First Visit to Tuscon

The kids and I out in the courtyard of the International Wildlife Museum.

In and out of the ferret hole.

We didn't have anything to do yesterday, except sit in our little room all together, so we went to Tuscon to visit a few things on our LONG list. Tuscon is about an hour and ten minutes away, but as soon as we got into the car Logan was asking "Mommy, are we fair (there) yet?". I don't know where he came up with that. Probably all the TV we have been watching lately.

We started at the International Wildlife Museum. The kids had a great time. It was nice going to a museum that Blake and I could enjoy and the kids could touch and experience much of what was on display. The kids ran around, pointing and "oohing" and "aahing". Reagan would point at everything and yell "animal!" and Chase was constantly doing his happy dance (picture Bill Cosby doing a jig and you'd have it about right). I need to get that recorded and put on here. They had a lot of fun.

We get to pet the lion!

It's gonna bite me!

"Look Mommy! ANIMAL!"

This tiger is huge!

At the Tuscon Children's Museum

The next place we went was the Tuscon Children's Museum. That was a big hit too. They had fire engine and a police motorcycle with all the lights and sirens, a dinosaur display, a rain forest climbing area, play doctor, dentist, and kitchen areas. They even had an art studio, the Mars experience, music room and multiple model trains that you could control (a BIG hit with Logan). It was the kids' dream come true. As soon as we left, they we asking when they could go back.

Chase "caught" doing puzzles.

The train models were controlled by buttons. Logan spent over an hour just pushing the buttons.

Evidence of a day well spent.

Tomorrow, we are out of our one room and into a house! I am so happy, you could even say that I am giddy! All our stuff will be delivered on Monday! Yeah! See you soon!

What To See in Arizona

Here is what I said I would post for those who are thinking of visiting. We have been pleasantly surprised at the number of things to do around southern Arizona. Here are some links that all of you can check out if planning to visit.

www.visittucson.org

http://www.tucsonazhomes.com/tucsonguide-2a.html

The link to Tombstone: http://www.tombstone.org/index.html?ur.html&1

Bisbee is a pretty artsy community now: http://bisbeearizona.com/content/

The International Wildlife Museum: http://www.thewildlifemuseum.org/

The Pima Air and Space Museum has the Challenger Space Center and tours of the famous "Boneyard" http://www.pimaair.org

This is a often used movie studio that has shows and an interactive western environment http://www.oldtuscon.com

I really want to see this since we didn't go on our vacation down the PCH and see all the missions: http://www.sanxaviermission.org

We definitely are going here too since Arizona has some of the best sky-watching in the world: http://www.noao.edu/kpno/

For the kiddos: http://www.tucsonchildrensmuseum.org/

We have caves, aquatic centers, mine tours and other stuff that I didn't list here, but this is a good start.

Happy Hunting!

Time in the park and watching movies.

As I have stated before, we spend most of our free time at the local parks. Here is some footage of Reagan and Chase on the swings.

When we aren't in the park, we are stuck in a small room together. Needless to say, we watch a lot of movies. A Bug's Life is the movie of choice at the moment. Reagan even watched it right after getting bitten by a host of red ants. When they are tired after playing hard, we come home, take a bath, get into some pjs and the twins get into our bed and settle themselves down under the covers (completely on their own). It is really funny.

Is this Arizona?

These pictures are from the observation point/picnic area on base as an afternoon storm was rolling in. Is it what you pictured Arizona to look like? Not me.










This is the housing on Fort Huachuca. Amazing surroundings. Although they do have quite a problem with rattlesnakes and scorpions. (We are not living on base.)

Fort Huachuca is bordered on one side by mountains (what they call mountains, but Utahans know better). We were told it was quite pretty and temperate compared with the rest of Arizona, but we were blown away with how lovely the area really is. Sierra Vista, Tombstone, Bisbee and Fort Huachuca are much greener than expected. There are rolling hills everywhere. This time of year is the rainy season and every night we get spectacular thunderstorms. It is often cloudy and when the clouds cover the sun, the weather is just perfect. We stay out in the parks every morning and evening. Although the bugs are a different story. Reagan has already been attacked by large red ants that have bit her feet and little legs. (She was beside herself for several hours.) You can't seem to avoid all the ants... they are LITERALLY EVERYWHERE! The playgrounds are infested with them.

Here we go...

Blake, Reagan and Chase waiting for the Wild West Show to begin. Logan with the "Marshall."

Well, everyone seems to have a blog/website nowadays, so in interest of not being left out of the loop: here is my very first blog post. Beautiful, isn't it?! We have been in Sierra Vista, AZ now for a week and it has been chalked full. We are staying in a little hotel room: yes, two adults, three toddlers and two dogs in a little hotel room (Motel 6 style). Hey, I guess the pioneers did it, right? We spend most of our time outdoors on the playgrounds around here, to say the least. We will move into our house on Friday and I am counting down the days!

We have already gone to Tombstone and Bisbee. Logan LOVED Tombstone. It was very kid-friendly. With colorful characters placed all over town. We saw a shoot-out at Helldorado and a roping & riding show where Logan learned so roping tricks. We ate at the Crystal Palace (pulled pork sandwiches and sarsaparilla.... mmmmm...). The second floor of the crystal Palace is where Town Marshal Virgil Earp and Sheriff Behan had their offices. We only went to a small portion of what they had and I was surprised at how much they had to do there.

There is also a mine tour, OK Corral reenactments, shows at the Bird Cage Theatre, Boothill Graveyard, and tours by trolley or horse-drawn wagon. By the way, I would've put more pictures of Reagan and Chase in, but they just wanted to sit in their strollers and eat, for the most part, so they didn't do anything exciting.

Bisbee is more of an art community and has galleries and antique shops. They have a mine tour where you go around in actual mine carts (big yellow hat and all). We didn't go on it since Chase and Reagan are still a bit young.

I will be posting websites for people to go to who intend on coming to visit. It will give you a better idea of what there is to do here. See ya'll soon!