Tonto Natural Bridge National Park

The day after Thanksgiving we took a day trip north of Phoenix to Payson where we ate lunch at the Beeline Cafe and then found our way to Tonto Natural Bridge National Park. I have lots of pictures of this beautiful place. We hiked down quite a ways to the bottom of the "bridge" which was sort of like a cave/tunnel. It was spectacular and a perfect place for two boys who like to climb, explore and throw rocks. I hope the pictures demonstrate how big and beautiful this place was.The approach to the cave. See how little the people are in the bottom right corner. This place was huge!

Inside the cave.

See Erik and Mason, tiny in the middle of the picture. (Mason's wearing a bright blue fleece jacket).







Carter and I "rescuing" people in the cave. He was a little too busy to take this picture with me; too many people needed his help.

Thanksgiving After-Party

Apples on the floor before bed time. Erik and I stuffed ourselves but the boys still had room after all the turkey.

Music in his underoos

With Mason, the adoring (and rocking!) fan.

Carter's First Day of School!!!

Carter was so excited about his first day of school. He couldn't wait to put on his uniform and go. We were nervous that he would have a meltdown and not want us to leave, but he just waved from the play ground and said, "Bye Dad! Bye Mom!" and then gave us a thumb's up. It happened that his first day was the Tuesday before Thanksgiving so they had a party in class. Carter made a handprint turkey and underneath it said, "I'm thankful for candy!" As other kids were leaving school behind Carter I saw that theirs said, "I'm thankful for Mom and Dad" or "I'm thankful for Grandma and Grandpa." Not Carter. His loyalty is for candy.

Carter quotes

"Yeah, cool dude, rock it!"
Yelled out the window, to an unidentified neighbor, while driving through the parking lot of our complex. We had all the windows down and were listening to rockin' music.

"That's what I'm talking about, baby!"
After opening our mail box and seeing we had mail. Our first visit to the mail box and it was full... of coupons. He didn't care. It seemed like a lot of fun stuff to him. He pulled out each piece individually.

"Mason, watch, I'm shooting rockets out of my nose!"
On the couch, with pillows thrown everywhere, while he and Mason jumped and played. It should be noted that Carter was wearing his new HotWheels sunglasses, which have been on his face pretty much nonstop since we bought them at Target yesterday.

HAPPY (30th!) BIRTHDAY ERIK!!!!

Happy Birthday, honey!

I love you!!!

Fun Outside

A few days ago we spent a good amount of time (maybe 2 hours) playing outside at Mom's. Here are a few shots. There are lots of Mason; I couldn't pick just one. I love his little face.

Getting ready to pet Smokey, the neighbor's cat. Carter calls him "Sokey." The boys love him.

Mason spent most of the time outside playing in this toy car loaned from the neighbors across the street. He will get in, close the door, wave bye-bye, steer for a minute then get back out. The process repeats many, many times. Hours of entertainment.

At the Zoo

Happy to be back blogging. Here are some shots from yesterday's visit to the Dickerson Park Zoo in Springfield, MO. Mom and I took the boys for an afternoon outing and it was great. Carter was intent on seeing the elephants which the zoo-folk cleverly placed all the way in the back of the zoo so you had the pleasure of viewing half of the other animals on your way up and the other half on your way down. Until we got to the elephants, Carter was like, "Yeah, cool monkey Mom. I want to see the elephant," and "No I don't want to see the cheetahs, just the elephant." Of course, once we saw the elephants, including the baby, it was, "Where's the lion, Mom?" Ah, the attention span of our 3 1/2 year old. We were majorly bummed because the train around the zoo closed about 2.5 seconds before we got to the depot, so we didn't get a chance to ride around. Carter was upset, until we offered an ice cream cone as a consolation.

Carter contemplating petting a goat at the petting zoo.

Inside the giraffe house, seeing the big animals for the first time.

We went to the giraffe feeding platform and got to feed them. Look at that tongue!

Me feeding while taking a picture.

After I fed the giraffe he turned his head and exhaled right onto Mason and Mom. This is all I could capture on the camera. Mom was more freaked than Mason. :)

Watching the lions.

"Wow!"

Every time I ask Carter to take a picture with me now, this is what he does. I'm not complaining.

A-MERRRRR-ICA!

**I don't know if the title reads like I want it to, but think of the chorus to "America the Beautiful." :)**

So, we've been here for over a month and I haven't posted once. Just a quick update from Charleston. It's been lovely. It's hot. And humid. And wonderful.

Here are shots from our beach trip with Jess and Doug. I say trip, but it's only a 20 minute drive.

Building a sandcastle with Uncle Doug.

Love his profile. Look at that sweet little curl in the back!

Family picture. Miranda July swimsuit. I'm a nerd.

For Stacy

This is our washing machine while we're here. It's huge. I can do half of all of our laundry in one go. All the darks at once. Or all the lights at once. Luxury. Stacy, come to my house and do laundry whenever you want. :)

Final trip to Londontown

We were in London this weekend for our final visit before heading home. We've had such fun times in London over the past year, thanks in large part to Griff and Julie's hospitality and lovely home. We had a great time with Griff at their house while Julie was, sadly, away in the States. On Thursday Erik and I visited the House of Lords, courtesy of Baroness Caroline Cox who Erik met a few months ago and is a friend of Bishop Ben Kwashi (who is a friend of Christ Church SA). It was a really cool experience to go into Westminster, see the amazing interior architecture (lots of gold, high ceilings, paintings and statues everywhere), sit in the lobby of the House of Lords while different Lords and bishops walked by, and to sit on the floor of the House of Lords for a bit while they discussed and debated.

We were also in town for Rod Green's ordination (Erik and Jan went to the ceremony at St. Paul's Cathedral). Erik said it was a great, and long, ceremony and we went to celebrate with them at their house in East London that evening.

Saturday we went to the Science Museum. It was great. Carter was so excited to run around and see rockets and astronauts and cars hanging on the wall and from the ceiling. The highlight was the Bob the Builder live action show. It was both a performance and an interactive show. We were split into four groups and each group had a job to do to help Bob and Wendy fix something. He LOVED it.

Erik and Carter working and Carter in front of Scoop.

Precious Mason