Our Visit With Mimi and Papa

Wow is it nearly impossible to get a blog posted anymore! Between company, work, household chores, our awful internet, my camera acting up, and a toddler in the house it seems nearly impossible to get anything on here anymore. Luckily though we did get to have an amazing week with my grandparents out here in Arizona, and I have lots of pictures to prove it!

The first part of their trip they spent about an hour away at a resort. We were very excited when they finally got to come stay with us so we could enjoy them a little more. The first night we just stayed home and cooked out so they could enjoy Ryder in his own element and check out the area we lived in. We spent a little time at the park and then Ryder spent the rest of the evening playing with the Easter basket his Grammy sent him.

On Saturday morning we took a walk to Main Street and ate breakfast at the coffe shop, let Ryder nap a bit, and Papa took a bike ride and got to know the area better (he loves stuff like that!). Once Ryder was up we went to check out the Reds new facilities and watched a couple innings of the minor leagues games. Those are never too exciting though so we didn't spent too much time there. We then came home and let the guys watch basketball games while Gram, Ryder, and I walked down to Main Street to enjoy Music on Main. Our community is putting it on every other weekend for about two months. The first time they had it the band was super lame, but this time did not disappoint! It was such a great band, amazing weather, and so nice to know we live in a great neighborhood that people can just come out, sit in the park, and enjoy some music. We sat by the fountain that Ryder has played in in the past and he did an amazing job listening to us and not going in. He got a little wet from the mist though since he pushed the "don't go in the water" thing to the limit by standing literally just outside the area where the water was. I can't get the cute video of Ryder dancing to download and he was moving too much for my iPhone to capture any good pictures. Take my word for it though that we really enjoyed ourselves!

Saturday night Gram and Papa offered to watch Ryder! I can not tell you how long it as been since Derrik and I got to go out and enjoy ourselves. As much as we would have loved a night out with just the two of us, we know all of our friends are leaving, and we might not see some of them for the rest of the season so we invited them all along and had a great time with them! I picked a really cool restaurant Derrik and I had been to when we first moved here called Saddle Ranch. We loved the atmosphere and had a great time, but of course the night I picked had a home hockey game (their stadium is attached to the restaurant) and there was a fight (like wrestling stuff... it was discusting) being shown on all their tv's. The place was packed, it was a disaster getting a table, and it was ridiculously loud, but we still had a great time visiting with our friends and didn't let it get the best of us. We kept saying we wanted a group picture, but it never happened. Below are the only two pictures I got that night and they are completely random!

Our table with the huge cotton candy they bring at the end!

Being silly with Lisa and Chelsea

Gram and Papa - Thank you for giving us that opportunity! You have no idea how much awe appreciated it!

The next day we loaded up the car for a trip to Sedona. We had briefly seen it on our way to the Grand Canyon and Gram and Papa had never been. We got to look at the amazing red rocks, browse the shops, and ate at a cute little restaurant. It was a nice relaxing day spent with the grandparents :)

Ryder on the way to Sedona

Notice he got another banged up knee... he is ALL boy let me tell ya!

Throwing pennies in the fountain
Ryder loves his Mimi
And she loves him too!
Trying to get a picture of my grandparents is impossible!
They are worse then a toddler in front of the camera always looking away and not cooperating.
This was the best they were willing to give me!
The red rock at Sedona... so gorgeous!

On Monday we hung out around the house in the morning. We let Ryder play and got the house tidied up a little.

Ryder loving his playdough his Grammy sent him

Thanks Grammy!!!

That afternoon though we had BIG plans! We were going to see the Easter Bunny. I had been telling Ryder about him for a while and was hoping it would go over as well as Santa did back in December. I convinced Gram, Papa, and Derrik to drive across town (like forty minutes) just to go see him. There was no line so we had a great opportunity to really let Ryder warm up to him.

Saying hi to the Easter Bunny

Unfortunately all the "warming up" in the world wasn't going to convince Ryder that this weird white creature that didn't talk was cool to sit on and take a picture with!
I know hate is a strong word, but he kinda hated him!

I kept telling Ryder I was so sad he didn't like the Easter Bunny. We waited around a little while and tried again, but it was pointless. We didn't buy the official picture because our little man was not happy and our iPhone picture told the story just fine!

One thing Ryder was happy about was these cool new sandals we got afterwards!

They are so cute on his little feet!

After the Easter Bunny was a complete fail, I was really nervous about doing Easter Eggs. I mean I knew he'd like this wayyyy more, but the idea of dye that could stain our almost all white kitchen and a toddler had me a nervous wreck! While he napped Gram and I ran to Wal-Mart to get a cheap plastic table cloth and it worked wonders. At first I was doing the eggs and having Ryder watch, but pretty soon he was asking to help dye the "balls". Anything that is round in shape is a "ball" to Ryder and they are his favorite thing in the whole wide world right now! I ended up letting him get really involved and was so nervous about how his cute little hand was turning all shades of blue, and even more nervous when he whiped his face with his blue hand. Thankfully a quick Google search took care of that problem and dying Easter eggs was a huge success!

(Any Mom's out there contemplating doing Easter eggs with their little one... To get the dye off use dish detergent and warm water. It all came off within seconds.)

After our egg dying we all went down to the pool to enjoy the amazing weather. Ryder was a little skiddish in the water the first two times we put him in this summer which was a huge change since last fall when he had been in last. Luckily this day though he was back to him old self and was lovin' it!

Enjoying a popcicle poolside

Deciding he was going to share...

With his Papa :)

Splashin' his Mimi

Being naughty and climbing on anything he can as usual

We had such a great time getting to share our little piece of Arizona with my grandparents. It was so nice to have family out here with us. Ryder was so spoiled by his Mimi and Papa the whole time. Anytime he wanted anything they were always right there for him and played with him so much. His Papa never even yelled at him... he must have a soft spot for the great-grandkids because we never would have gotten away with what he let Ryder get away with! We miss them so much already!

One last picture....

Because the smile is oh-so-cute!