Arizona Trip - Part 1

Over Father's Day weekend in June, our family flew out to Arizona for our newest little nephew's baptism. Little Benjamin Frederick Walquist is such a cutie-pie! He definitely got spoiled with a lot of attention over the weekend.

almost 6-week-old Ben

Ben enjoyed 2 sets of doting grandparents over the weekend!

Ben knows how to tucker people out!

Cody and Jaden say hello to their newest cousin.

Uncle Jason tries out a few lullabies on Baby Ben.

Even though our time in Phoenix was fairly short, Andrew and Sarah packed in some great activities for our families. Right after arriving in town (our family actually went there straight from the airport), we visited a local train park. Because the temps were quite hot that day, we had the park nearly to ourselves! The cousins enjoyed riding the train around the park. 

We also took a spin on the carousel.

After a tasty picnic lunch...

...the kids climbed on this Family Circus statue that was underneath the pavilion. The shaded area felt nice!

Back at Andrew and Sarah's home, the kids listened to a LOT of stories over the weekend. (These precious reading pics are always some of my favorite!)

The kiddos also enjoyed checking out all of Abby's games, puzzles, and toys.

For mealtime, the kids' table was reserved for the 4-year-olds. I'm not sure very much eating ever got done at this table, but they sure giggled a lot!

We cooled off one afternoon with some refreshing homemade popsicles.

Every single day of our visit (at least once per day), we spent time in Andrew and Sarah's pool. They have a beautiful backyard and a great-sized pool. Plus, the temps were extremely high (Sarah likened it to walking around in an oven), so swimming was an ideal way to survive the heat! Notice this thermometer is stationed in the shade...

These cousins are ready to jump right in!

Happy Father's Day to a wonderful Daddy!!

Our family hadn't yet spent much time in the pool this summer, due to all the rainy weather we've been getting in Houston. After 3 days in a row of swimming at Andrew and Sarah's, Cody and Jaden gained quite a bit of confidence in the pool. Their favorite thing to do was to jump off the edge into Mommy or Daddy's (or another aunt or uncle's) arms. By the end of the weekend, Jaden was jumping directly into the pool and didn't mind getting fully submerged. This was a big step for him!

Cody and Jaden also practiced some back floating.

Andrew, Matt, and Jason enjoyed throwing and/or catapulting the kids high into the air.

Each of the kids took a turn or two off the diving board, though only Ian and Abby were comfortable enough to jump straight into the water.

Abby was such an awesome little swimmer! She seemed to have no fear in the water. She loved when her Daddy launched her off the diving board, and then she would swim confidently over to the pool edge on her own. Pretty impressive for a 3-year-old!

Surprisingly, because of the low humidity in Phoenix, the breeze upon getting out of the pool actually felt somewhat cool... at least temporarily. We often just sat around a bit after getting out of the pool or used the time to play on Abby's playset.

Cousin-love: Cody, Ian, Jaden, Abby, Ryan