Palm Springs - Living Desert

This morning we drove out to the Living Desert for some cactus / zoo / playground fun with Kylie! She got her first allowance, spent it on a dinosaur toy and a lollypop, and immediately started crying, "I want my money back!" as soon as we got out of the gift shop. Lesson learned?

 It's STILL Christmas!

 Ocotillo sunrise

 Hola pueblo amigos!

 A fierce ride!

Morning in the desert

 I'm poky, prickly and have two arms...

I'm a cactus!

 Twisty cactus

 Hello spiky friend

 Cactus path

Desert familia

 Chunky saguaro

 Desert beauty

 Hummingbird

 Lil' drummer

Up giraffe-o-scope!

Goodbye giraffe!

Boise - Happy New Year!

Between Christmas and New Year's, we flew out to Boise for a week with Tiffany, Tony, Jessica, Anthony and Annie. Grandpa Ed and Great-Woman Lynn drove down to join in on the holiday action! For New Year's Eve, we ordered Thai food, played games and had too much fun!

Ice skating for the first time.

 I'm just like Elsa!

 Winter shopping downtown

 Afternoon hike

 Quiet hills

Snow blossom

Tiffany's trunk seat!

Best. Invention. Ever.

Sunsets

We don't have a ton of weeknight activities yet, so we've been spending quality time together around the house and enjoying the spectacular sunsets each evening after Autumn gets home from work. 

I think these are Autumn's top three photos from the week!

And here's what we've been doing!

 Dancing

 Collecting shells

 Being cute!

 Oops! One more good one!

 Snuggling

Relaxing

Hoppy Easter!

Today, we were invited over to an Easter egg hunt and barbeque just down the road and spent a lovely afternoon swimming and meeting new friends! The Easter Bunny hid a special basket of goodies for Kylie to find in the house (thanks Grandmas!), and she got some new paints!

 Bright and sunny day on the lagoon!

All dressed up for the party!

Kylie got to dye eggs and do crafts with the girls next door

 Egg hunt!

Kylie's first watercolor!

Out and About in Honolulu

Saturday afternoon we arrived in beautiful Honolulu, HI for a few days' stop over before heading to post.  My mom came out to see us off, and we had a really fun week!

Cheese!  Everyone is so happy to finally be together in Honolulu!

Ready to snorkel!

 We took a scenic drive around part of Oahu Sunday.  What a gorgeous view!

Diamond Head Crater on the horizon.

Once we got out of Honolulu and into the less crowded part of Oahu, the scenery turned gorgeous.

There were steep cliffs...

...beautiful, wind-swept beaches...

...rugged, volcanic peaks...

...and lush valleys.

Then we were back in Honolulu, spending time on Waikiki Beach.

Eric even had a swim!  It was too cold for me, though (because I'm a huge baby!).

Killing it in the most awesome sunglasses ever.

 Shopping 'til she drops!

 Late afternoon swim!

We had so much fun in Honolulu, we can't wait to go back!  Thank you mom for making our week so much fun!