Weekend Getaway

Sebastian and I decided to take a weekend trip with Aliyah up to Northern Arizona. Making the decision to do this on Wednesday afternoon, we quickly found that almost all of the area's cabins were booked solid--many until mid-July. We finally lucked out and were able to book a nice little cabin nearby Strawberry, Arizona.

My hope was to see some scenic landscapes on our trip and going North did not disappoint. Some of the views on the drive there are absolutely stunning. Perhaps the most beautiful part was our hike to Tonto Natural Bridge State Park. It was gorgeous. It's incredible to think that such a lush forest of trees and plants is only two hours away from the heat of Scottsdale.

We stayed at a place called The Cabins on Strawberry Hill, which had individual cabins on the property, along with grills, a small playground and some additional outdoor activities. Our cabin was quaint with a small little porch out front and just enough rustic charm to feel like we were getting away from the hustle of everyday life, but not completely away from it all. (Germany was playing a big soccer match, which Sebastian had to watch and there was wi-fi, which allowed me to check Pinterest, facebook and Instragram, so you can see how we couldn't quite "rough-it" too much.) We took in an evening concert in Payson, and also found a spot in the same city where the food was so delicious and the service so nice that we went there twice.

Aliyah had a great time and did pretty well on the hike with a mix of walking some parts herself and then being carried for some parts. She still loves to be outside, as well as with Mom and Dad. I think her favorite part may have been when she realized she was "helping" me pack up the car to go home on Sunday morning. We took a lot of trips back and forth to the truk (trunk) to make sure everything was in its place.

Next spots on our Arizona travel list are Flagstaff and the Grand Canyon. Taking trips like that make me realize just how much beauty there is in nature that I'm unaware of. A thought that is very much inspiring to me.

At The Library

One of my fondest memories from growing up were the trips my Mom and I would take to the library. I still remember how she would let me pick out as many books as I wanted.  Often times my stack of picture books, and later on, chapter books would be massive. (Anyone remember The Babysitters Club? I couldn't get enough of that series.) My Mom never told me to put any books back. It seemed too good to be true. To be able to have as many books as I wanted was unbelievable to me, and I'm sure that's probably one of the reasons that made library trips so special.

As I got older, even into my early twenties, my Mom and I would sometimes go over to the children's section and pick out one or two picture books to take home and read. Two grown women reading together as a mother and daughter. We carried that tradition onto the next generation when I went back home to Minnesota with Aliyah.

Last week, after hearing some good things about a library nearby Aliyah's daycare in Scottsdale, I decided to take her and see if it was what I was looking for, and it was. Soon after I researched other nearby libraries and we went to another one about a mile away from our house. Basically, I've come to the conclusion that the Scottsdale library system is ah-ma-zing. They have so many toddler and kids classes, a huge selection of new books and movies for both children and adults, great play areas and even free tickets to local attractions. Last Saturday Sebastian took Aliyah to a Daddy and Me class where they read two books and sang songs as a group and he said she loved it.

She and I had some time to ourselves since Sebastian was working late, so we stopped by this evening. It's so much fun to watch her enjoy her time there. She has no hesitation trying to figure out how things work.

She especially loves to play with these abacus-type toys. I keep thinking I should buy her one since I see them often in stores, but then I realize that the moment I buy one for her is probably when she'll decide she's over them. Besides, if she doesn't have one at home, it just makes it that more exciting when she gets to play with one at the library, right?



She discovered a cute, wooden turtle that she fell in love with so much that she offered him some of her cheerios. When she figured out that the turtle wasn't going to eat it, she gave up and just ate the cheerio instead.

So many neat little learning opportunities in the children's play section. 

They even had a little coloring station. Complete with fresh crayons and a roll of paper. I'll admit, I was pretty excited about this area. I took the opportunity to draw Aliyah some balloons and work on colors with her. 

Last stop was the audio station. She looks pretty concerned here, but in reality it was more fascination since it was the first time she has ever worn headphones. Unsure at first, she realized it was pretty neat once I put a headset on and we listened together.

Can't wait to make many more memories with her throughout the years at the library! And I'm even more excited to be able to have her show "Bamma" the library next time my Mom and Dad are out in Arizona.

What We're Up To...

I know...it's been awhile hasn't it? So let's play a little catch up.

• Our biggest family milestone is that we finally moved into our new house at the end of April. We are loving it! Sebastian worked extremely hard to get all of the major updates completed, but we still moved in with a lot of little things unfinished. I've been holding off on debuting the house, but I'm learning very quickly that the house will only continue to evolve. I need to just post in-progress photos or I may never post any. So house photos to come soon.

Sebastian putting together and installing our cabinets.

