Cathy left to go back to New Hampshire early on Thursday morning. I drove her to the airport at 4:45 am while wearing my pajamas.
For her last whole day here Michael was at work and we had the kids, so we needed to do something kid friendly. That limited our options a bit but luckily Spencer didn't have school that day (teacher training), so we didn't have to worry about his school schedule.
We decided to go to the Museum of Natural History. It used to be called the Mesa Southwest Museum. I have been there many times. There is absolutely nothing different about it under the new name but I guess they thought it sounded jazzier.
I had thought that this was Spencer's first time there, but once I thought about it I am sure we took him when he was younger. He didn't remember it at all so it was like his first time.
Cathy was a huge help with the munchkins.
We timed it just right to be by the waterfall for the flood. I remember it being much more impressive previously. Maybe that is the change that determined the name change.
We took this picture because of the javelina in the background.
And in this one we were pretending that they were really outside standing in a sea of desert poppies.
We all got to be on TV in classic Westerns.
Spencer spent some time in prison.
So did Elliott.
Elliott loved on Cathy (who was a little too chesty in this picture, so I did some crafty editing).
Spencer panned for gold.
He is still talking about it.
Drinks, including water bottles (!!!) are not allowed, so we had to sneak Elliott his contraband sippy.
The last room we went to was missed by every other group at the museum. We were in there for a good 30 minutes and no one else came in to join us.
Elliott was a huge fan of the rocking pterodactyl.
Spencer was a master at the "move the tubes around to feed the birds a wiffle ball" game.
We had lunch after the museum and then Elliott fell asleep in the car for 20 seconds. He decided that 20 seconds was all he needed because then it took me a good 45 minutes to get him back to sleep once we got home. Once he was finally in a deep slumber I started making dinner. Cathy went in the pool.
She very much enjoyed my new Hobby Lobby purchase.
Maryellen joined us for dinner but we were too busy eating ham and potatoes and creamed spinach and fudge to take pictures.
After Maryellen left we did a little photo shoot to commemorate Cathy's second visit to us in AZ.
We wanted a nice one of the two of us.
Check
We wanted one with Elliott.
He had other plans.
We wanted one of me looking like I was in a partial medically induced coma while holding a clothed kid and a half naked baby.
Success!
And we wanted a semi-decent minus the half naked baby family picture.
That'll work.
And finally, we totally had to get a picture of Cathy with Ginger......
So that we could do a totally awesome side by side comparison that Cathy specifically requested I put in a blog post.
Cathy and Ginger on the left, circa June 2010.
Cathy and Ginger on the right, circa last Wednesday night.
