Sedona

What can I say? Sedona is just beautiful.  This mountain that you see above is one that you can see for like 10 miles before you even drive into Sedona. It just keeps getting bigger and bigger.  The red rock is stunning after seeing nothing but desert.

I love this picture.  Just beautiful.

We stopped at the visitor center and the let the kids stretch their legs.  And as I snapped away at the scenery, I had to snap away at the kids too.

This photo is just too, too sweet. Brendan was having a talk with Cole and giving him a hug. Charlotte rushed over from what she was doing and gave them both hugs at the same time.

This is typical Cole goofiness lately. 

Brendan loving our rental mini-van.

Ha-ha. We had burger king for lunch. (Yuck but it was better than doing a sit down restaurant at that point.)  Cole wore that crown the rest of the day and into the next. 

After being in the desert for so long, I was pleased to see a beautiful blue bird at the top of the mountain (6900 ft above sea level!) and also leaves changing colors!!

This is Charlotte's "cheese!!"

We actually drove a bit on Rt 66 on the way down to Scottsdale but I needed to get proof that I had been in the area. 

Just pic of the landscape while driving back....

Look to the post below for pics of Scottsdale!

Scottsdale aka Perfect Town USA

Here's the thing: when you obtain an SLR camera, all of sudden you turn into a crazy photographer. You try different angles of pictures you never realized worked before, you snap away filling your photo card with compositions and colors and before you know it, you've taken a picture of a cactus just because. : )  My camera should literally be glued to my hand, because I cannot stop taking pictures!! : )

Scottsdale is a beautiful southwestern town. Forget Florida, I'm moving down there when I retire. It is peaceful, very well maintained, and is just a fantastic suburb of Phoenix. 

I am so glad we made the drive to Arizona to see my Uncle Andy, Christen, and my two cousins, Brock and Cade. It had been five years since I had last seen the boys and the first time I had met Christen (who is wonderful!).  

Cole LOVED hanging out with the big (10 and 6 years old) boys and was introduced to lots of things that Mommy hadn't made a point to introduce before this....like nerf guns and fruit roll ups!!  He had a ton of fun running around the house with the "guns" and hiding and being crazy with them.   It was just a good time.

Charlotte and Cade (6) were so sweet!! They would play together and sit next to one another. Cade was just really nice with Charlotte and it was so great to see that. Again, I so wish we lived closer to them!!

Andy and Christen were wonderful hosts and packed a full day of fun activities on Tuesday. We went for a nature "hike" in the morning and just enjoyed the outdoors! Thankfully it was only 80-85 that day so not so bad. Tuesday was kind of rough on Cole as he had stayed up playing, watching the Broncos football game, and then playing the Wii until 10pm the night before. Cranky is an understatement but again Andy and Christen were very flexible and understand and I love them for that!

You can see Cole has just stopped walking.  Hmmmm....

But we managed to get a good family photo by the cactus!

And another!!

And a really cute one of all of the kids!

Dipping their feet in the pool (obviously!!)...

Later in the day we went to the Phoenix Zoo which was really spectacular. We do not have any great zoos around us in NE so this was a great treat to go to. I loved that we could walk right up to the pond and watch the turtles. They are the cutest!

Wallabies are just funny..... Cole kept singing, "Willibee, wallibee, woo..."

Ahhh, don't play with the alligator! Oh wait... : )

Brock inside the turtle shell....

And then there's little Miss Charlotte....

They had a really cool area that you could enter and just walk around while about 20 spider monkeys jumped and played all around you (no glass or anything!).  They are the cutest little things. I definitely want one as a pet. Ha!

I just love this lion picture....

But this tiger one is my favorite. Look at those eyes....that color...I really think I might want to frame this one.... 

The Long Drive into Arizona

Before we left for Arizona on vacation day #3, we stopped in to the NY, NY casino to let Cole and Charlotte stretch their legs and play some slots! Ha! Just kidding. No, we did play in their arcade though and the kids had fun.

We drove over the Boulder Dam into Arizona (once you cross half way, you are in AZ).  This picture above is of Lake Meade which is a lake created by the back up of the Colorado River by the dam.  It is a little blue oasis in the desert.  Some day when you are bored, I'll tell you some stories of Boulder Dam. They are interesting! : )

Just a rest stop. Brendan is of course playing with is IPhone. I tell you, that phone is worth its weight in gold and then some. On the long drive, I was able to link in where we were and see how far we had to go (it has a  GPS) and check the internet and email and the blogs. It was awesome. : )

The bridge is A-M-A-Z-I-N-G.  Right now all traffic goes over the dam, but the traffic is slow and not very efficient. This new bridge is built at least 700-900 feet above the canyon floor and will just be a straight shoot over the mountains.  It's so high up I don't know if I would like going over it!  You could not get me to operate one of those cranes that are being used to build the bridge if you paid me a gazillion dollars. : )

Yikes!

This is the back of the dam.  It doesn't really do it justice. 

I see blue among the desert!

I had to take a picture of this. A 75 mph speed limit!!  Woo-hoo!!

Cacti!!!   Real ones! Cool!

Charlotte played with either my or Cole's sunglasses for a good while on the trip. Every 2 seconds, it was "Mommy...picture!"

Thankfully Cole slept for some of the trip. It took us a little over 6 hours to drive down there!

Of course I had to take a picture of the happy driver as well.

There was a sign before this that read "Entering Joshua Tree forest".  I think it was funny that they had to point it out.  As if anything else in the desert was blocking my view.  I found the entire state of Arizona to be amazing in the fact that about every 1/2 hour one type of vegetation ended and another began. For instance, a one point you'd see the traditional armed cactus, then they would just stop, then you'd see the Joshua Trees, then they would just stop, then you would see the pear shaped cactus, and so on.  It was weird!

I had to catch this moment. Before Cole fell asleep, Charlotte was being a little monster and pinching Cole's arm (for no reason) and thinking it was funny. Then when he fell asleep, I caught her stroking his hair. It was sweet. 

And then the sunset in Arizona.  This is a view from my uncle's backyard! What a view to have!

Tomorrow's pics: Scottsdale and Sedona!!