Phoenix and Rapid City

After a long drive to Phoenix, Grandma and Grandpa Mitchell treated us to some high living! The food at the Mexican restaurant they took us to tasted as fabulous as it looked (see my spinach enchiladas front and center?)

Then we got to try out Organ Stop Pizza, which the rest of us had been hearing about since Theo and Aaron got to go last year

It exceeded all expectations--the organist was phenomenal and controlled all sorts of things, from bubbles raining down during a Little Mermaid medley to monkey puppets that played cymbals to lasers during a Star Wars number. It was jaw-dropping!

Too bad we didn't get any pictures of the organist--just us eating fabulous hard ice cream? Nice.

We spent a morning at the zoo--thought we got there at 9am, we were all sweating and ready to go by about 10:30. Apparently three years in Canada has taken its toll on our ability to weather serious heat!

Luckily there was a lovely spray-pad to cool off in

We didn't have bathing suits with us, but the kids didn't seem to care

And it's not like these kids haven't had to drive home in their underwear before, let's be honest

Though you can't tell from this picture, the zoo visit ended in a fiasco, where Sera fell and conked her head and Aaron and I had a huge fight over how long an ice-pack should be held against the skin. It was classy. Apparently all the late nights caught up even with us.

The visit to the Science Center went better

And you can't cap off a day better than with a swim in Grandma and Grandpa's lovely garden pool

Then on to the flight home--we were sad to leave the palm trees, let me tell you

But we got to see Mount Rushmore once more

I'm so awed by the grandeur of that place

We stopped for fudge in the old mining town of Keystone nearby

But the best part was spending some time with cousins!

Addy couldn't get enough of LucyMae

She was ready to adopt her and take her home and be her new mommy

And Sera found the tricycle really quickly

If you can't tell, Emerson is a bit enamoured with robots at the moment--in his drawings they usually shoot M&Ms and cookies out of their various appendages

We started a lovely afternoon at this wonderful little park called Storybook Island

Sadly, all the partying had caught up with Theo by this time--he wasn't feeling so hot

Even though these four could have stayed all day, Theo puked some red punch into the grass and then it started pouring rain. Oh well, it was fun while it lasted!

The gang in Graffiti Alley in downtown Rapid City--we had a fun evening at a little streetside carnival there

But seriously, the good stuff was the cousins--I mean, couldn't you just eat little Samantha? Addy nearly did (and so did I).

Which leads us to our latest, greatest goal of late: persuading Chels and Sam to move to Indiana with us when Sam finishes grad school at the end of the year--we need more time with these guys!