Disneyland

Our California trip started out with a visit to Disneyland:


This was the first time that we actually stayed at a hotel near Disneyland. We stayed the night before and after. It made it very nice as we could walk to Disneyland and didn't have to rush.

We had a blast, had great weather and Alex was able to go on a lot of rides that he was too young to go on 3 years ago. Favorites of Alex included Buzz Lightyear Astro Blasters, an interactive ride:


and Finding Nemo Submarine Voyage, a ride where you actually get in subs.

After a full day, just by accident, Michelle came upon a sandwich, the Monte Cristo, that we'd never had before at a little diner next to our hotel. It's ham, turkey and swiss on bread dipped in egg batter, deep fried and then covered with preserves. Obviously it's a heart attack on a plate and doesn't sound like it would be good but it's fantastic. It's origins are sketchy but the sandwich appears to have been popularized in LA and specifically at Disneyland.

Mormon Trail

Outstanding 5 mile hike on South Mountain. Lots of up and down and great scenery including heiroglyphs:



... outstanding views of the Valley, including downtown:



More pics on Alex's blog.

What We've Been Up To

I'm a little behind on posting pics from our excursions. So, here goes:

March 23rd - Phoenix Art Museum. One of my favorite artists at this museum is Philip C. Curtis. He resided in Arizona for quite awhile and actually was one of the founders of the Phoenix Art Museum. His paintings are distinctly surreal (as are Alex's):



March 25th - Our best friends' E & J's daughter's baptism:



... and Luke Days - The Air Force base's annual show of force. A bit rah-rah for me but I'm an airplane nut and they put on a pretty good show:




April 15th - Alex with a devlish look at the Glendale Jazz & Blues festival downtown:



May 8th - Diamondbacks/Phillies baseball game. Alex and his friend Adrianna are meeting Baxter, the Dbacks mascot:



May 13th - Camping with the folks at Kaibab Lake near Williams:


That's Alex and my dad in the boat.

Also in Williams is the Grand Canyon Railway. While we were there, they had a special event, Day Out With Thomas, where they got to meet several of the Thomas the Train characters and went on a 25 minute ride on a train made to look like Thomas the Train:





May 22nd - Alex's kindergarten Awards Ceremony:


He's a smart kid and a bit of a teacher's pet. I guess they don't fall far from the tree.

June 3rd - And finally, Kids Faire out at University of Phoenix Stadium:



We got to meet a lot of characters and see performances by Barney and Strawberry Shortcake (yay). Well, at least Alex liked it.

Palm Springs

We took a short (very short) trip to Palm Springs, which is a 4 hour drive from Phoenix. Michelle's cousin Holly had a timeshare there and Michelle's mom and sister were visiting for a week from Iowa. So, it would have been pretty dumb of us not to have made the short drive out. Plus, we got the added bonus of it being gorgeous there.


Alex hamming it up with Aunt Jill and cousin Holly, respectively.


Holly's condo was literally right next to the mountain. Breathtaking views.


I'm not sure which of these things is cheesier -- the fact that Sonny Bono was ever a mayor and congressman -- the fact they made a statue of him -- or the fact that I took this cheesy picture of my family in front of it. You be the judge.

Happy 6th Birthday Alex!

Fun on the slide - with and without Mom

Cake and toys

Fountain Hills Great Fair

Checking out some local artists at the Fountain Hills Great Fair:

Spring Training

Spring training started this week and I played hookie Friday afternoon to take the little man to a game between the Padres and Mariners:


Don't know what the score was. Didn't really matter. A nice day, cheap $6 lawn seats, a beer, and a hot dog with your son. Doesn't get much better than that.

"People ask me what I do in winter when there's no baseball. I'll tell you what I do. I stare out the window and wait for spring." -- Rogers Hornsby

Glendale Chocolate Affaire

Alex and his friend Ashlynn (one of our neighbors) at the 12th Annual Glendale Chocolate Affaire:



We look forward to this every year.

Here's a video of the kids dancing without a care in the world:

Cards 27 - Seahawks 21

Thanks to my good friend Boo for the sweet tickets (24th row at about the 30 yd line) to today's Cards/Seahawks game. And the Cards even decided to show up and play well. It was my first game in the new stadium.