Lightning McQueen

Aliyah's passions seem to change monthly. This month it's Cars--specifically Lightning McQueen. Cars is the first, full-length movie we let her watch and she loved it. Her favorite part is making me skip through to each racing scene and exclaiming, "Lipening go fast!" or "Go Lipening go!"



A few weeks back, we were in Target and she spotted some pool toys of the Cars characters. I knew she was only attracted to the fact that Lightning McQueen was in the package so in order to divert her attention to a cheaper option, I took her to the toy aisle and found the cheapest toy car of Lightning McQueen I could find. It was a huge hit with Aliyah, especially since it had a button on the top that, when pressed, Lightning's tongue would pop out. Unfortunately, somewhere in the midst of taking it everywhere for the next couple of weeks, I misplaced it. When I went back to Target a few nights ago, the same toy was nowhere to be found so I settled on the next cheapest option, which had Lightning McQueen (no tongue popping feature though) and another new character from the Cars 2 movie.



Who is this second character? I didn't know at the time, but when she asked I told her it was the Italian Car. She stumbled on saying that for a couple of days, but now that I researched what that character's name actually is (Francesco for anyone who is wondering), she corrects me by saying, "No, Mommy, that's the Italian Car."



Aliyah's shoes have been giving her a blister on her right, big toe for some reason, but lucky for her they make Cars band-aids.



Daddy helped put together a little race course for the two cars this evening and she got a big kick out of it.



We figured that we should watch the second movie just so she could see this Italian Car in action. The movie is terrible. Half-way though Sebastian and I looked at one another and asked sheepishly, "How do you like the movie so far?" No response from either of us. By this time, Aliyah had also become bored and was trying to balance herself between the couch and the ottoman, and we decided to throw in the towel with this Pixar flick. Sort of disappointing. I didn't think Pixar had it in them to make that bad of a movie. Apologies to Pixar, I still love you and will drool every time I see a sequence of storyboards or hear about your newest movie. In fact, I'm already looking forward to Monster's University and The Good Dinosaur set to come out in the next few years.



For now, I'm more than happy to sit back and watch the first Cars movie (over and over and over), which is a classic in my mind. To enjoy the sentimental value I know it will hold for me years from now when I look inside a box of Aliyah's old toys and find these cars is something I'll gladly take.

Montezuma Peak

This past weekend we met up with a good friend of Sebastian's who has been in the Tuscon area for a couple of weeks training for the National Reserves. I may be wrong on that exact title...but I know it's something close. Jon was in the Army for about 4 years and is currently working in the D.C. area. He and Sebastian have been friends since high school and was also one of our groomsmen in our wedding.

When Jon invited us to come down and visit, we didn't hesitate. We all arrived on Saturday late afternoon and stayed the night in Tuscon. Then got up early on Sunday and made our way to the quaint, historic town of Bisbee, Arizona. With a toddler and two men in tow, I couldn't really do much shopping, but  I caught glimpses of so many neat shops that I would love to make the trip down there again just to look around some more.

We had breakfast at a great little place called The Breakfast Club. The service was up to par with Minnesota nice and the food was pretty tasty too.

From there Jon then took us to Montezuma Peak. It was absolutely breathtaking.





This time we took along the hiking backpack for Aliyah, which turned out to be a good idea. When Jon told us about the hike up to the top of peak I wasn't expecting the it to be so steep. I'm sure that making it to the top would have been much more time-consuming had we not Aliyah strapped to Sebastian's back. And even though Aliyah did whine a bit while in there, the view at the top was well, well worth it. 





Miles and miles of beautiful land. Some of it the U.S. and some of it Mexico. Simply stunning.



This image below fascinates me because in the middle of the photo, the straight black line is actually the immigration wall on the border of the U.S. and Mexico. It seemed a bit surreal that we were so close to such a controversial piece of land and to realize and even wonder with dismay how something so beautiful could be such a cause of turmoil for so many people. 

If there is one thing I have learned from living in Arizona a short while, it's that this state does not disappoint when it comes to nature.

Our Kitchen

This is my kitchen on its best behavior. In other words, I cleaned it in anticipation of this post.

We love this kitchen. We designed and picked everything out ourselves and this room is a true labor of love on Sebastian's part. While we brought in contractors for some items like electrical and some installation of a few of the appliances, for the most part, this kitchen was put together by Sebastian. 

There are still many little things I want to do like adding some shelves and artwork to the bare walls, bringing in some sort of moulding, adding a backsplash and painting and re-staining the movable kitchen island in the center. The rest will come gradually, I know, and I love that we can take our time. For now, it's pretty much complete and we are enjoying the fact that this is the nicest kitchen that Sebastian and I have lived in since being together. 

The farmhouse sink above is probably one of my favorite things in the kitchen. The knobs and pulls come a close second. I was able to find them online for a steal and the wheat motif on the knobs reminds me of my childhood days on the farm. 

I'm also enjoying adding in the little details like showcasing my late Grandma Kramer's drying towels, among other things.

Details like this that let me know that we are building a home-base that Aliyah and any future sibling(s) will enjoy and create memories for years to come