Arizone-ya

The post title is not a typo. It's how Molly pronounces "Arizona" and the location of our latest vacation. Yes, yes, we've been all over the place lately. But I was loooong overdue to visit my friend Natalie in Scottsdale and I had a credit on Southwest that was burning a hole in my pocket, so went ahead and booked a long weekend with Molly.

Flashback to 2010. My very first road trip with 6-week-old Molly was to Cincinnati to see a few of my high school friends, including Natalie and her son, Cole, who is just 2 weeks older than Molly. That was then:

Cole and Molly kicking away, August 2010

And this is now!

Nat and her soccer star

Me and the Molls. If you can't tell, Chicago temps followed us to AZ for the first part of our trip. Luckily, by Sunday, it was sunny and warm! 

Cole and Molly bonding at Pied Piper Pizza (basically, Chuck 'E Cheese, for the the Midwesterners)

And now, sharing watermelon and watching movies. Adorable.

Eva! Nat's newest addition, who is a little over one now and loooves to climb. Fearless little girl! 

Molls trying out her dribble in the back yard

Carousel ride at the train park

From the pictures, it looks like it was a busy weekend, but we also had a lot of down time. Natalie, her husband Jordan, and I, got to enjoy adult beverages and adult conversations each night after the kiddos passed out. And there may have been a nap or two in between activities. 

For Molly, the most memorable part of the trip was probably when she reached into my cosmetics bag and sliced her finger on my razor. I felt like such a bad mom for leaving it out within her reach. There was a little drama with the cut over the weekend, and I went through about 20 of Natalie's band-aids, but it seems to be healing up okay now and we've learned a valuable lesson about razor safety.

Thanks so much to Natalie and Jordan for putting up with us all weekend! We'll definitely be back (with Jason next time). I just hope it doesn't take us another 4 years to make it happen!