Henry's First Oilers Game

We are serious hockey lovers in this house. 

Sydney saw her first hockey game while we were here in Phoenix when she was ten months old (Oilers vs. Coyotes) and Henry experienced his first game the same way! We decided to meet up with my aunt and her family as well as my Grandpa who is in town for the winter. Her kids had never been to a hockey game so we thought it would be fun to have all of the little ones go together. 

Grandpa treated everyone to tickets and we all got dressed for the cold arena (we have totally acclimatized to the heat here). The kids had a great time eating hot dogs, watching the game and dancing to the music. We had a lot of free seats around us (thanks to the small hockey market in Phoenix) so the kids roamed around and jumped from spot to spot. 

Henry was happy wearing his headphones and sitting in the carrier and he fell asleep from the start of the first intermission to the end of the second one ( I can't say how incredible our carrier is! Seriously. Awesome.) He even flirted with some of the Coyotes dance girls before the game.... All in all it was such a great afternoon and another fantastic family memory. 

Henry flirted with some of the Coyotes girls...

Check out how many Oliers fans were there!!!

Mrs. E

Antiquing in Cave Creek

Somehow this post got completely lost in all of our family fun time here in Phoenix.

I am actually here alone with Henry now. David and Sydney left on the drive home yesterday and are spending tonight in Casper, Wyoming. I will admit... it is not exactly fun being alone in a 3600 square foot house. I am a little bit lonely and anxious without anyone but big H. Luckily, it is still sunny and hot. We have been occupying our time in the pool. 

Before the other half of our family hit the road we managed to get a little road trip in to Cave Creek. Cave Creek is a small town outside of Phoenix. It is so close that it could be considered a suburb, but it has a completely different feel. The road into town is quiet and mountainous. It is popular with the massive road cycling community here and David has even ridden up there a few times. It has a very small town western vibe. The entire main street is lined with antique stores and art shops. We walked around for a couple of hours and found so many great things that we would have brought home with us if we had a way to get them home. Amazing old furniture finds and great metal art were mixed in with authentic southwest style blankets and cool jewelry. It was pretty incredible. 

Mrs. E

Henry ~ Six Months

I am in a super weird space right now. 

My littlest little is already six months old! His six month Birthday was actually on the 24th but we have been so busy with Phoenix awesomeness that I haven't had time to post about it or even take pictures for a cute collage. So, today you get a single picture and some info on our little guy.

Henry is our teeny peanut. He is so much smaller than Sydney ever was and I love it and hate it all at the same time. I love it because it makes me feel like he is not growing as fast as he is, but I hate it because he is still not sleeping through the night. He gained almost a pound this month and is up to about 15lbs 9oz. He loves solid foods and has even started eating puffs which are like a melting cheerio. He started talking a lot more and his favorite thing to repeat is "da da da da". He is trying to drop one of his daytime naps so we are struggling to find our new routine. He loves to swim and cuddle and has the best full belly laugh you have ever heard.

Six months has gone by way too fast!!!!

Mrs. E

Scottsdale Rail Park

The Scottsdale rail park is one of the coolest free place to visit while in the Phoenix area. 

It is pretty central in Scottsdale and is huge! There are big grass areas (grass is at a premium here in the desert), a couple of separate playgrounds, a snack shop, museums, birthday areas, full size train engines and cars, a functioning rideable steam locomotive and a carousel. It's all pretty awesome!

We met up with my aunt, her husband and heir kids as well as her former nanny, her husband and their son. All of the kids are under 7 and get along really well. We were able to let them go crazy in the park while we caught up with each other and watched the mayhem. Once they were tired of the park we headed over to the train to ride around the park a couple of times followed by the carousel. 

The whole morning was perfect. A lot of families will meet up at the park and bring picnic lunches or grab baking and coffee from the bakery across the street. There is even a gazebo where live music is played every Saturday night. The park has a liquor license so families bring food and drinks and the kids run around and have fun while the adults have a good time too. I wish we had something like that in Edmonton!

By the time we left Sydney was exhausted and Henry had already passed out. 

Hanging with Aunt Lindsay

Waving at Evan and Will from the train.

Girls on the carousel

Neesha and I wish our boys

Digging for treasure

Henry passed out on the train

Mrs. E

A Day at the Zoo

We have so much fun every time we are at a zoo.

This time was even better because we were able to go with my aunt and her three kids. Some of you may not know, but my aunt is actually not much older than me. Her youngest is only 10 months older than Sydney so the kids all get along really well. Unfortunately they live here in Scottsdale so we don't get to see them very often. We got everyone organized and headed to the Wildlife zoo here in Phoenix. 

The zoo was super cool. It was pretty big and the kids had a great time exploring. One of the things I loved was that it was very interactive. We were able to watch a show, feed birds, get within feet of kangaroos, play in the touch the touch pools and.... my favorite.... we got to feed giraffes! We climbed a platform to be at giraffe height and had an awesome time laughing as they stuck out their long, slimy tongues to get the food. 

We took a ride on the little chairlift that they had running through the park. The kids all thought it was pretty cool to see the animals from above. Sydney could not have been more excited to watch everything from up high and giggled the entire time. 

We wrapped everything up in the aquarium where we saw all sorts of marine life. It was a long day but it was completely worth it. As we were leaving we were treated to a bit of an air show. The zoo was pretty close to an air base and there were planes taking off right above our heads! So incredibly loud. 

Mrs. E