Arizona 2010

PHOENIX, Ariz. - After my long weekend in Elgin and Tucson I spent the rest of my week staying in Laveen with Sharon and her family. It was great to see everyone again and I enjoyed my time there so much, that I didn't fully document the entire week and EVERYONE I saw. But I'll be back again for a high school reunion at the end of the year, so I'll do better then. Until then, here are some pictures from my week in Phoenix!

Emma

Max, my Godson

Max gets used to me hanging out with him again.

In the car:

Katie in the car. She was a bit sleepy when I shot these.

She perked up a bit as we talked.

Back at home:

Chasing my buddy around the house.

One afternoon we all headed to the Phoenix Zoo. Sharon, Katie, Max and I met up with Kathy, Ben and Ellie. The older kids were all at school.

A feeding frenzy at the bridge leading to the entrance of the zoo.

Katie checks out the ostriches from a perch above.

Walking the zoo.

A baby zebra that had been born the night before.

Flamingos!

Katie checks out more turtles.

Max is getting tired of the stroller and wants to RUN!

Ellie, however, seems pretty content to get the ride.

Max makes a silly face.

Orangutans

Walking the winding path.

Katie milks a "cow"

Ben

Ben's favorite at the park area at the zoo.

But he really LOVED driving!!

Katie takes a "ride."

The peacock that kept trying to interrupt the kids' lunch.

Ellie is wiped out from so much zoo action.

Katie rides Katie the rhino. Her favorite.

Max is exhausted after fighting so hard to stay awake.

SWIM CLASS!!

All this action got everyone tired. Even the monkey and Emma who stayed home:

After Sharon and Billy got most everyone to sleep, Sharon and I headed out to get pedicures. We had a long wait. And so I had time to snap this photo of their check policy:

Another day, another time Max was fighting the sleep he needed.

Baby feet!

Sunday morning we headed out to Brophy Chapel for mass. Before mass, Katie and Max took the opportunity to run around:

I really love how this picture of Katie turned out.

Katie runs away from Daddy and Max and heads back to the fountain.

Max in a box!

The little daredevil climbed up into the box all by himself and found all the gear from his birthday party the week before!

We begin a series of me trying to get a picture with my Godson:

Sunday afternoon we headed out to celebrate a friend's birthday celebration. It was pretty windy, so I really didn't get a chance to capture Katie's cute pigtails with BIG pink bows.

I enlist Sharon's help to get a shot of Max with me:

Before Katie went to bed and I had to say goodbye (I was leaving the next morning at 4:15 a.m.), I snapped this shot with Katie:

As she would say, that's just silly!

I miss everyone in Arizona already!!