Phoenix Zoo

Last weekend we decided to head to the zoo as a family before John started school and before studying starts taking over weekends (or his weekends at least).  Once again, we were the dumb new people that decided to go at 11 o'clock in the morning (the zoo only stays open until 2 pm this time of year because it's just too hot).  We were the ONLY people there...well just about.  It was nice to basically have the whole zoo to ourselves.  But when it was time to go we were all dripping sweat and so exhausted from the heat.

We decided to buy a membership.  It would have been $40 to get John and I in that day, for the whole 2 hours that we were there.  And a year membership for both of us was $85...so well worth it.  Plus I want to take the kids a lot more when it starts to cool off (they are both free).

Brooklyn loved the zoo...loved it.  We hadn't been able to go in Utah, so this was her first time.  It was cute to see her point to all the animals and make their sounds.

She was fascinated by the elephant - we watched it for 20 minutes before we could convince her that there were more animals in the zoo.

We did eventually find where the other 10 people in the zoo were - at the splash pad they have.  It was a nice break from the heat and felt so good to cool off in the water.

I really wanted Brooklyn to ride the merry-go-round because I thought she'd really like it....not so much.  Well she actually did like it by the end.  But I was that mom who made her crying child go on it :)  She thought the animals were real and kept growling at the tiger (shown in the above picture).  She had a death grip on me when I put her on the cheetah, but once we started going around she actually really liked it and cried again when we had to get off.   

  It was a fun family day (well 2 hours) at the zoo!

a pool and a park

We love having a pool in our apartment complex. 

It really is a 'must have' living in Arizona.  It's funny to me that you really don't see anyone outside this time of year, unless you are swimming.  Sometimes I feel like we are the only ones living in our complex because we hardly ever see anyone.  But that is because you are either inside or at the pool.

We have gone swimming several times already and love it.  Brooklyn especially loves to jump off the side to John or I and asks to do it over and over and over again. 

this little fella is usually pretty good and just hangs out in his car seat 

(I need to buy a little fan to keep him cooler...he is usually all hot and sweaty when we're done..but don't worry...we are constantly checking on him)

look at that belly on Jake!  I'm tellin' ya, he's a CHUNK! :)

Brooklyn loves this car float that Grandma Betty gave her.

There are also a few close parks to our house, which will be nice once the weather gets cooler we can go to them more often.  Recently we've had some overcast days, so it was bearable one night to walk to the park and play.

He doesn't look almost 3 months old...more like 6 or 7 months old.

flyin' high

 

Do you see anyone else at the park??  .......NOPE!  No one is ever outside here...seriously!  We are the new, crazy people that think "oh we can just endure the heat"...but we are quickly learning!

our first week in Arizona

We have been in Arizona for 2 weeks (already!).

The first week was.....hard.  The second week has been much, much better.  Seriously, it has been night and day from week 1 to week 2.

We all had our tough moments that first week, especially Brooklyn.  I think she really missed her cousins and not having so much kid action as she was used to.  A few mornings in a row she woke up crying saying, "NO NO NO!"  I think she would see that we were still here and was not happy about it.  She was also extra clingy to me and followed me around everywhere saying "hold you" - meaning she wanted to be held.  And one day a guy knocked on our door to fix our kitchen sink and Brooklyn got really excited.  She was used to having so many people knock on our door in Utah (like Rich and Misty, Mike, Pete) to visit or play with her.  When she saw this strange man at our door she immediately broke down in tears and just sobbed.  I felt so bad for her :(

We did have some good times though that first week.  We went to Nate and Kristin's for dinner one night, to the Jackman's for dinner the next night (a family in our ward who have been so good to us already), and Mike and Camille's for dinner another night.  We are so excited to have family close by and looking forward to fun times with them.    

Here are some things we are adjusting to:

• no more big screen tv and no more cable - I think this has been the hardest for John
• no more big house - now it's a nice, small 2 bedroom apartment :)
• no more siblings and cousins living all within 15 minutes of us
• the heat...wow, it's hot!  It is amazing to me that now when I go outside and it's only 105 degrees instead of 115, it feels "so nice" 
• no more Grandma Sycamore bread...ha ha...this was the first thing I noticed they didn't have here at the grocery store.  But they do have Blue Bunny ice cream, so that's good.

The best part of week 1 was going to church and meeting people (and for Brooklyn to go to nursery and play with other kids).  We love our ward and are really excited about getting to know more people.  They do a lot of activities throughout the week for moms and kids and I was able to go to all those this last week.

And just a couple pictures from that first week (I didn't take many.  I will post pictures of our apartment soon).  

This guy is getting so big!  I put him in the exersaucer just to see how he'd do.  He wasn't too impressed by it, but sat in there for awhile until his big sis insisted she have a turn too.