tuesday, we had a warm enough afternoon for some swimming. Lily, using waterwings, swam on her own for the first time. She was thrilled! (I must admit, I was pretty excited too.)



Ahhhh, Summer, we miss you. Come back soon!

Melt your heart

Tonight we were watching the Chinese Olympic pair-skaters, and Lily was loving it -- the jumping, the spinning and the "beautiful dress". I asked her if she wanted to skate like that someday. She replied, "Yes! I want to be the princess and Daddy, you be my prince."

Staycation

This past weekend we tried taking a "staycation". Last fall, Mike played in the Concordia golf tournament and won a free night in a local hotel -- so local it was less than a mile from our house. On Saturday afternoon we headed over to the hotel, which had a great kiddie pool with slides and most importantly, heated water! For supper we tried HuHot, a mongolian grill. It was delicious and very kid friendly -- there was so much cooking noise going on, Lily could be her silly self. More swimming that night, movies in the hotel room, hotel brunch, more swimming. . . you get the idea. Best of all, when it was time to go home, we only had 10 blocks to go!

I didn't take many pictures, but here is Lily in her new princess PJs. I think they are hideously ugly, but she adores them!

This video captures a bit of the excitement and general silliness Lily felt about being in a hotel room. Ahhh, simple pleasures.