Creative playtime

This week Lucy and I made both edible finger paint and play-doh together! It was so much fun. She definitely "got" the painting more than the play-doh and enjoyed it so much she ended up painting herself - a bath was needed afterward.

I think the most enjoyable part of play-doh for Lucy was mixing all the ingredients together and stirring them in the big bowl. I had to keep reminding her not to eat it. She did take a bite at one point but quickly spit it out as it just didn't taste very good!

Mama's quick rendering of "dada"

Lucy dismantling "dada". She was sad afterward as she didn't mean for his head and facial features to fall off. We then made the play-doh into Canute to remedy her worries. 

A Winter Trip to Arizona

In Bisbee together, so happy.

It was inevitable, our escape from Alaska during the winter months to seek out some warmth and sunshine. We had several good excuses to visit Arizona, where we'd wanted to travel since we met as we both used to live there, myself for 6 years. Our good friends Mike and Jenny moved from Fairbanks last year to Tucson, where we spent a good number of days visiting.

Lucy is envious because a butterfly landed on Matt's head.

Mike works at the Tucson Botanical Gardens and he arranged for us to visit the butterfly display after hours on the weekend. Lucy was captivated instantly by all the beautifully-colored butterflies surrounding us.

She kept saying "head...please, head...please" but sadly no butterflies chose her head to land on.  A good choice on their part!

Lucy did laps around and around inside the greenhouse, giggling, pointing, and talking about what she was seeing.

We saw so many butterflies! Thanks Mike!

Afterward we went over to the kid's garden area. Lucy ran around some more as she knew it was especially for her. Adorable.

Water is always fun to play with.

About to kiss a big bunny

"Kids garden, mama, kids garden"... Lucy loved it.

Lucy starts the trend of masking-tape wrist sweat bands.

As usual, visits never last long enough but we had a perfect time visiting Aunt Jenny and Uncle Mike in the desert. We look forward to the next time.

Visiting Mike and Jenny in Tucson. I'm amazed we actually got a photo of all of us!

Next we headed toward Bisbee, where I used to live. I was so excited to share this town with Matt and Lucy! We were going to stay for one night, but once we arrived we decided to stay for two due to Matt's head cold (camping was next on the agenda) and the fact that we loved being there.

Walking the streets of Bisbee.

The first whole day we were in town we made the trip up the steep hill to the shrine that overlooks Bisbee. Lucy walked almost the entire way by herself up the trail until she asked to picked up! That girl has some energy, indeed.

Almost all the way at the very top of the Shrine hill. 

It was super windy at the top so we didn't stay long. I nursed Lucy and Matt got a great photo before we headed back down. Lucy made it down about half-way by herself.

Out for pizza at Screaming Banshee on Valentine's Day. Lucy slept for the first hour on my chest which was delightful as Matt and I got some adults-only time in. Lucy dug the pizza big time..especially dipping it in tomato sauce.

At Rattlesnake Ranch in Cochise County

We headed in the direction of the Chiricahuas next - one of my favorite places to hike. On the way I treated Matt and Lucy to a fun stop at Rattlesnake Ranch. They both loved it. I hadn't been there in over 10 years and it was a nice surprise that the owners came out to greet us. 

Lucy ran around the entire time touching as many things as she could.

We arrived at Chiricahua National Monument at about 5:30pm after a beautiful and relaxing drive. We had a yummy dinner at the campsite and little Lucy enjoyed her first hot dog (organic and nitrate-free of course!) - she approved. Unfortunately at about midnight inside the tent Matt and I were awoken by odd bark-like coughs coming from Lucy. She had croup! We packed up camp, drove to the hospital in Willcox, only about 40 minutes away, very worried and they assured us she was OK. They gave her some medicine, we hung out for a bit and at 4am fell asleep inside a hotel in Willcox. 

I read to Lucy to pass the time and to stay awake in the hospital! She did really well and charmed both the nurse and the doctor.

Since our day-long hike in the Chiricahuas was out, we decided to drive toward Tucson and see what we found. We ended up spotting the Amerind Museum in Dragoon from the highway, attracted to the area mainly by the rock formations, we decided to visit. We spent several relaxing hours there both looking at the display and hanging out outside at their scenic picnic area. The day ended up being great.

In Dragoon, AZ nearby the Amarind Museum for our picnic.

You never would have guessed this little girl was at the hospital the night before. Her super runny nose was the only giveaway that she might be a bit under the weather. She truly loves exploring and being outdoors, just like her mama and dada.

Hiking on South Mountain, Tempe.

After a brief stop in Tucson to spend one night we headed to Tempe for the final weekend to visit people from ASU and others I used to work at House of Tricks with. We stayed with my professor from grad school and his wife - a very relaxing weekend and full of super warm sunshine!

After a delicious meal at my favorite mexican restaurant, Los Dos Molinos. Lucy consumed an entire bowl of guacamole.

Our last morning in AZ. Lucy and Matt didn't want it to end so they slept in.

Lucy turned 22 months while on this trip. We think this was a huge month for her in terms of talking. She never seems to stop and always has something to say even if she is whispering to herself about what she is working on. She's forming sentences or statements such as "more apple please" or "mama, water, in there" if she wants water in her cup, for example. She cruises up and down stairs with ease, jumps up and down, and is quite the little helper. Her top incisor teeth are about 1/4 of the way in - it is a rather long and painful process for all of us. We haven't measured or weighed her this month but we're sure she's grown a lot because it's a little harder to carry her for long periods in one arm now! She's still so tiny though - our little bug.

In the Kitchen

Lucy and I made delicious whole wheat cheddar crackers together today.

Lucy pulled the rolling pin out of the drawer all by herself. 

All I had to do was pull out the cookie cutters and she already knew what to do! She's extremely independent these days and I love watching her confidence.

Cutting circle cracker shapes out of the dough. 

I cut out some easy square crackers with a pizza cutter and let Lucy have all the fun. Mostly because she wouldn't let me near her dough!

She was really good at it!

Lucy cut out about half of the crackers by herself.

The crackers are delicious by the way and taste like a homemade Cheez-it! I think we'll be making these quite often as they are so easy and consist of only 4 ingredients.

Perfection.

First Real Haircut!

Lucy sees mama getting her hair dried across the room.

Yesterday Matt arrived at the hair salon to pick me up just as I was getting my hair dried. Before they got there I decided it was time for Lucy's hair to really get cut, beyond the bangs I've been tending to since she was born. They offered to cut it for free for us!

Lucy didn't get her nap in this afternoon, except for a quick 30 minute snooze in the car...perfect situation for a haircut! She was glazed over and agreeable.

There was definitely some talent needed and some quick actions because 1-year-olds are quite abrupt in their motions. A quick turn of the head and...ouch...if mom is cutting your hair, that is. No, I never hurt her but I was terrified I was going to!

I think she looks pretty pleased here and is enjoying the attention.

She was quite ready to get out of that chair as soon as possible

All done!