Minions and More

On Saturday afternoon after the pool, Gigi decided to take the girls to see the Minion movie. Our very dear life long friend, who lovingly is referred to as Grandma Zona decided to join them. The girls had a great time. Later that night, Grandma Zona and Gigi watched all 6 of the girls so Mitch and I could go out to dinner with Jeff and Laura.  Cece brought the girls enormous cupcakes to have for dessert. So spoiled...and we had a great time. Thanks, Gigi and Cece!

The Childrens Museum of Tucson

On day 2 in Arizona Gigi took the girls to the Children's museum. The girls had looked at pictures from our visit in 2011 and were excited to re-visit some of their favorite exhibits. Hattie had never been there and she was absolutely loving it. They had quite a few exhibits that were science based. Mitch was having a great time turning into lessons. There was a great one of what the travel of sound looks like, and some really neat ones on electricity. I was really surprised when Leah could tell me bits and pieces about Benjamin Franklin. Her history loving Papa would be so proud!

They had a flat screen touch TV where you could do jigsaw puzzles. Macy and Gigi had a great time with the puzzles. That night when we got home, Macy and Leah both put jigsaw puzzle apps on their iPads. I had no complaints with that. It will be interesting to go back in December with the boys along.

Mexican Fiesta

Gigi wanted to take the girls to a Mexican restaurant while we were in Tucson...and who was I to complain. So we went to a place called La Guadalajara. The selling points are that they have a live mariachi band that goes from table to table playing traditional music and they have a lady that comes to your table to make fresh salsa. I'm not gonna lie...the salsa was AH.MAZING.

We asked Laura to join us for dinner. She was apprehensive at first and didn't want to bring the girls. But we promised to help. I got to sit by Nat Nat...she was adorable munching on her cheese quesadilla. And I held Baby Jo and gave her a bottle while Laura ate. The food was great, the atmosphere was unique but the company was the best. I love being with my sister!

Sonoran Desert Museum

The Arizona Sonoran Desert Museum in Saguaro National Park is with out a doubt one of my favorite places to visit when I'm in Arizona. This was actually Leah's third time visiting, Macy and Kiersten's second and of course Hattie's first. I can't wait to go back in December and do it again. They also have different stuff going on at different times of the year so it will be cool to see what new things they are offering.

The girls had a great time looking for geckos...they are everywhere, along with lots of other lizards. The Javelina's are always a hit. I mean, who doesnt want to see wild hogs with tusks? In the reptile house they got to pet some snakes and talk to the "park ranger".

Two of my other favorites are the aviary (birds amd butterflies) and the hummingbird house. We had an incident of sorts in the aviary. Mitch stepped off the path slightly to bend down and look at a bird. The girls followed suit. Next thing you know Bug was screaming and jumping around. Shortly followed by Hattie. They were standing on a fire ant hill and got quite a few bites on their feet and legs. They survived but it sure was exciting for a minute.

We finished up the day in the new aquarium. My kids love marine life, for real. And from 2-3 they have a touch exhibit...our 4 little animal lovers were glued to the tank learning all about the organisms inside. It was a great day. In December we get to add Colby and Jackson to the mix!

Swimming at the Omni

Swimming at the Omni is by far one of the things I love best about visiting Tucson. My parents live at the resort and are members so we definitely take advantage of the pool...in fact, we took advantage of it every single day. The girls didn't like it at first. They recently switched to salt water. They were not fans. But then they realized that they have bar and grill service. Gigi got them all fruit smoothies and they were sold. They wanted to go back to that pool everytime after that...Raspberry, peach, strawberry...they were all a hit. Sarah and Cece Robison joined us one day, Laura, Jeff and Natalie joined us one day too. It was great fun!

Baby Jo

On June 23rd we got a new addition to the family. My sister Laura, and Jeff welcomed their second daughter, Joanna Lee Ianello. We call her Baby Jo! It was so hard for me to wait a whole month to get out there and see her. But time passed quickly, as it seems to do these days, and we arrived in Tucson on July 22nd for a visit. I think the girls were just as excited as I was to see our new sweet girl. And they were equally as excited to see Big Sister Nat Nat. The girls had a wonderful time playing...I loved seeing my sister and her sweet babies. Its so hard to live so far away from the people you love the most. I cherish the time we get to spend together and now I am counting the days until we get to go back from Christmas.

Ryan and Carrie came to town!

Wow! What a blur of a weekend. I don't even know where to begin. Mitch's dearest friend Ryan, and his wife Carrie came to visit us this past weekend. You might recall we went to see them in October 2013 when Mitch was the best man in their wedding and Leah and Bug were precious little flower girls. They got in very, very late on Thursday night/Friday morning....hence the picture of Bug snuggling with her dad in bed. That Friday afternoon we went to the surf club so they could play and swim with the girls. And that evening we had a babysitter and the grown-ups went to dinner at the beach house ( I had the red snapper, it was amazing).

On Saturday morning we had another babysitter, and we were one the road to St. Louis by 10 am. It was a hot one in St. Louis...95 degrees with a heat advisory. The feels like temp was well into the hundreds with nasty humidity, but we braved the day anyway. We started with lunch at Bailey's Range...a gourmet burger place with 30 beers from Missouri Brewerys on tap...Awesome! After that we tried to tour the Anheuser Busch facility but it was crazy busy.

So we thought we would give the arch (Jefferson National Expansion Museum) a try. It was equally as busy. We were going to have to go up the arch at 5:20 and at the ball game by 6:15...we figured that wouldn't work. Not even that, but the museum was closed for renovations too. It was kind of a bust, but we made the most of it.

We headed to Ballpark Nation, and then over to Busch Stadium where OUR Cardinals were playing Ryan's Mets! We won 12-2, Grichuk hit two home-runs and there were lots of fireworks. My kind of night!

On Sunday we had a low key day at home. The highlight was when Ryan and Carrie gave the girls hula skirts they had bought for them in Hawaii...so cute! Later that night there were sparklers and smores around a campfire. Monday we were back on the Road to St. Louis. Ryan and Carrie were flying out early evening so we decided to spend the day at the zoo. But first we had lunch at famous Fitz's. They are known for their root beer and cream soda's. They bottle their own. After that we had 2+ hours to stroll the zoo. The baby elephants were a big hit, always are. And the girls love the penguins too. Around 5 we headed to the airport and said our good-byes. I was not prepared for what happened next. Tears...lots of tears. Kiersten and Leah sobbed because they didn't want Ryan and Carrie to leave. And when Hattie woke up, she cried too. I guess that means we will be making a trip to Utah again in the near future.