Meteor Crater, Sedona, Tucson, Saguaro NP

On a whim, Mike requested that since we were so close, we visit Meteor Crater (not exactly) on our way down to Tucson.  

 We took the tour.

 (out of place: pic from the parking lot)

 Then we resumed our route down through Sedona area.

I had high expectations for this area.  But in reality, we were tired after three days of activity, it was crowded, and we were living out of the car, and still had hooours to drive. 

We did enjoy a little time at this state park- the name speaks for itself. :)

Downtown Sedona seemed like a beautiful place to take a couples trip.  

 Finally, late that night, we made it down to Tucson to our friends' new home!

Peter and Ben shared an air mattress and have never slept better! :)

 One the first day with them, we visited Pima.  Mike & Matt were thrilled.

 The girls were just happy to be together.

 Ben & Quinn were happy to be reunited!

 On day 2 with them, we headed to Saguaro National Park.  This was probably my favorite day!  How cool (i mean, hot) to see these cacti in real life (IRL!).

 I can't wear this hat like Kristin!

 It was just a joy to see these friends and especially to see the kids together again.

After living next door to each other for nearly 3 years, they function more like cousins than friends. 

The JOY was palpable.

 We were treated to so many shows and performances. 💓

No one wanted the night to end.  We lingered outside late into the evening.

The next morning was off to school for the girls and off to CA for us!

Friend Camp

Oh, back after school got out, one of my best friends and her kids drove up to visit us!  We had 6 kids 7 and under.  There was lots of noise, stimulation & community-living. 

Noah is 2 months younger than Ben and naturally became his BFF, of course.

I just sat one day and soaked these two babies in & replenished my tank from the few years that my arms were empty of babies.

While they were here, my kids had VBS, which I think maybe gave them a good break from us. And Kari cleaned up each eve- how great is that?!  Community living!

How unbelievably cute are they?!

 Kari and I were thrilled to get out a few times- thanks to Mike, his parents, and a neighbor girl.

Kari and I got brave crazy one day and took all of the kids to BG by ourselves.  So that was a single stroller, a double stroller and sometimes one in a wrap.  Oh, and six kids in the back of a mini-van.  I liked saying it was absolutely necessary for her to stay12 days so that we'd have enough 5-15 minute segments to talk about everything we needed to talk about.  Thankfully, this drive gave us two hour long segments to make some serious head-way on the conversations.  That factor alone made it worth it.  

We didn't leave during the night. We had to stop by Mike's parking garage to get the booster seat from his car.  

 It took us an hour or two to find our groove and figure out where we could and couldn't take a double stroller, call first aide a few times, & loose a kid but eventually the kids did get to ride some rides.  Hmm, its interesting that adults pay for tickets and preschoolers are free, b/c Kari and I didn't get to ride any real rides.  Altho, it does look like Kari is having fun here!

 I loved seeing my kids enjoy Kari's kids (of course, there were a few hairy moments) but overall, they did so well.

Peter also went to the dentist while they were here and had 2 teeth pulled.  He got $5 from the tooth fairy for that.  So he treated all of us to cotton candy.  Naturally.

 These two boys were such good sports.  I ended up stripping Ben down b/c it was so hot.

 The second weekend that Kari was here, our good friends came to visit! 

We had a full house with 5 adults and 9 kids.  I loved it, and it overstimulated me! :P

 We enjoyed the Science Museum one day and paraded through the neighborhood another.

 17 years of friendships!

We had moments of not being able to believe all of these kids were OURS!

 Our Ben hasn't been overly socialized (with peers).  His mama has been snuggling him too much.  It was so fun for him to have this time with Noah!

 One final day of the pool, and whew, that's a wrap!  

It was such a fun, special start to summer to get time with these friends!!