Tag Archives: Surprise Arizona

Leftovers from Arizona

For our family archives I’m adding the rest of the photos I have from our time in Arizona from January 13th to the 19th of 2021. Jaymison’s first ride down the slide with his daddy.

Daddy made sure JJ stayed above the water!

Addy became quite a pro on coming down the slide all by herself!

I shared about the epic birthday party for our two sons on Saturday the 16th but our daughter-in-law Jamie had a birthday, too, on Friday the 15th. For her day we watched the grands while Dan and Jamie enjoyed brunch out all by themselves and also enjoyed shopping at Target after brunch without their kids in tow. On Friday night we went out to Texas Roadhouse for dinner and that photo of Dan, Jamie, Jaymison and Addyson was taken by Laura while we waited for our table.

Our grands are blessed beyond measure with aunts and uncles that love them and are attentive to them.

Instead of grass in Arizona people have rock or faux grass in their yards.

While the ladies had a shopping outing without the grands the guys took them to a couple parks.

 

Uncle Andrew and JJ.

Daddy and JJ.

Most everyone contributed some time in putting our Arizona Jigsaw puzzle together.

On Monday night the 18th of January we had another meal out at Amigos Restaurant. Dear tried a new to all of us dish called Molcajete Cielo Mary Tierra, mouth watering steak, grilled chicken, shrimp, chorizo, grilled green onions, grilled nopales, jalapenos, in a molcajete stone. Served with sides of rice, beans, tortillas, guacamole and pica de gallo. I should have shared this dish with Dear.

Such special times with our grands and all our kids.

Our trip to Arizona was the first airplane trip we’ve taken since the Covid restrictions on wearing masks were mandated on airplanes. I found out early in our flight that this cute mask that came From ‘Russia with Love’ was quite painful on my ears and I had to use my MacGyver skills to attach the mask to my glasses instead of my ears. On one of our shopping trips to Old Navy in Arizona we all bought 4paks of masks and they were so much more comfortable and adjustable. Hooray. I might try and replace the ear pieces on this mask to make it more comfortable.

On Tuesday the 19th we said our goodbyes to our temporary home in the sun.

Until the next time we treasure these memories.

We are back here in Colville for well over a week now and we had a few inches of snow overnight from Wednesday until Thursday. Thursday was a very nonproductive day at our country bungalow. We made good progress on putting together our latest jigsaw puzzle while enjoying the snow views out our windows.

This is a 1000 piece puzzle and the pieces are oversized so it is larger than most 1000 piece puzzles. We only have about 100 pieces left on this puzzle and it will be done on Friday for sure.

Hope January ends well for all of you with a lovely weekend! I’ve put up a few Valentine Day Decorations already. Do you have Valentine Day decor that you put up?

A Pokemon Party

We had so much fun and laughter at the birthday party for our two sons celebrating 40 and 42!

The Pokemon Choo Choo Train Cake. Our son Dan has had choo choo train cakes starting at his 3rd birthday. He didn’t get one every year but was always happy when they appeared on his day.

Our daughter-in-law put together an epic Pokemon themed party for the brothers while we were in Arizona.

These oreos decorated like Poke Balls were used for one of our games.

Poke Ball themed veggie and fruit trays.

We all got to choose the ears we wanted to adorn our heads with. Jamie made all of them. The different ears have names but I’m clueless.

We were all good sports and entered into all the party games! Not to brag but I won two of the games, move the oreo from your forehead to your mouth without dropping it or using your hands and a poke launch game.

Granny Great and Jim traveled from their snowbird location in Arizona (close to the border with California) to join in on the fun. They live in Colville from March through most of November and then travel down to Arizona for the late fall and winter months.

We tried to reenact this photo from Dan’s 10th birthday party.  Once I get my hands on the original photo from 1991, I’ll add it here.

It was an epic day celebrating our sons and hats off to our daughter-in-law who planned and stealthily managed to create and transport all the goodies to Arizona from Washington.

