Cardinals vs Packers

 Andy took Max to his first NFL game last night. It was the Cardinals versus the Packers and Max had been asking to go for a while, so he was thrilled when Andy was able to get tickets last minute. I will say though that Max is both a Cardinals and a Packers fan, but he will cheer for the Cardinals when they are playing the Packers. So, he went to the game last night wearing a Cardinals jersey while Andy wore his Packers gear.

Andy picked Max up from school a little early to try and avoid some of the traffic heading out to the stadium. Andy told me that Max was walking out of school with HUGE excitement. He couldn't wait to go and of course, he told all of his classmates and his teacher where he was going.

Traffic was bad heading to the stadium, but they got there early and Max did what he does best, eat. 

It got chilly once the sun went down so Max scored himself a new Cardinals sweatshirt. Andy said a good thing it's green so he kinda blended in with the Packers fans.

Max told Andy that he was having fun and it was the best time. I am so glad these two got to do this together. They both came home with HUGE smiles and Max couldn't stop talking.

Fall and Photos

 This past weekend we got into the Halloween spirit and Fall mood by going to the farm. We did many of their activities and picked out our pumpkins. We've been going to this farm for four years now and this might be our last year. One, it was a giant cluster and two, Max seems to be outgrowing this particular farm. This farm I think is geared towards much younger kids. Either way, we had fun.

We got one pumpkin for my work decorating contest and Max and I worked on that. Since it's way too early to carve a pumpkin in AZ (it's best to do it the day before Halloween so it doesn't rot) I decided to paint the pumpkin white and melt crayons on top. It turned out pretty cool. We will see if we win the contest.

On Sunday we had our Fall family photo shoot. When I originally booked the shoot I thought this past weekend might be cooler outside. I don't know what I was thinking because it was a very warm/hot 86 degrees. So, long sleeves and jeans made for a very sweaty time. You can't tell in the photos though. The new photographer that I used did a fantastic job. Here are a few if you haven't already seen them. 

Mom and Max Weekend

 This past weekend was just Max and I because Andy was away with the boys to hunt Elk. Yes, you read that right, Andy went on a boys' hunting weekend. His first time ever hunting and really even shooting a gun. He went with two friends and camped about an hour and a half away. This is the only picture I have of Andy and Brian heading out of town with the camper to meet up with Russell at the hunting spot.

On Friday night Max and I went to Bingo night at his school. It was held outside on the basketball courts and it was a lot of fun. I mostly had fun watching Max play with his friends after he gave up on Bingo. I just kept hearing "Maxim, over here;" and "Maxim let's play." It was really cute.

On Saturday morning after breakfast, Max and I headed to the Phoenix Zoo since we have not been there in a couple years and they finally removed their mask policy, so it was time to go. We got 10,000 steps in by noon and enjoyed the beautiful weather while seeing the animals before we had lunch together at Max's favorite lunch spot.

Saturday night we picked up sushi and had plenty of snuggles on the couch while we watched a movie together.

Sunday, our neighborhood was having a pumpkin decorating contest in the park behind our house to get to know the neighbors better so we went to that. I figured it's time to get to know our neighbors a little more. I mean, we have only lived here for almost six years. It was fun and they are going to start doing more and more get-togethers so I am looking forward to that. 

Vacation Part IIII

 Another day that was a lot of fun was when we chartered a boat for the day. It was a little choppy and windy on that day and it was due to the hurricane that was out at sea. It didn't bother me because it was such a beautiful day on the water. The Captain took us to three snorkeling spots. I used my iPhone in a waterproof case to take some pictures of the fish. It definitely did not do the beauty justice. I saw many parrotfish and even a couple HUGE parrotfish. It was very beautiful. 

Max didn't want to snorkel, but instead, he stay on the boat. For the first snorkeling spot, he fell asleep on the boat while the rest of us snorkeled. Like I have said many times before, this kid can fall asleep anywhere. 




The Captain took us to a quiet part of the water to get a break from the choppy water for a bit. The kids jumped off a dock for a bit. 

While we were parked one of the Captains taught us about Conche and let us take a bite if we wanted to. I wasn't interested, but others tried it.

We went fishing for a little bit and caught fish left and right. Max caught a snapper and I have a video of him reeling it in. He was so excited. I am not sure how much fish we caught, but it was a lot. 

We went to a beautiful private beach to hang out while the Captain cleaned the fish for us. 

After our fun day on the water, the Captain took us to a local restaurant that cooked up all the fish we caught. It was so good! The best fish I have ever eaten. We then headed back to Atlantis with full bellies.

Vacation Part III

 One of my favorite days of vacation was when we got to be ultimate trainers for a day. This gave us a look behind the scenes at the Atlantis animals. We arrived at the Dolphin Cay in the morning and it was a beautiful beach and the water was filled with dolphins swimming around. It was so quiet and peaceful. 

We checked in and started our day behind the scenes with a tour. Our tour included a photographer that took photos all day so we didn't have to worry about it. This was great because I now have really nice photos of the memorable day. We got to see where they put together the food for the day for each animal. This room smelled so bad though. I pretty much couldn't wait to get out of that room. We then moved onto the hospital where we got to see animals that were being taken care of. We even got to hold some.

Next up was the nursery. This was absolutely adorable and we got to hold the four-week-old sea turtles. We also got to hold the three-year-old sea turtle. Max wasn't feeling this very much. He really wasn't into holding them. 

Next up was feeding the sharks. This was really cool and the kids loved it. The sharks were ready to eat and they were feisty. Max was really looking forward to this because he loves sharks.

We moved onto the stingrays. We got in the water with them and fed them shrimp. There was snorkeling involved and I wasn't very into that. Max wouldn't even get in the water. He fed the stingrays shrimp from the stairs and he definitely did not snorkel. 

After lunch we went back to the dolphins. This was really cool. We got in the water with them and they pushed us across the water from our feet and they pulled us across the water as we held onto their fin. 

The dolphins did some tricks.

We got to pet and feed the dolphins before we swam with them for a bit. 

After a fun time with the dolphins, we met Canilla. This was probably my favorite part of the whole trip. Canilla was the sea lion and she was a character. She smiled, did tricks, did the dab, "attacked" us, etc. She was a hoot and a ham for the camera. Towards the end of our time with Canilla her friend, Sunny, came out to join us too. This just made the day, if not the whole trip. Everyone had huge smiles on their face. It was so fun!

The last part of our day was experiencing the beautiful parrot. We got a demonstration with the trainer and plenty of photos. In the last photo when the parrot flew over our heads, he kept hitting Andy in the head. I am not sure if the bird was used to flying over someone so tall or if it was intentional. 

Experiencing the Ultimate Trainer for a day was so fun. It was a great experience and even better that it was just our families for the whole day. I would highly recommend this experience for anyone visiting Atlantis.