camping in flagstaff...

so, we spent a lil weekend in flagstaff, camping, of course. it was lovely. i wish we did it every weekend.

this next picture is bittersweet. it's one bryan will probably love forever. our girl, skye, leaves on monday morning for north carolina. she's been cleared by the vet. the ticket is reserved & the crate purchased. everything is in line for our dog to move to her new home. in asheville, north carolina. the family that's adopting her is amazing. they are dog people in every possible sense of the word. they go hiking 2-3 times a week. they've had a vishala, so they understand this crazy breed & all of their antics: needy, obsessive compulsive, in need of lots of exercise, high energy balls of goodness.

anyways, let's get back to camping before i get sad.
it was a little chilly, but felt amazing. snacking on some breakfast the first morning.

this kid is obsessed with keys. he loves walking around the house & finding things to "unlock". he giggles as i open our front door. he locks & unlocks his cardboard house. it's adorable.
our campsite. we found the most perfect camping spot- but we were about 5 hours late grabbing it. it was off the main road just enough surrounded by aspen trees. man i was tempted to ask the people if we could pay them to move sites. we're going to try again for it, but i'm thinking it's going to have to be at 6am on a tuesday morning.
kylie girl can still get up & go when she gets a scent!
we went for a hike that morning. it was beautiful.
mmm. peanut butter & jelly.


kisses!
there was a children's festival going on downtown & finn had a blast.

but the reason this weekend happened was garrison keilor. my old man crush. he's amazing!!! it's been on my to do list for a very long time & so when i saw that he was coming for his summer love tour- i bought tickets without looking at my calender. i was sure i didn't have a wedding, and almost anything else could be rescheduled.

it was a beautiful evening & by far one of the funniest shows i'd ever heard him perform.
finn did really well. we weren't really sure how he'd do since he's not a fan of sitting down for very long. bryan was a sweetheart & walked around with him a bit. & then when it was time for bed, i put him in the sling & nursed him to sleep. i'm telling ya- "wearing" your baby is the way to go- we are able to do so much since he's a flexible kid & use to falling asleep anywhere as long as he's in a sling. i hope we're as lucky with the rest of our children :)
& then our sweet little boy has fast forwarded a few months into the terrible two's. his tantrums are awesome. he still hasn't figured out how to involve his whole body, but he's got the rest of the skit down.

all he wanted to do the entire weekend was play in the dirt. and so he did.
which made it easier on us as we were taking our campsite down.


i love that he has the opposite to my dimple. our dimples complete each other. SO CORNY! did i really just type that?

on our way home we found the aspen patch & stopped to take some pictures.

so beautiful & peaceful.

till next time flagstaff.

spash park numero dos

on a lovely afternoon we decided to hit up the splash park, again. this time finn was brave. this time he was king of the jungle & nothing was going to stop him from ruling his roost.



pane.

remember how nervous we were about his hearing those first few months... maybe you don't -we didn't really mention it to many people, but we were. we thought he was to some extent deaf. he failed his hearing test. they rescheduled us for the more extensive testing & he passed with flying colors. this child can hear things that i barely hear. from inside he'll hear a plane flying overhead & run to the window or door to see it. he'll hear a horn from i don't know where & repeat it's sound. doo doooo. this kid is with it i tell ya.
waiting patiently for the bigger kids to go through.
trying to get him to come through... but he's just not sure...
so he runs the other way!


so after playing on the other section i try. and i'm a little more forcefull & basically push him through.
but he goes!!!!
& then he keeps going through. & through. & through!
see, brave. roarrrrrrrrrrr!



look at this cute scrunchy face!!!

trying to save the lady that kept getting dumped on.
sweet kisses for daddy.
to cute.
another pane!!!!! we live 5 minutes from the airport & this is a few blocks away from our house, so this happened about every 10 minutes.
i tried to get some kisses but, he wasn't into it.
oh happy boy. in his element.

i love you.

i bought finn these letters after we'd had dinner at our friends joanne & keith's. finn was obsessed with their letters on the refrigerator. owen is really smart & so if the aspinall's did it, i'm willing to try it!

he loves playing with them, especially if that means slipping them in the air condition vents. bryan had to unscrew the vent from the wall to reclaim 5 or 6 letters. so now i only allow him a few & that way i can tell if some have "vanished".




i love the look of concentration.
one day soon, finn, the air will cool off outside & we can wear more clothes. one day soon...