Birthday brothers…

We ended the party with a swim and some of us kept our ears on.

For my records we enjoyed this birthday celebration on Saturday January 16th, 2021.

Back to the present, we are looking at getting some good snow this week starting on Sunday evening. Time will tell if the predictions are correct. They are talking about an accumulation of 13 inches this week.

Round and Round We Go

The Wildlife Zoo called this ride their Carousel. Addy chose this horse to ride and JJ chose the dog.

Carousels and Merry-Go-Rounds, whatever you call them, kids of all ages enjoy them. I think this was JJ’s first ride on one.

Addy was cold and her coat was in the car so she borrowed Auntie Katie’s sweatshirt.

Our family of 10 were in Arizona from January 13th until January 19th. Our trip to the Wildlife park was on Thursday January 14th. I enjoy the desert in winter, how about you? Escaping a snowy winter with freezing temps to a desert winter in the 60’s and 70’s is a treat.

Back here in Colville we have had sunshine but our temps have been in the teens. We are promised some new snow showers on Sunday.

Arizona Log Ride

We had planned on a family trip to Disneyland this year but plans changed and it worked out to have a family week in Arizona instead. This isn’t the log ride at Disneyland but it was just right for our almost 4 year old, Addy. This ride was at the Wildlife World Zoo and Aquarium.

 

It was a fun way to end our time at the Wildlife park…being a little wild!

Running Nonstop!

Busy, busy, chasing these two! I’ll be back to normal living on Wednesday. Hope y’all are doing well.

We’ve been enjoying lots of family time in the home our son is part owner of here in Arizona. A nice large space with a pool for us all to enjoy! Each couple has their own room, too, along with a room for Addy. An amazing property. Two birthday celebrations down with one more to go!

I’ll be visiting blogs again later this week!

January Recap in Mosaics

January was packed with important celebrations and family time. I’m adding some photos and mosaics here for the sake of my memories that might be redundant to you. I’ll be linking up with Angie for Mosaic Monday. Thanks for hosting, Angie. Be forewarned that this post is overloaded with photos.

We celebrated three family birthdays in January. Dan and Jamie both had birthdays a day apart and we enjoyed dinner at our country bungalow in celebration of their birthdays.

Our oldest had a milestone birthday and his office celebrated him well along with other family and friends on the west side of the Cascades. We gave him his gifts early at Christmas and added a gift when we all gathered in Arizona 5 days after his birthday.

We handed down grandfather Rex’s Bible to Josh while we were in Arizona.

Thursday January 24th was travel day to Arizona for most of us. Josh and Laura were at the house already working nonstop to furnish it for our arrival. Friday started with some work on putting furniture together and then was Zoo/Old Town Scottsdale day. Saturday was shopping/work day, cousin/nephew-niece dinner. We broke in the new barbecue. Sunday was staging/photo and lunch/park and puzzle day. Josh and Laura flew home on Sunday. Monday morning Katie and Andrew flew home and then Addy’s Great Granny and Jim drove up to have lunch with us. (Photo Fail) They are snow birding in Arizona until March. Tuesday was our travel day flying back to our snow covered world.

8 adults to 1 child at the park. I don’t know how one person can manage a child in a busy park!

We were all happy to get a good dose of Vitamin D.

And the contrast of what we returned home to…

Our kids on the westside returned home to this…

Helping one another get Andrew and Katie’s home ready to move into.

Bear one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ. Galatians 6:2 (ESV)

Click on  Airbnb to see the listing for this beautiful property in Surprise, Arizona. We highly recommend it.

Today we still have snow on the ground and are getting a weather warning for very cold temperatures overnight. The sun is breaking through the clouds. The Puget Sound area of Washington got a good snowfall overnight. Our kids on the west side of the mountains measured 7 inches this morning which means everything will come to a stand still in the Seattle area. Katie and Andrew moved into their new home over the weekend just in time to be snowed in. Hope all is well in your corner of the world.