pink photo challenge

Once again, I am entering a photo challenge for The Paper Mama this time the theme is "pink" and instantly, I thought of Maisie's bright pink romper from this post. The only thing is which photo is my favorite?

This one?

Maybe this one?

Or even this one? Come on, who can't love that adorable grouchy face?

Oh, that contagious smile that I just love so.

Cinco de Mayo super moon

Austin and I knew for a few weeks that on the night of Cinco de Mayo that there was going to be a super moon (don't know what that is? Watch this 3 minute video here for the details). Anyway the moon was going to be really cool. So we packed Maisie and her sweet new wagon (early birthday gift that assisted us during our move) and planned to head to the beach, have a bonfire, watch the sunset and the super moon rise. Well, that's not exactly what ended up happening, but oh well. It seemed like every one had the same idea (I don't think it being Cinco de Mayo helped at all) but all the fire pits were claimed for. So we made our way to the boardwalk where we decided to get some chowder and snuggle up on a bench to watch the show. We were keeping a look out when I looked up from my bread bowl full of steamy chowder and there in the misty distance, was the moon. It was almost creepy how faded it was, yet so huge and distinct. We watched in awe as the light pink moon went from a deeper reddish hue, to yellow and finally to white. As the moon rose it got dramatically smaller, but was still so bright. It started to get chilly and Maisie was bundled up in all our blankets so we made our way home, but not before we took a few photos of course.

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?

Catching up

It's been over a month since my last post, but with good reason! Maisie and I took an 11 day vacation to the Arizona desert to visit my family (pictures coming soon!) AND we moved... again. We only moved 5 apartments over, but still, moving is moving and moving is no fun. BUT we have a bigger place and so far are loving it. After Goodwilling pretty much everything we no longer needed, for the most part everything is organized and is put in its place. We don't have anything on the walls yet, but we are still figuring out where we want our furniture and such. We are all happy and for the time being, semi-healthy. hah!

Maybe I will actually get around to posting pictures of our new place this time around, but no promises!