Trip to Arizona

We had a great time in AZ! We had originally planned the trip for Thurs - Tues and then realized how many people we wanted to see! Matthew used to live in AZ and has relatives there, and I have relatives and friends there as well. Matthew can barely ever take a whole week off, but with the great months they've had at his club, and bc it is a pretty slow steady time, he was finally able to take a whole week. Not typical!! It was nice, though, bc I haven't been to AZ in 5 years, and even when I was there, I only got to see a couple of people bc I was there for work. I hadn't seen my 1st cousins in 13 years, and hadn't seen my my cousin Mary Beth in 18 years! Since her wedding! I think I need to go visit my relatives more. I miss them.

Aria got to meet LOTS of people! She met 2 Mia’s in one day. It made her miss her bestest friend, Mia, at home!

Lots of new things happened this week for Aria. Before we got to AZ she didn’t crawl on her knees. We got to Aunt Ruth Ann’s house, and Aria was scooting around on the carpet in the living room. We took her to the back patio that has indoor/outdoor carpeting, and Aria got on her knees and started to crawl all around! We couldn’t believe it! Here is a video:


After she started crawling on the indoor/outdoor carpet, she started crawling on all surfaces. She had started pulling herself up to standing a couple of weeks ago, but got more proficient at it with all the obstacles (coffee tables, ottoman’s, etc) she had in each of the living rooms she visited. She would stand for longer periods, too.

Here is a picture of Aria at the park nearby:



We did lots of things in AZ. We spent the 1st couple days at Aunt Ruth Ann’s and had lots of fun. She made lots of good food. She even made me a Boca Burger (non)meat-loaf. It was good! Matthew wouldn’t try it bc he was afraid he’d like it and I’d try to turn him vegetarian. ;-) On Sunday, Aria got to meet Chris, Shawn, Damion & Emily…. And Annie, too ;-) (Emily’s cute doggy!) I got to meet Emily for the 1st time and love her, of course! She’s great!

We started a hike on Camelback mountain. Matthew, Aria, me, Marguerite and David met there. We got a little way up the mountain and realized that it was much too dangerous for a baby. Also, Aria's eye got red and swollen, and her nose started running. It stayed that way for a couple of hours - must've been an allergy to something in the AZ air. Marguerite, Aria and I went to Starbucks (I was not complaining about that - I was tired!! Did I mention Aria slept HORRIBLY all week) and talked, while David and Matthew finished the hike.

We spent the day on Monday in Tucson. Marguerite, Matthew, me & Aria made the trip. We got to visit Tom, Athena, Max & Beatrice there. I hadn’t seen them in 5 years! It was great to catch up and see them! I really wished we could’ve spent more time there!

On Tuesday afternoon we went to meet Matthew's friend and former client, John and his wife Nicole and daughter Mia. We had fun with them, and Aria loved playing with Mia and her toys!

That evening, we got to see Matthew's cousins Jim & Teri. Jim and Teri had their granddaughter, Mia, at the house, too! That is Aria's 3rd cousin. She is almost 3 months old and cute as can be! (must be the name... haha!) We also met some of Mia's siblings and her mom, Michelle. Aunt Agnes was there, as well. She is 94 and seriously is the best looking 94 year old I've ever met in my life. She doesn't have any wrinkles! I asked her what her secret is... she said she doesn't wear a bra... get it? get it? She cracked me up!! It was a FUN night!


The rest of the week we stayed with Marguerite & David. It was very fun spending time together! They tried to spoil Aria. David took her all around the Disney store and picked up every toy in the store and asked Aria “do you like this one?” and she’d shake her head “no”. Onto the next toy “do you like this one?” Aria, again, would shake her head “no”… finally she didn’t say no to an Eyore dressed up as the Easter Bunny… on clearance. She picked up one of those vacuum packed washcloths, also on clearance. She is definitely her Daddy’s baby!

We also visited the ZOO. I love the zoo! Aria slept through a lot of the day, though, so she missed most of the animals. She did get to see the Giraffes and got a kick out of them! She picked a blue monkey toy at the zoo.