Owen's Half Birthday Celebration

After Aunt Judy came to visit after Christmas, we talked more about half birthdays (because she has apparently always celebrated her half birthdays, not that I have any recollection of this!) and the kids liked that idea.  After we arrived in Arizona, we realized that Owen's half birthday would fall on St. Patrick's Day.  So we decided on a dinner, invited Uncle Mike and Aunt Gail over and sang Happy Half Birthday to Owen before cutting into the all green cake that he requested.

Owen was thrilled he was allowed to help cut the cake AND lick the knife.  

Chloe wanted her cake in a bowl because, well, she's Chloe. :)

Aunt Gail brought presents for both kids.  Score!

Both kids were surprised and excited because they had asked if they would get presents for their Half Birthdays like they do for their REAL birthdays.  The answer to that was a "Negative.  Sorry dude, presents are for the real thing."

Pool toys!

A blow-up basketball hoop!

Aunt Gail totally ROCKS!!!

Slam dunk!

And the crowd goes wild....aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

Flowers from the Farm

They had so many beautiful flowers growing all over their property.  I had a hard time putting the camera down.

Look at those three points at the end of each petal!

One of the largest prickly pears I saw the whole week!

Lunch at the Farm

After our hike at Papago Park, we headed into Tempe for lunch at the Farm with Uncle Mike.  Chloe enjoyed a bowl of fruit.

Owen waited patiently on Grandma Sharon's lap while they made sandwiches for the rest of us.

I think she was working up to getting him good.  Grandmas can be sneaky like that! ;)

After lunch, we walked through the orchard and gardens and chicken coops to get to the artists' studios/shops.

Chloe found a cart to crawl into and make herself comfy.

She wanted me to take pictures of her, but wouldn't look at me.  She smiled beautifully and had wonderful expressions on her face.  But she still wouldn't look at me.

Afterwards, she asked, "Momma?  Do you know what I was smiling at?  I was smiling at the tree for you."  My silly little Bean.

Hike Back Down in Papago Park

I love this shot of the desert.  It was the last one I got before we started down the backside of the big rock.

So many nooks, crannies and corners for the kids to wedge themselves into all over this rock we hiked up and back down.

Such cool rocks and THE best sky out in Arizona!

Then onto the business of carefully choosing our steps back down with a few stops for smiles or grimaces.

The kids wanted to climb this rock next, but it was time to take off for lunch.

I'm always intrigued by the similarities and differences between parents and their children.  These two have the same walk.  They can each spend hours on the internet, one looking at cars and the other at tennis.  Both love our children very much.

Doesn't the Bean look little at the bottom of these big rocks?

Not sure what kind of tree this was that Owen was climbing, but I thought the texture of the bark was wonderful!

Little monkey!

Prickly pear cacti were all over the desert and in almost every front yard we saw in Arizona.

Hike to the Top of Papago Park

On Tuesday morning, we drove towards downtown Phoenix and hung a right off the highway towards the zoo and the botanical gardens.  The parking lots were packed, so we drove around quite a bit before finding the parking spot meant just for us.  Then we began our hike.

Bean started out ahead but then everyone walked together after we made her wait.

This was such a beautiful morning.  No clouds.  Not too hot.  That big bumpy rock in the middle of this photograph was where we were walking to before we moved around to the backside to hike up an easier trail that didn't go straight up.

On our walk, we saw some cool cacti.

Owen liked standing on top of a rock to suddenly grow taller.

This photograph was taken behind our little rock and continuing to look beyond.  I love the saguaro cacti along the ridge.

Now back to our little rock to hike up.   LOVE the peepholes through these rocks!

Chloe and Grandma Sharon were already at the top of this trail and had hung a left past that last bush.

Finally got to the top and took a rest in the shade before walking through one of the larger and safer peepholes.

I made them stop and pose first, but I had problems getting the exposure and white balance set correctly and quickly after shooting out in the direct sun.  The boy child was restless.

Love looking through the peepholes out at the desert and palm trees below.

Love this boy who found his own corner to curl up in and smile for the camera!

Then he moved to the other side to cheese with the girl child.  So nice when they both cooperate and act like they like each other!

A view of the desert sprawling out from Papago Park.  Downtown Phoenix is off in the distance.  There always seemed to be a haze over the city.  Although, most of the time we were in the city and the haze seemed to be covering the mountains.

Chloe snuggled with Grandma Sharon for a minute before they both tried to find their way safely down from this perch.

Chloe was leading the pack to go back up to the main peephole so we could work our way back down off the rock.

Cool kids.  I hummed a little Collective Soul about letting heaven's light shine down as they were illuminated from behind.

Then they surprised me with some sweet kisses on each other's cheeks!  They were so utterly sweet to each other.  I wish it had been caught on video, or that I could have bottled it to be released judiciously at later dates when they work hard to aggravate each other to their wits end.  Not that they ever do that.

LOVE the silhouettes on this shot and the beautiful blue sky behind.  The Arizona sky seemed to get bluer the higher up I looked, no matter where we were or what day it was.