Ice Cream

Today's journey led us to multiple stores as Mom was on a mission to finish her errands. While this was quite tiresome the end reward made it all worth it...ice cream up in Cedarburg!

Boom!

Lily will be busy at theater camp every morning this week so we are trying to plan some fun things for the afternoons. On today's agenda, inflate our second pool of the summer, and swim like fish. Well, we succeeded in swimming like fish, but unfortunately as soon as we dried off the pool literally exploded. Guess we're getting a little too big for kiddie pools!

Tietjen Beach @ Doctor's Park

Daddy was home and the sun was shining so we decided to head to Doctor's Park and hike down to Tietjen Beach. The water was rather chilly, but it didn't stop Ryan and I from jumping in. We were able to explore the shoreline while there adding multiple rocks to our ever expanding collection. The air and water show was also going on downtown so although far away, we had a pretty good view of all of the planes and their crazy maneuvers. I'm pretty sure water, sand, and sun are the perfect combination here in our world!

Day at the Zoo

What to do, what to do when it is 82...go to the zoo, and bring Ms. Mary too!

Ms. Skittles

We are now the proud owners of the cutest little hamster EVER!!! A few weeks ago I came up with the brilliant idea that we should get a hamster. I realized we weren't getting a new puppy anytime soon, but I thought a hamster might be a good compromise. Mom said in order to get one, I needed to research and write about how to take care of one. The challenge was accepted without hesitation, and thanks to my superior writing skills and the fact that Siri and I are best friends, I was able to write a five page paper with various headings providing Mom with step by step instructions on what exactly we needed to do. I did all of the convincing; however, Ryan had my back the whole way, and was secretly cheering me on. After reading my work, Mom couldn't argue with me, and agreed that after we returned from Arizona we would discuss the whole hamster thing. I of course revisited it on the plane ride home, and after slight deliberations Mom and Dad agreed to get us a hamster. Once home, Ryan and I immediately got to work picking out a cage, ball, chew toys, and food. We then sat down and brainstormed 35 different names and color variations. After a few days the wait was over and Mom took us to the store to pick out our hamster. It was love at first site as we got to hold all of the different ones. The nice hamster lady at the pet store explained the pros and cons of each one and we settled on a Chinese Dwarf Hamster. She didn't exactly meet our color specifications, but we stuck with our number one name Skittles anyway. She is home safe and sound now and slept all afternoon. Right around bedtime she made her appearance to explore, run for a bit on her wheel, and have a little snack. Ryan was pretty relieved when she woke up and even commented that he thought she was dead. I'm pretty sure all of my research paid off though and Ms. Skittles is going to be very happy and healthy in her new home!

Great-Grandparents

We decided to keep the Great-Grandparent thing rolling so today we visited Grandma Chia and Great-Grandpa and Great-Grandma Ruiz. Both Grandmas cooked for us, and you can't beat their rice and beans! We also enjoyed a game of dominoes with Great-Grandpa and Great-Grandma where my team (Great-Grandma and Daddy) dominated!

Grandpa Jimmy

We stopped up in Green Bay today to pick up Wrigley and visit Great-Grandpa Jimmy who is just shy of 99...amazing!

Arizona Adventure

Warning...we are about to bombard you with about one thousand pictures, but we had such a great time in Arizona this past week that we wanted to share it all with you. We were so excited for this vacation since it meant we were able to visit where we were born. We don't remember much about our first 19 months there, but Mom and Dad tell us stories and we look at pictures all of the time. A few of our Arizona friends have made it to Wisconsin to visit us as well so we were ready to catch up with everyone! We started our adventure early Saturday morning, and by Saturday afternoon we were already soaking up the sun and swimming in HOT Arizona! Our first impressions of Arizona were that everything is tan, and that all of the houses are small (you only see the garage door, front door, and one or two windows). Visiting people quickly proved the small house thing wrong, and finding out that almost everyone had a pool completely negated the overall lack of color so we quickly forgot about it. Our adventure continued Saturday evening as we enjoyed dinner and more swimming at Uncle Larry's and Aunt Pam's and caught up with Payton, Jackson, Braden, and Lorenzo. Lily also spent some quality time with Ruby, the dog.  The next morning we had breakfast with Mr. Patrick and Ms. Liz, and then we were off to the Grand Canyon and Sedona. These stops weren't on our original itinerary, but we figured since we'd come all this way we might as well see them! There isn't much to say about the Grand Canyon except that it is pretty grand. We're glad we were able to see it, and have added it to our list of return trips so that we can hike to the bottom someday. We saw a lot of elk, mule deer, and antelope which is always fun, and we managed to pick up some cool souvenirs as well, a rattle snake for myself, and a cool journal for Lily. After exploring the Grand Canyon for a bit it was back in the car and back down to Sedona where we spent the night. We woke up the next morning to the most spectacular view as we stayed at the top of one of the mountains. After a yummy breakfast we swam a bit at the hotel pool and discovered two lizards, and then we headed into town to explore Sedona and to take a Pink Jeep Tour. Mom and Dad signed us up for the Broken Arrow tour which involved death defying feats (i.e., controlled slides down the mountain). Lily claimed she was scared of this, although the giant smile on her face indicated otherwise. There was no doubt on my end that the whole tour was AWESOME!!! After the tour we enjoyed some prickly pear ice cream and then we headed back to Phoenix where we grabbed a bite to eat and a quick dip in the pool before bed. Tuesday morning we woke up early and hiked South Mountain. At least one of us made it all the way to the top, but I can't reveal who that was (Lily). We swam yet again, and then took a tour of the area seeing our first house in Gilbert and the house that Mom and Dad built in Queen Creek (now known as San Tan Valley). Dad then dropped us off at Ms. Kenna's house where we met lots of Mom's old co-workers and some of their kids. We did what else there, but swim, and Lily cuddled with Elmo and Zoe (I swear everyone owns small dogs in Arizona which is heaven to Lily). We also played the game of Life with Ms. Kenna's daughter, Madison, and Lily managed to crush us all! Our drive back to the townhouse took us through downtown Gilbert and then by the hospital where we were born. Tuesday night we enjoyed dinner out at Oregano's with Uncle Larry, Aunt Pam, Mr. Justin, and Ms. Tonia (Braden, Lorenzo, Payton, and Jackson). We saved room to sample a Pizookie which will go down in the books as the best chocolate chip ice cream dessert ever!!! We then headed back to the townhouse for the night and snuck in one more swim before bed since that is what we do best! Wednesday brought with it nothing but relaxation. We had no plans since our flight back to Wisconsin was in the evening. After packing up and cleaning we walked over to the pool. We took a quick break for lunch, and then bolted back to squeeze in as much pool time as we possibly could before leaving. I think we were all a bit sad when the time came for us to head to the airport. Arizona was an amazing adventure that we will never forget!!!