Phoenix Zoo

Recently, we discovered the amazingness that is the Phoenix Zoo. Wait, let me qualify that. Amazingness for 7 months of the year. [You couldn't pay me enough to walk around outside in Phx during the hot months with three little kids who, if you hadn't noticed, all have a true Irish complexion.]

The layout is quite nice and they have all sorts of things to entertain the kiddos in between animal viewing. Food is decent and not tooooo overly priced [Tip -- bring drinks for the kids and then use the kids meal cups for your soda/tea as you can refill it for free all over the park].

We have been there twice and still haven't seen the whole park. Granted, we do have two very playful boys, so we spend about 50% of the time playing on the different play structures =)

Here are some pics from our last trip.

If I recall correctly, Gavin stayed in the stroller for most of the first hour and ate 2 whole apples for "snack"!! I can only imagine what our food bill will look like when these two are teenagers!

 Ayden is giving Daddy the thumbs up in congratulations for Daddy passing his referee test. Daddy wasn't with us this trip as he was out of town to take this test in Denver. Way to go Dad!!

 This is always a favorite stop..... the Komodo Dragons!

To the untrained eye you might wonder what Ayden is wearing exactly....but, if you were in the know and lived in the "superhero house", as I do, then you would know that he is in fact the Mighty Thor, complete with a homemade red cape =)

And Gavin....well he is just Cute.

Pottery Painting

March is the month of many many birthdays for our friends and family.

One such birthday was Nana's. Ayden had the idea to make Nana a pottery piece with a turtle because "Nana loves turtles!"

So, off to the mall we trekked. The boys were so excited to go we ended up there before the store even opened. They happily passed the time in the play area. In case you were wondering, these kids are all boy. Climbing, running, tacking and superhero battles are the substance of our days.

Ayden was very proud of his Spiderman move. 

[This picture also reminded me of my cousin Scottie back in the day :)]

Though playing hard, Ayden kept a constant eye on the store front to be sure we knew exactly when it opened. We were the first customers of the day =) Once in the store, Ayden spotted a snake that he felt he had to paint as well. So, he promptly tasked Gavin to create the plate for Nana with Mimi and Mommy's help. OH how quickly a 4yr old can be distracted.....

So, our little lefty diligently crafted the perfect plate for Nana. 

And Ayden, very seriously, painted his snake.  

Way too much $$ later...we went home for lunch. But the story of the pottery doesn't stop there!  A week later when the pottery was ready for pick up, I asked J to make the pick up as part of his day with the boys. So, off to the mall they went for some play time, lunch and the pottery pick-up.

So the story goes....they were at the car loading up when Gavin "ran into the road" and Jeremy, in a heroic father moment, made a lunging grab for Gavin. This action caused but one thing to fall......the pottery bag. 

And so, about as quickly as Ayden delegated his super idea to paint a turtle for Nana, did both the turtle plate and the snake irreparably break.

Without an eye witness older than the age of 4 it is hard to know exactly what happened....but absent evidence to the contrary we will chalk this up to father heroics rather than a J-ism =) [Love you Hon!]

A true testament to Ayden maturing, he did not get upset with Daddy and understood that it was "a accident and Daddy saved Gavin."

Let the Blogging Catch Up Begin!

As you all know, we recently welcomed our third child, little Madi. Besides having another opinion in the house, this means that between the endless feedings, some hopeful sleep and an attempt at some basic personal hygiene, I will be finding time to catch up on all the posts that fallen by the way side as we prepared for baby #3!!

Stay tuned!

=)

What a piece of work....

With every passing day this kid's personality just blossoms and continues to amaze me.....

As Mimi said the other day...I think we have quite a fun 20 years a head of us with this little red head =)

"Molina" Dinners

[I will explain the quotations in the title later...so don't get hung up on them just yet :)]

For those who may not know, I was born in and lived until age 9, Tucson, AZ (where we currently live). In second grade, while attending St. Cyril's school, I was paired up with a new student to be her "buddy". This new student was Ms. Lynnea Molina.

As the story goes, Nea and I became inseparable. We would walk around the school grounds with our arms on each other's shoulders (thankfully she is just as vertically challenged as I!) and were referred to as the 'bobbsey twins'.

Then, I moved away.....for many many years. We stayed in touch over the years, but as tends to happen, less and less so. Then, I moved back =) And yes, as you can guess, we are once again great friends.

On top of that, she and her hubby Shiloh, have an adorable little girl named Brynn. I have posted about Nea and Brynn before, but wanted to throw out a refresher. We avidly try to do dinners with the families and these dinners (that are usually during the work week) are always the best part of the week!

Now for the quotes....

So, these dinners always include both my mom and Nea's mom, Susan. I always do, and probably always will, refer to them as "the Molinas". This is humorous to me because not only has Susan never been a Molina (she kept her maiden name when married), but now Nea is (and has been for many years) a Strunk. But alas, they are the Molinas to me and we just LOVE our "Molina Dinners"! Watching our children grow up together and having such dear old friends to share the day-to-day roller coaster of parenting with, is such a blessing.

 Here are some pics from some recent "Molina Dinners".

Here, the children are showing off Shiloh's handy work. Yes, he built this kitchen helper stool from scratch off a Pinterest post.

Here, the children are having dinner for the first time at the "children's table", which also happened to be Brynn's new table and at which Brynn was very keen on having the boys sit with her.  In fact, once the boys were done with dinner and decided to move to the playroom, Brynn proceeded to move the table chair by chair into the playroom saying "sit!". Does it get any cuter!?!?!