Arizona Sun

Since I was going to be down in Arizona for work, I figured that it would be a nice treat to fly Devin and Dylan down and have them join me for a long weekend. Since it would have been tough for Devin to travel on his own with both kids, we decided to have Mia spend Thurs-Sun with Grandma and Grandpa.

This was the longest that I've been away from Mia, so it was a little tough. Aside from missing my little girl, everything else was was fantastic. The Phoenician hotel extended the group corporate rate through the weekend for us, so we were able to live in a bit of luxury for a few days. We had our pick from nine pools, so we swam every morning until nap time. Sunshine and weather in the 90s, quality time with my boys, croquet and baseball on the manicured lawns, majestic views, and a short flight home - ah, the best.

A very tired child after a morning at the pool...

A walk in the cactus garden at the hotel...

One evening, we ventured to Fashion Square to do some Mother's Day shopping and just look around. We ended up spending most of our time in the Disney store and Build-A-Bear. How things change when you have kids. BAB does a really nice job delivering an "experience" for the child. Kids participate in the whole process - selecting the animal, stuffing it, placing a heart inside, giving it a bath, dressing it, and giving the animal a name. The store is also quite smart in that they sell add-ons: clothes, shoes, accessories, etc. So what did Dylan select? A monkey, named it "D" (for Dylan) and chose a baseball uniform. Of course.