Zona

Blake and I stayed through the week in Arizona. We enjoyed more of our favorite activities (beyond the meals). We swam, sunbathed, took long walks in the stroller, ate dinner on the patio, and got together with AZ friends.

One of my absolute favorite perks was that I was able to attend a yoga class every single day at my favorite studio. I earned 25 free classes by completing my teacher training in January, so I wanted to use up some of the classes up while I was in town. I was thinking about when I would feasibly have a lifestyle where I could attend a yoga studio every day. It could easily be more than a decade before our children are all in school and I have free time. So, I definitely took advantage while I was there and had a willing sitter. One day I even went twice. It lit the yoga spark within me again, and as soon as I get my certification from the National Yoga Alliance (it's taking forever), I want to start teaching.

Overall, we had a wonderful time and can't wait to go back to our "second home" again. Blake must be getting confused about where he lives, considering all the time we have been spending there in recent months. He instantly remembered some of his favorite gadgets in the house, such as the fans, the light switches, the lamps, the stairs, and the water fountains in the pool.

He still loves water and even tolerates wearing a hat if he can splash and kick.

Blake has very cute hat hair.

Blake's Grandma and Grandpa got very attached to him again.

We hit the town for some delicious Italian Gelato.

We also found a puppy walking by the fountain that Blake thoroughly enjoyed. Too bad his mom is anti-animals because Blake would love to have a pet.

Our trip home was a little crazy. We darted through the airport to barely catch our plane due to a freeway closure on the way. Blake showed a true mark of super genius on the plane though. He immediately pulled out all of the magazines and safety pamphlets from the seat pockets, and we looked at the back of a magazine that had a picture of a pretzel on it before takeoff. Half way into the flight, the flight attendant gave us a bag of pretzels. The pile of magazines was completely buried in toys and snacks. However, Blake rummaged through the pile, found the magazine with the picture of a pretzel, and put the pretzels in his hand onto the picture. What a smart connection!

Troy was excited to welcome us home since he had to go back early to avoid using vacation days. He broke through with the first grilling event of the season, and deemed the moment picture worthy. We had his parents and sister over for dinner and enjoyed the start of many summer cookouts.