Arizona or Bust!

We headed to Arizona a few weeks ago to celebrate the wedding of an old friend of Randi's, Rachel Schlein. Because we are on the poor side, and because we never thump our noses at adversity, we decided to make the drive from Chicago to Arizona and back. Randi's dad rented us a car with better gas mileage than our own; it ended up saving us a good chunk of change. 

We headed out, drove through Missouri, then stayed the night at my dad's place in Tulsa. 

Our original plan was to camp out at the Grand Canyon for a night. Unfortunately 1) Randi severely burned her foot a few nights before we left, and 2) we forgot to pack the tent (we had literally everything you need to camp but the tent...). It worked out for us though, because we stayed an extra night in Tulsa, and got to see my sister and her family (Matt and the babies). 

We headed out into West Oklahoma, stopping briefly in Hobart to see some of Randi's family. 

It is very flat in Oklahoma. 

There is Randi's hurt foot. She hobbled along for weeks. I called her "Puss in Boots," and "Tenderfoot."

We made it into New Mexico. There is basically nothing in New Mexico but shrubs and dirt. Here is a picture of those things:

The intrepid adventurers: 

Then we made it into Arizona. Arizona also has a lot of shrubs, but it also has mountains. Near Flagstaff, there was snow on the ground, and evergreen trees everywhere. It looked like Colorado. I guess; I've never been to Colorado...

We went to the Grand Canyon. It cost us $25 to get inside. We looked at it for awhile, then left. We never did see the squirrels with the long hair on their ears, an promised by the map the man gave us in exchange for our $25. 

You will notice from these pictures there are no pesky guard rails to keep you from falling into the Canyon. You can walk right out onto the edge of that cliff. I guess you could even start climbing down, if you were so inclined. 

 As you get closer to Phoenix, the evergreen trees are replaced by comically huge cactus and dangerous animals. It was 90 degrees in south Arizona, but it actually felt pretty good cause of how dry it is. 

Here is Rachel and her dad:

Here is Matt (the groom) and his mom:

Here is where the wedding reception was held. Randi and I bought the impossibly tough pinata seen on the right side of the picture. 

Randi and her buddies:

Alicia:

An Arizona sunset:

A few hours after the reception, Randi and I headed back to Tulsa (a 16 hour trip), then from there to Chicago (12 hours). It was a lot of driving. 

Lyddie Visits!

Lydia came to visit us over her Spring Break! As you will see from the pictures below, it was completely awesome. The weather was perfect while she was here. I was glad, too, because last time she visited it was cold and rainy the whole time--I was worried she wouldn't come back!

We ate gelato out of fancy glasses. 



She got in some bonding time with the kitties.

Of course, we dropped by the bean.

We went to the Lincoln Park Zoo and the Observatory.

We hung out at the Museum of Science and Industry and Lydia bought a super nerdy shirt. We had a really great time playing with a Retractable, which is the table below that makes electonic music. Super cool. 

Lydia beat me at Mind Ball, which is a game that you win by being relaxed. The woman running the game said we both have abnormally active brains.

 We went to Navy Pier.

We also did some lounging about, where I got to hear all about Lydia's boyfriend, Josef, who seems to be a pretty swell guy. And, of course, there was cake. 



I was very sad to see her go; our time went by so fast! Makes a sister wanna move back to Texas to get more Iddie Dawn time...