Playdate 1700 miles from home.

We had a play date with Midwest friends 1700 miles from home! We met Amy, Tracie and their girls at the McCormick Railroad Park in Scottsdale http://www.therailroadpark.com/ Between the three of us we had 6 girls under 4 and another on the way!

After we rode the train, the carousel, and train again the girls and Tracie's sister and friend played an impromptu game of Duck Duck Goose. But really they just made poor George the "goose" every time and all chased him.


It was so great to be able to see friends from the Midwest so many miles from home. I had to laugh when Tracie said that being in the desert was like being on another planet. It was her first time visiting her mom in AZ and she just couldn't believe the desert landscape. I guess after visiting for the last 26 years I'm just used to it by now. :)

Here are a few more Railroad Park pictures...

Ellie posing in front of the train at the entrance to the park.

Maddie sleeping. Poor girl slept through a lot of the fun!

Having fun at the playground!

The kids' pool was right outside our window and as soon as Ellie spotted it, she begged and begged to go in. She didn't care that it was only 64 degrees! I said no everyday until that morning when there were other kids in the pool. Although we had a bathing suit for Maddie, too, it was just too cold. But Ellie loved it!

Tiptoeing in...

The perfect setting for swimming. The Canyon Villas are beautiful, too!

FINALLY got her out of the pool. It took many bribes. ;)

Walking the Red Carpet

If you ever want to feel like you are walking the red carpet, just call up G.G. and have her take you to dinner at Fellowship Square (the senior living complex). I believe it is the closest to feeling like a movie star that I will ever get. G.G. knows everyone. G.G. shows her grand and great grand children's pictures to everyone. Therefore, everyone knows you!

When you walk in to the dining room at Fellowship Square, there are a sea of tables with seniors dining. If you walk in with a baby or small child you are instantly the center of attention. We must have made 25 new "friends" during our short time eating dinner and then also chatted with people we had met on previous visits. The residents of Fellowship Square are very friendly people so it takes a while to get seated and also to make your way to the exit. And we were waving and shaking hands the entire way.

After a (delicious!) dinner, we went up and played at G.G. and Granddad's apartment. They have a few little music boxes out so Ellie entertained us with her "I-haven't-taken-ballet-but-I-watched-the-Nutcracker-a-bunch-0ver-Christmas" ballet moves. Ellie declared she loved G.G. and Granddad's house and didn't want to leave. We did eventually get her out the door and into bed and we still were back in time to watch the second half of the Bachelor. Gotta love dinners that start before 5 pm! ;)

Leaving on a jet plane...

Our flight to Arizona was super easy. We had a (packed) ride to the airport, flight took off on time, Maddie slept the entire time and Ellie couldn't have been better. Security with two kids, a car seat, a stroller and carry ons containing liquids is not exactly smooth, but we made it through alive! Once we arrived, we sent Poppa to pick up the rental car while Nonna showed Ellie the wonder that is a vending machine. It was wonderful for the adults because we so needed water and Ellie thought it was amazing to put in coins and watch the bottles come out.

After two minutes in the rental suv, both kids were sleeping so we did a detour to In and Out Burger on the way to our resort. http://www.in-n-out.com/ Can I just say how much I love In-N-Out Burger? Love it. If there was not still "baby weight" to be lost I would have eaten one for every meal the entire eight days we were in the Phoenix area.

We checked into the Canyon Villas at the J.W. Marriott at Dessert Ridge (http://www.jwdesertridgeresort.com/ ) . The resort is beautiful complete with parks, pools, splash parks and even a lazy river. In the information book they cleverly call scorpions "hitchhikers" and politely advise "if you hear a snake rattle, go the other way." Needless to say I made sure that we all checked out shoes before putting them on and made sure the luggage and bags were zipped at all times so we didn't end up with any "hitchhikers" of our own.

After making a grocery run - who knew it would be impossible to find tamales and black bean soup in the Southwest! - we settled in for the week ahead.