My old stompin' grounds

I recently had the opportunity to head to the land of my youth, to which I still have many connections.  My mom still lives near there, and my brother just moved back there.  And I've got my Aunt and cousins there, who we also saw but I have NO pictures :(  On top of that, my best friend whom has known me the longest and the best, through all my weird phases of life, is there too!  And other friends as well.  I sadly didn't get many pictures while I was at my mom's, and none of us together, but we had a wonderful time making memories there.  I will let the pictures do the talking.....well, and then I might talk about the pictures.....you know me......can't stop talking.....can't.....stop.....

We were there for one really full and crazy week.  Thank you all for a great visit!

K and M were fast friends.  This is Terri's middle child,
and Terri is my best friend for 1/4 of a century....wow, I am dating myself.

Kids are imaginative, what can I say?  Who knew an
ordinary mop could double as a four-seated
unicorn?

Little Man has been begging for one of these,
though he's not ready to stand and ride
just yet.  Riding while seated is
thrilling enough for now!

Okay, so what can I say about my forever best friend?
When you need someone you can trust
completely, who will love you
unconditionally and be loyal to you over years
and through phases, you've got yourself a Terri.  

Her cute Little Man

Choo-Choo!!  Riding the caboose

Living in AZ, splash pads are everywhere.  If we had
these in ID, the water spraying out might freeze before hitting
the ground in the month of April, but oh, no.....not in the AZ heat!

What can I say?  He is a handsome sweetie!

I sure do love watching our kids with each other,
since we were just kids when we first met.  It's
a bit surreal to see each other as mothers.

Though our time at their house flew by, it was
full of hugs and laughter!

Another childhood friend, Stacey, came over
to visit and show her newly adopted baby girl.
She was born early, so she was pretty tiny!
But doing well! 

A perfect angel!

So what could get better?  Stacey also found out
she's expecting....surprise!  

What he's really thinking: "when's this crazy lady gonna let me go?"

There is nothing like holding a newborn, in all their
perfect teeny-ness!

Unfortunately my camera died, so I only have this one pic
of my brother, who had just moved back to AZ a few days prior.
My kids haven't seen uncle Mark in 2 years!

Following our stay in the Phx area, we headed to
an area just outside of Tucson to visit
some friends who just moved to AZ from ID.
This was one of the kid's very good friends, and they miss
her tons!

Though our stay here was VERY quick, just overnight, Debbi
and I did get in a few moments of mom-time.

M really bonded with this guy, who is one
of the sweetest boys around.

Thanks for our quick visit!

We then headed up to see my mom for a few days.  It
didn't take long for L to catch this little critter, to which he fed
strawberries.  L caught several of these during our stay,
all which were unharmed, by the way.

Water and rocks....what else does he need?
Well, he'll end up needing some dry socks and shoes
in just a minute......

Mom took us to the quaint and friendly zoo,
where we got to get an up-close and personal look at
 this python.  I even stroked its' scales for a millisecond!  The kids
also got to pet bunnies and see a mountain lion up close.
L has been begging for a pet snake since we got home.  Ugh....

This snake was somewhere in
between 12-14 ft long.

Miss Kitty enjoying a rare quiet moment in the sun.  I say rare
because I'm pretty sure she's not used to being
pursued by two preschoolers.

A tea party with a new friend.  M loves any reason to pour and sip juice
from a real tea set.