desert nature walk

Maisie and I decided to explore the Arizona desert to hopefully spot some wildlife and let me tell you, we weren't disappointed. I was hoping to see a snake (because Maisie LOVES snakes, weird right?) but we ended up seeing a bunch of other creatures on our long walk. It was super windy and it had rained just hours before, so the air was clean and refreshing, yet still warm.

sidewalk chalk & puddle jumping

One morning during our trip in Arizona, everyone was at work so Maisie and I decided to take a stroll to the nearby park. When we got there we noticed that the sprinklers had recently came on leaving puddles galore all over the basketball court. Our original plans of playing with sidewalk chalk seemed to be crushed, but I decided to hand Maisie the bucket of chalk and let her do whatever she wanted. If she wanted to throw her chalk into the water, oh well it's only a matter of a few dollars. She loved coloring with the multicolored chalk, but she really enjoyed taking frequent breaks for some old fashioned puddle jumping. Occasionally sitting in the puddles to splash with her hands and legs. Then the inevitable chalk in water scenario happened, but it wasn't like I was going to bring the chalk back to California anyway. Sidenote: I HATE the feeling of chalk. I think it goes back to my gymnastics days, but you know what's worse than dry chalk? That's right, wet chalk. The strange concoction gets all over the place, rapidly dries, making your hands feel like... well chalk and that's just disturbing. I sucked it up though and let Maisie go chalk crazy and it made me happy to watch her explore with a new medium.

Splash pad fun in Arizona

When Maisie and I landed in Arizona at 9 pm at the Sky Harbor Airport, we walked outside where we were welcomed by the all too familiar Arizona heat. It was 90 degrees and dark. I forgot what it's like to walk outside at night and not need a sweater. Maisie was a happy little girl when Katie picked us up. She was talking up a storm about how the airplane was "high, high, high sky". Her rant was completed with the whooshing sounds of the plane stopping on the runway. This little girl is an expert flyer. She loves it and when I start to freak out because there's more turbulence to my liking (which is any at all) I look at her excited face and I am no longer in panic attack mode. You would think I would be doing the comforting, but no, not when it comes to air travel. I act like I kid, but I'm serious when I tell people that when I have an impending flight, I come to terms with my life. "You did good Sammie". I tell myself because death looms near every time I set foot on a plane. Which has been too many times recently and that's a smidge much on one's psyche.

Anyway, we didn't have much on our agenda this trip. Mainly just to hang out by the pool and splash pad. I wanted some sun on my ever pale body and realizing that I haven't been tan in 3 years is depressing if you're a Lloyd. So that's what we did. We hung out with the family and got plenty of sunshine. Maisie even has tan lines from her new Saltwater sandals and it's one of the cutest things I have ever seen.

Lets get to pictures shall we?