My New Niece!

I took a quick trip to Arizona with Shayne to go meet my new niece, Avery, my sister Sarah's little girl. No better time to visit warm, sunny AZ then during the cold, smoggy month of February in Utah. She's a cute little thing.

Big yawn:
I felt like this trip to AZ was also a trip down memory lane for me. We did some things that I did a lot of growing up. We went to a duck park with a pond that I remember fishing in with a little kid's 'tony the tiger' fishing pole. There were several people fishing in it the day we went and I couldn't help but wondering what kind of wacky, terrible tasting fish you could catch in this murky, stagnant gutter-run off pond. Yuck!

My mom and I took Shayne to the Phoenix Zoo. It was sooo much fun and Shayne really enjoyed it. I remember going to the petting zoo at the zoo and being surrounded by goats. I remember them eating a paper out of my dad's pocket once. When I took Shayne in to pet the goats, most of them were asleep and lying on the ground. We found one just the right size for her though:I was wondering what had changed with the goats and I realized that they used to let you feed them pellets. Well, no longer and, therefore, they are no longer much interested in you. Shayne was a little wary of Pedro the donkey, but he was nice.
My mom took Shayne into the monkey exhibit where you enter into a big cage with a bunch of little spider monkeys. They do have warning signs saying that the monkeys may jump on you, bite you, and the guide warned her to stand back a certain distance or you could get peed on! I was quite proud of my mom for taking the chance.
One night we introduced Shayne to the magic of bubbles:
And picked ripe, sweet oranges off the tree in my parents' backyard to eat. I think I ate 3 a day the whole time I was there.
I didn't get pictures of it, but Shayne's favorite thing during the trip was my parent's little mini schnauzer. She would follow her all around, sit in her dog bed, and ask for her in her own way (shrugging her shoulders and doing her 'woof woof' dog sound) everytime she was out of sight. Ah, Arizona I miss you.