Arizona

I'm finally getting a chance to post photos from our trip to Arizona. We went as a tenure celebration for me. It was my gift to have K, O, and Braydon --and my parents-- all in one place enjoying the good life for a few days together. It was, for me, the perfect way to celebrate. Sun, sun, and more sun. Just the best weather and company. We stayed in a glorious villa that was just perfectly set up for the six of us. And it was smack in the middle of a great resort. The place was absolutely stunning. And the many, many pools were to die for. Including... waterfalls, fountains, a "Lazy River" (a long winding 'river' pool that you can float on tubes on) - Kyle's favorite, and a full-blown waterslide - Owen's favorite. We ate great food (lots of Southwest & Mexican), drank pina coladas & margaritas (although, alas, too many of them were virgin -- but, oh well), I got to take plenty of naps, and everyone just enjoyed. We took a couple of beautiful desert hikes. A major memory-moment of the trip was when Owen got 'attacked' by a crazy cactus called a Jumping Cholla (click here). If any of you have had a run-in with one of these before, then you can imagine the scene. Luckily another hiker had a pair of tweezers to lend us and we were able to pull all of the cactus prickers out of our boy's belly. Not pretty and not a warm fuzzy feeling for a 3 year old on vacation. He recovered almost immediately, though, and we spent much of the rest of the trip talking about it over and over and over with K & O, who were, understandably obsessed with jumping chollas from that point onward (they're still talking about jumping chollas multiple times a day). Another major memory of this trip was, of course, that we were there during the World Series... the BOSTON RED SOX in the World Series. We listened on the car radio as the Red Sox won it while we were heading home from the Philadelphia airport. The boys now have a deeper appreciation for all things Red Sox. Nothing can bond a grandfather and his grandsons more than experiencing the Red Sox winning the World Series together (well, at least not this grandfather and these grandsons). And I can't finish this post without at least mentioning that having my mother on vacation with us was, for K & O, like having two vacations wrapped up into one. She obliged their every whim, including macaroni and cheese, hundreds of trips to the potty, and playing in the pool non-stop. The boys loved the airports, and the plane flights, and the rental car, and the villa bathtub, and the resort, and, and, and, and, and. They just all-around love travelling--- every single part of it. It was cool for me to have my parents' witness firsthand that special part of my boys. All in all, just a great time had by all. I'm posting about a zillion photos. I don't expect they'll all interest everyone, but mainly I'm posting them for my folks.