• Aliyah and I went to Minnesota over the Memorial Day weekend. It was a superb trip, like always. Aliyah and her cousins, Grace and Faith, are so cute together. They usually are very shy around one another for a little bit, then suddenly just pick up and start giggling and playing together. Every time we'd go somewhere, Aliyah would exclaim, "Fifi!?" And towards the end of the trip she became completely smitten with her Aunt Emily and was even asking for her on the way to the airport. Aliyah also enjoyed lots of cuddles from Grandma and Grandpa Peters, whom she affectionately called, "Bama" (we got a big kick out of that one), and Papa since those were her versions of Grandma and Grandpa. It was good to see my family again. Every time I visit, I always leave with the wish that we could live closer, but I am also very, very grateful that I'm lucky enough to be able to visit so often, and to have them make trips to visit us as well.

• I also ran a 10k with Ashley Allerson while we were in Minnesota. It was a pretty challenging course at some points, but I did better than I expected. My brother, Nick, decided the night before that he would like some brother/sister bonding time and registered for his first race ever. I was sure I could beat my 31 year old sibling, but being the super athlete that he is, he beat me by a couple of minutes. The race overall was a lot of fun and I'm so glad Ashley got me motivated to sign up and run it. It was Ashley's first longer race and she was outstanding. 

Nick told me that he wanted to run the first mile together and then I could go ahead. So I did. Then at mile 5 he shows up right beside me, barely missing a breath. I finally admitted defeat and told him it was okay if he ran ahead of me. In the end, he beat me. Because he is amazing.

• Arizona is starting to heat up! I'm pretty sure from here on until September, the weather looks something like this: 100+, 100+, 100+.... It's hot, but there's no humidity and we're finding ways to stay cool.
• I experienced my first Arizona thunderstorm. It was awesome! Until I saw that we were in a severe thunderstorm warning and realized I had forgotten all of my Minnesota weather survival skills since thunder was nearly non-existent when we lived in California. Wind was blowing, thunder was cracking, our french doors were flying open and I was overreacting, wondering how Aliyah would be doing since she was at daycare. I picked her up shortly after the storm passed and the entire car ride home she excitedly babbled about "raining" and "windy.

And lastly, let me leave you with a video of Aliyah's current obsession: being a super hero. The blanket she is wearing is her favorite thing. It has to be with us almost all the time, and it used as multiple things. In this instance, it makes a perfect cape for saving the world. Sebastian also makes a good partner in crime. :)

Cain's Arcade

This short film has been catching some major appearance on the web as of late, and recently the company I work for watched this and decided that this young boy deserved a full scholarship to attend a week at iD Tech Camps.

 It is such an inspiring story of a young kid who I have no doubt will be successful in his life if he's given the guidance and tools he is worthy of. If he's this innovative as a nine-year old, my prediction is that he will be making big headlines in about 15-20 years or so when he is an adult.

It's a short, 11-minute video that is beautifully done and I encourage anyone who has the time to watch it. Pass the tissues and get ready for a little feel-goodness in your day.

 

Caine's Arcade from Nirvan Mullick on Vimeo.

Help Caine's Scholarship Fund:

http://cainesarcade.com

Credits:

Directed by Nirvan

http://twitter.com/nirvan

Easter Egg Hunting

Today we took Aliyah on her first Easter egg hunt. We weren't sure what to expect of Aliyah since she seems to get pretty shy around new groups of people, but once the egg hunt began she quickly caught on to what she was supposed to do.

She loved it, but it was quite apparent on her face that egg hunting is serious business.

Since Sebastian has been putting in some major time into the house, we decided to meet him up in Scottsdale for one of their egg hunts. This one happened to be put on by the Boys and Girls Club and was a perfect little event for Aliyah.

In addition to the egg hunt, they also had a couple of small snack stands, a few booths with some extra games and the cause of Aliyah's meltdown of the morning--a inflatable, jump-house.

Here she is just chillin'. Eventually we had to climb in and get her out, and oh, how the tears flowed.

She and I got our photo together, thanks to Daddy.

Such a great little event, and it was nice to get to explore our new area some more. We're up there most Saturdays and Sundays so that Aliyah can visit Daddy as he's working on the house, and we're finding that we really like the area so far. My favorite part has to be that it is so green in Scottsdale. The grass and the trees and the parks are plentiful. And the little mini-man made lakes too. I love it. I'm getting antsy to move in at the end of the month and really get settled.

Tomorrow, we'll head on over to church. Aliyah is really into Jesus at the moment. We pulled into the parking lot for Good Friday mass and she yelled, "Jesus! Yay!". And another cute moment that I have to make note of, more for my sake so I don't forget, is that during the Veneration of the Cross, she actually walked up to the cross, knelt and put her hand on it like everyone else did. We'll see how tomorrow goes. Might be hit or miss with service being so long. I'll have to be sure to bring lots of books, snacks and stickers. My secret weapons. :)