Just back from a 5-day trip to Scottsdale, AZ. We vacationed with John's brother, Eric & his family: wife Elizabeth & 6-year-old daughter Sarah. Grandma Lucy was scheduled to join us but had to cancel at the last minute due to some emergency health issues with Grandpa George. We were all soooo disappointed but are thankful that George is doing better now.

"Vacationing" with 2 young children doesn't have quite the same relaxing, stress-free connotation that it used to! True to her age (2 on 4/1), Anne Peyton displayed some delightful terrible two moments during the trip. By the time it was time to pack up and go home, we finally figured out what did & didn't work; eg, restaurants didn't work; ordering dinner poolside and having plenty of room to spread out did.

-Our adjoining-room suites overlooked a nice pool, so we were down there every day. Sarah is an excellent little swimmer and her enthusiasm for the water rubbed off on Anne Peyton, much to our pleasure. By the end of the trip she was willingly getting her head underwater and tentatively jumping off the side of the pool into our arms.

- We tried to climb Camelback Mountain with the kids. What a mistake! This is not a terribly challenging mountain, but it is rocky & sandy and it wouldn't be at all difficult to slip and fall. With kids in backpacks/bjoerns, NOT a good idea! Not to mention the blazing hot sun. Fortunately we remained upright but any hikes from now on will be relatively flat!

- Thanks to Elizabeth's organizational and creative prowess we enjoyed a homemade undersea-themed birthday cake for Anne Peyton, as well as Easter egg decorating and a hunt in a nearby park.

- Met up with John & Eric's cousins - Cindy & Judy, Judy's new husband Todd, and the younger 2 of Cindy's boys - Cameron and Conner at "The Sugar Bowl" in Scottsdale for ice cream sundaes (featured in many "The Family Circus" comic strips, as the author is a frequent guest there). They happened to be vacationing there at the same time!

- On the flight to Phoenix Tommy demonstrated his latest "skill": upon achieving utter happiness, he screeches like a teradactyl at an ear-shattering pitch, smiling all the while. It was painful, but funny as hell. The poor passengers probably didn't know whether to wish for a crying miserable baby!

Earlier in the month we were treated to a visit by Lisa's mom (whose new name is "Nonni"). We also hosted a birthday party here for the 5 kids born to fellow childbirth class participants, all within about a month of each other. We stay in close touch with that group and feel really lucky to be able to share child-raising experiences with them.

- Anne Peyton's current vocabulary:
* humum, humum = seems to mean "give me some" (with a sense of urgency) - usually referring to sweets - she has a distressingly HUGE sweet tooth
* otay = okay
* Dorda = Georgia (where her "nonni" lives)
* yay-es = yes
* Hommy = Tommy
* MY (mommy, daddy, blanket, applesauce, pacifier, toothbrush, you name it)
* Back (with index finger pointed up) = I'll be right back
* Hey-net = blanket
* Boke = broken
* boo-boo (she is obsessed with these)
* boe-die = birdie

For a full collection of photos, please visit http://www.kodakgallery.com/coloradohofmeisters and click on "February-Mar-Early April 2007".