Arizona!

We made it to Arizona greeted by beautiful dry heat and an excited family. The flight went well and Nathan survived even after arriving from India the day before. As he said, "what's another three hours time difference?"

The next day our friends, Christy, Aaron, and Julia Jeck, drove up from Tucson to spend the afternoon with us. Nathan was at the Beta convention so he sadly missed them. It was so great to see them and to have the kids get to know each other again. I loved that they had the same sweet relationship as two years ago.

Christy read to the kids while I put Theo and Gabriel down for a nap.

Theo and Julia enjoying ice cream at Chevy's.

Aaron really made Maddie laugh. I think there was some trick with milk and a straw that cracked her up.

We needed a cool indoor activity and decided to stop at the Hall of Flame (how can you resist that name?). It was pretty cool with the world's largest collection of fire trucks on display. Alas, my fire truck boy missed out on it. Double alas - Antique Roadshows was there taping a segment on the museum and filmed the kids. Theo would have been in heaven. Maddie told me she didn't like to be filmed at all! We wish the Jecks would move to Boston.

Nathan and I had a daytime date where he chose to take me to a Mexican supermarket that he'd been talking about for 2 1/2 years. This is where he'd purchased a whole chicken with the head still on. I have to admit that the store was super cool. They had a wonderful tortilla making operation (see above). I snapped a picture only to be stopped by a staff member and instructed to keep my camera in my bag. Our good eating continued with dinner at Los Sombreros with the Cowleys, breakfast, lunch and dinner with high school and college friends, and a date with my brother - dinner and a movie!

And of course there was swimming - a lot of swimming day and night. It was a huge treat when Uncle Johnny came by to swim with the kids. Maddie was able to dive down eight feet and Theo six feet. Pop pop was so sad not to participate in the fun. He had a run in with a saw a few days before we arrived and ended up having surgery to repair some severed tendons while we were visiting. Fourteen stiches later he was feeling a bit better aside from a hurt ankle!

The kids didn't mind snuggling up for storytime.

We had a delicious lunch at my aunt's club in the Phoenix foothills.

We spent an afternoon at the Science museum. There was a great lego exhibit on castles. Maddie and Theo spent a lot of time building an electronic wall trying to make it sturdy enough not to fall down when slammed by an electronic catapulted ball.

Yum. Dinner at the Sugar Bowl is sure to become a tradition. It just makes you happy to walk into the restaurant, so much pink! The kids loved it.

It got even better when they found the game room next to the ice cream parlor. In the game above, Theo had hit the 50 point button two times. Maddie was getting upset. So she closed her eyes and voila, 125 points! They has such fun collecting tickets and playing the games.

Grammie took the kids to the railroad park one morning. This was a day that hit 113! You can see that even at 9am it was really hot. We decided it was time to head up to the cabin!

Cowboy Theo and Uncle Johnny

A family dinner at the Christmas Tree is always a must. You can't leave Pinetop without having some chicken and dumplings. The kids had a lot of fun picking out special ornaments too. Though Maddie broke her treasured one resulting in a lot of tears. Soft Pop Pop marched right back in to buy her another.

Posing on the tractor in front of the restaurant.

And then it was fishing! We talked up the fact that fishing does not always equal catching. But, boy were we wrong! Maddie caught a bunch of fish and Theo caught some crawdads and a few little fish (on a stick rod!). Theo wasn't so certain about the fish as it came out of the water. Maddie loved it, worms and all.

She was happy to have a big girl rod.

They had such fun roaming around the back of the cabin, building forts, digging in the dirt, exploring. Gabriel would roam around just taking in nature. Maddie decorated Theo with dirt one morning, including dirt earrings. He looked like pig pen.

I had suggested we make little houses, thinking fairy sized houses. Uncle Johnny quickly changed that plan and organized construction of a huge fort. I kept seeing Maddie and Theo dragging logs other to the construction site. They loved their special place with walls and windows. No wonder Maddie took a nap each day we were up there!

Grammie and the grandkids on the porch.

We're still silly siblings.

And then it was back to reality - driving back to Phoenix and then the flight home to Boston which I'd probably worried about for six months (I'm not my father's daughter, am I?).

And whew, the flight home was fantastic. Really as great as could be expected. Maddie and Theo were great helpers. Gabriel took a short nap. We all fit into the bathroom together. It was a great end to a lovely vacation.

The Welcome Home

We were very excited to welcome Nathan home. We had an Indian feast the night before. Which, I must say, was a complete flop. The kids did like the naan slathered with butter! And then some very artistic welcome home signs were created.

Theo's reads: To Daddy - You are coming back today and you are really coming back today. And I love you. To Daddy. This picture is for you. It's a crocbanger. Crocbangers bang people because it's a crocbanger. Maddie is drawing something for you. We're drawing right now in case you want to go to India again. Love, Theo

Needless to say, we love these steam of consciousness notes from Theo.

Nathan in India

What an adventure! Nathan was very excited to get called to a project taking place in India. It was a great company working in microfinance. India did not disappoint.

He spent some time in a village and was able to see the women gather Monday morning to pay back their debt.

Yes, there are cows in the street.

Poor Nathan mainly worked and worked and worked. But, he did get to spend part of a day touring Mumbai. One of his favorite stops was in a slum where workers were washing laundry. He said that the emotional energy and spirit of the Indians was captivating.

A beautiful museum.

He was moved at Gandi's home.

He ate the best Indian food of his life and though he didn't have a lot of time to enjoy the culture, what he saw, he really appreciated. That said, there's no worry of us moving to India. And the jet lag was a beast.

Summer School

This summer, Libby, Rachel and I put together a little summer school program to help with the long days of summer, providing us with some structure and fun. It's been a great success! The first unit was on Colorado. The kids really enjoyed learning about the state. It was encouraging to see them point out the flag while on vacation and explain what each part of it meant.

Colorado's state animal is the big horn sheep.

We then moved onto a unit on history. We're still working through it but had a lot of fun learning about Native Americans, making teepees, igloos and headresses, trying to grind beans and grains for flour, making our own tortillas and doing a pow wow.

Maddie enjoyed copying some traditional Native American symbols onto her teepee and headress.

Aquathon

Each year, The Windsor Club hosts an aquathon for the kids. The younger children swim a lap and then run 1/4 mile. This year, Maddie and Theo were so excited to participate. Maddie continually asked questions each day leading up to the event. She was very curious about how the event would work. The kids were marked with their event numbers.

Waiting for the swim leg. It was very cold, dreary and rainy.

Theo is a bit of a star at the Club. He's been taking lessons there for the past two weeks and wooing the swim instructors.

After the swim, the kids ran out to the transition area where they dried off and put on their shoes and socks. Maddie took off, not wanting to wait for me or Theo! She ran like the wind.

Theo started holding my hand and then away he went.

We had cold proud kids excited for their medals and popsicles. Though it'll tell you how chilly it was that neither could finish their popsicle. Ah, Boston.

Tall Ships

We arrived home from Colorado late on Saturday night, only to pack up on Sunday to head to Boston to see the Tall Ships. There was some political wrangling between Mayor Menino and the organizers of the event so we figured we better see them while we can as they may not be back. It was truly a gorgeous Boston summer day, a perfect backdrop for the ships. Lines to board the ships were quite long, over an hour, but we found one that was moving quickly. After 15 minutes, we were on the Portuguese ship. We toured about 1/2 of it before the kids grew restless. Stopping for take out on the way home, helped us end our vacation week perfectly!