Choctaw Days - June 25th, 2011

The Choctaw tribe of Oklahoma was invited to celebrate and share their traditions at the Smithsonian Museum of the American Indian this past weekend. Now that Mom lives in the area we decided that it would be a special thing to be able to go into the Nation's Capitol and celebrate our heritage together with 3 generations of Choctaws. We got to watch several traditional dances, listen to some amazing singers, grind some corn, and watch a traditional Choctaw Wedding Cermony. It was a special day for us and I'm happy that I got to share it both with my mom and my kids.

Trip to Arizona - June 16th-19th, 2011

We usually head to Arizona for the 4th of July weekend, but this year we made the trip in June to celebrate Grandad's birthday and Father's Day. 

As usual, we spent most of the time in the pool.

But we also had lots of fun inside with all of the toys that Grandad and Oma stocked up on for the kiddos.

Becca fell in LOVE with these big bears. Anytime she saw them, she crawled as fast as she could over to give them big hugs...

Ethan liked to pull them all through the house... 

With the new iPad 2 that has the camera, we have been playing a lot of virtual hide and seek over Skype with Grandad and Oma, so Ethan was VERY excited to play it in real life.

Every now and then Ethan would take a break from rearranging the bears and enjoy a little snuggle time with them.

Oma and Grandad were nice enough to give the kids breakfast in the mornings while Daddy and I went out for a run.

And of course some more Bear tackling was in order... 

The Children's Museum in Phoenix was a definite highlight of the trip.

After lunch one day, we took Ethan out to enjoy the little sprayground outside of the restaurant while Becca just stayed cool in the shade. 

More pool time... 

Roasting marshmallows after a dip in the pool... this is the life.... 

The BEST part of the trip was the Railroad Park. Ethan is fittingly wearing his Conductor's hat becasue this park was all about trains. There was a miniature steam engine that we rode all around the park and a big room FULL of model trains that Ethan was just in awe over... this was truly heaven for a little boy that is obsessed with trains....

2 sleepy kids after a great day at the park...