Highlights: Not Just a Magazine for Kids

So, it's hard to believe that a week ago I was frantically packing the four of us to head to Arizona for the weekend and I haven't blogged about the events that ensued since then.  And, for the life of me, it seems so exhausting to even try and remember what all we did!  That's what having a baby will do to ya!

So, I'm just going to try and give you the highlights.  (Anyone remember the part in Marley and Me where Owen Wilson does the little montage of events to carry the audience through time?  "Wrote a story about Boca, had dinner with Gloria Estefan, watched Jen gush like a teenager, took a trip to Disney World, left Marley with the neighbors...."  Yeah, I wish I could do it like that!)

Instead, I'll break it into event categories....starting with my favorite:

EATS!  Caught up on some chain restaurants - Buffalo Wild Wings where Olivia won 3 out of the 4 trivia rounds she played, Texas Roadhouse - Mmmm, I love me some ribs, green beans and those rolls with cinnamon butter, AND Cracker Barrel.

ADVENTURES!  Took a trip into Old Town Scottsdale where we had lunch at the Sugar Bowl.  Average age of the patrons = 61.  And, yeah, that included two babies.  Decided to skip out on the ice cream and immediately regretted that decision after tasting my brother's homemade chocolate chip ice cream sundae.  Saved my extremely high calorie intake for my mom's AMAZING Apple Crisp Cobbler!*  Old Town Scottsdale was not as much fun as I had hoped for.  I kind of think if you've seen one kitschy little shop with Native American goods, you've pretty much seen them all, but it was a gorgeous day to spend outside walking around.

Mom and I also took an afternoon trip in to Buy Buy Baby searching for toys for Olivia for Christmas.  Talk about overwhelming.  Does she really need six different toys that light up and play music?  Me thinks not.  Any suggestions for outstanding toys?

We took Olivia swimming TWICE - once at night and once during the day.  She loves it.  Just don't tell anyone in Sunbird that she isn't really potty trained.

I seriously made everyone there turn around before I sprinted my sizeable arse into the pool!

Olivia went for walks with her Poppy every morning!  It was awesome to have an extra hour to "sleep in" knowing she was in good hands.  She also had lots of play time in her walker and on her Nana's lap!

PEYTON TIME!  Olivia adores Peyton and he is sooo good with her.  She surprised him with her little Peyton onesie and he couldn't have been more pleased.

FLIGHT MISHAPS!  So, David and I are notorious for cutting it close time-wise to our flights.  And, yeah, we've been bitten a couple times - missed a flight out of DC and had to stay at the airport an extra 4 hours waiting for the next flight out and barely made it out of NJ and onto Phoenix last Christmas.  This time, I'll admit that it was my fault. I read the flight departure as 10:50 and not 10:05, so when David realized my mistake, we high-tailed it out of my parents' house and barely missed checking our bags on time by about 3 minutes.  We turned lemons into lemonade and David caught the original flight out and left me, Olivia, our two diaper bags, our two huge suitcases AND Magnum to stay one more night in Arizona.  It was actually really nice to have an extra day there.  I know Mom and Dad weren't complaining about the extra 2 trips to the airport either.

All in all, another great trip out to the sunny state of Arizona!

Views like this are just an added bonus we get when we visit Mom and Dad!**

*Let me know if you want the recipe for the BEST Apple Crisp Cobbler ever!
**Sunset picture courtesy of the Ryan Cooper gallery.