We just got back from our trip to Arizona. I had never been anywhere near Arizona before, so this was a great experience for me. Phoenix is such an interesting city. The area is dotted with mountains poking up, but it is otherwise extremely flat. The city just builds around the hills and you see this fascinating landscape of a sprawling metropolis with various mountain peaks scattered around.

Most of the vacation was spent with members Serena’s extended family. Thanks to the hospitality of her uncles Jerry and Steve, we also had a very great place(their house) to gather each day. As the days went by, we were treated to good company, wonderful food, and, perhaps best of all, a steady supply of willing babysitters.

For being in a desert it seemed strange that it rained on three different days, and the only really sunny days were the last two of the trip. But I really can’t complain about the weather; being able to wear shorts and short-sleeved shirts was a nice change from Wisconsin.

We did a lot of neat things in Arizona. For starters, I had never seen a real cactus before, so that was a pretty great thing for me. I discovered that I am a huge fan of Arizona flora, especially the saguaro cactus and aloe plants. One day we hiked Camelback Mountain, a landmark which dominates the landscape of eastern Phoenix. We did some geocaching, took an excursion to Sedona, and obsessively checked our shoes for scorpions. Well, I think I was the only one who did that last one. Thanks a lot, Rescue 911, for traumatizing me as a child.

The worst part about the trip was the two travel days. Anyone who knows Leo knows he is seldom content to sit around in one spot. And because we didn’t want to pay the ridiculous fees for checking luggage, we carried everything on. So we had three suitcases, three handbag type things, and Leo’s car seat, which we brought so he could use in the rental car in Arizona. That’s a lot of stuff to carry around in an airport when you also have to carry a baby and your four year old keeps trying her best to get abducted. Couple that with a 3 hour layover in Denver and a 4 hour layover in Chicago and you have a difficult couple days of traveling.

Leo’s first birthday is this Saturday. What can I say about Leo? His first year was certainly a lot different than Odessa’s. Hers went by very quickly, but that was probably because she wasn’t a pain in the rear for most of it. Without vomiting melodrama all over your eyes, I’ll just succinctly say that Leo was not the easiest baby to take care of for the first nine months of his life. And, to be fair to the little guy, it probably wasn’t very easy being him either.

Thankfully, that seems to be past him now. While timidity and curiosity dominate his personality around other people, at home he is an animated, vibrant little boy who can’t stop smiling and squealing with delight when at play(assuming his basic needs are promptly met). He eats well, he sleeps well, and his sister is his favorite person in the world. Though, I have a feeling this is because he doesn’t know many people. She’s constantly knocking him over.

It may surprise people to know that to compare the kids, Leo actually smiles much, much more than Odessa did at this age. He walked at an earlier age than she did, and he also “talks” a lot more. He seems much more interested in going places and moving around than she did and is much more hands-on than she was. Leo will pick something up, examine it, and then move on to something else, whereas Odessa would hold something and be content with it and really focus on it. Odessa had more finesse in her movements at one year old than Leo, who tends to charge around recklessly.  I understand that these observations fall into usual gender stereotypes, and I’ve tried to avoid that bias, but it just seems to be this way to me.  I could, and would, make these comparisons for hours, but I have the feeling that it’s the sort of thing that only the parents of the kids enjoy doing.

Update: Below are pictures from Leo’s birthday.