Sedona & The Grand Canyon

What a fabulous trip. We spent Labor Day week in Sedona and the Grand Canyon and enjoyed every bit of it! Here are a few pictures of our time in starting in Sedona. Below is the view from the visitor center coming in from the south of Sedona.
Bell Rock...

Don't touch the cactus. Here we were at the rock Cathedral.

A spectacular view from the Sedona airport.

Shopping in Sedona, trying on a few cowboy hats!

Jumping from rocks at Grasshopper Point. Mommy & Daddy took turns since the water was way too cold for Gabriel.

Two horses lived at the bed & breakfast where we stayed about 25 miles outside of the Grand Canyon National Park, South Rim. Gabriel went to visit them every morning and every night! He loved Twister and Laredo!

Strolling at the Grand Canyon Village.

Another spectactular view from the Grand Canyon!

Love this picture!

Gabriel was dancing to the music of the Navajo Indians. They performed some traditional dances and Gabriel loved it! He was completely enamored by the Indian's dress.

Our cute little boy at the Navajo Indian performance, playing in the trees.

Jumping from the red rock at Slide Rock State Park...

William's turn.

Then we hit the slide, how fun it was!

Our family picture from Slide Rock State Park.

Daddy and Gabriel playing on the jeep tour stop in front of a beautiful Sedona sunset!

On the jeep...did I mention these jeeps go vertical???

And finally, the family in front of a beautiful Sedona sunset.

Week with Mops & Granddaddy

Last week Gabriel got to spend 3 days with Mops and Granddaddy all by himself! Mommy had to go to California for work and Daddy was spending lots of time at Jackson Memorial Hospital slaving away in his last year of residency (yipee!!!). Below are some pictures and a few captions...
Gabriel had so much fun with his cousins, Taylor and Chloe. T&C loved having their cousin in town to play with.

Mops took Gabriel to the poool nearly every day! As you can see they loved the kiddie pool.

Gabriel finally sat with Uncle Scott after a few days of seeing him.

You can't stay at Mops and Grandaddy's house without having ice cream every night! He loved it!

Gabriel was spoiled witha a great park (and pool) in the development.

Of course, we must mention Luna. Gabriel wasn't too sure of her at first, but here you can see everything turned out a-okay! Thank goodness for a calm dog that let Gabriel do whatever he wanted without hardly flinching! Gabriel loved to grab Luna's nose and lips.

Another day at the pool...Motor boat, motor boat go so slow; motor boat, motor boat go so fast; motor boat, motor boat step on the gassssss....

Lizard Chaser

Gabriel has become quite the lizard chaser. He sees lizards crawling all over the screen when he is looking through our sliding glass doors. Here he is pointing to and talking to lizards.
After church this past Sunday, we went out to the catwalk in front of our condo. This is one of his favorite places to chase lizards. As you can see he gets very interested in chasing them in the bushes...

There he goes...

He hasn't caught one yet, but I'm sure it will be soon enough. I just hope it isn't one of those huge, nasty dragon looking ones. It's probably a good thing he can't catch them now since he may try to eat it. Gross!!!

July

July has been eventful for the Arce Family. William started his 3rd and final year as a Family Medicine resident! I officially finished my MBA. And Gabriel got his first hair cut! I had to do it while he was eating since that is about the only time he sits still! He mainly got his mohawk cut off and a little bit in the back of his head. Here is a before and after. Look closely at the before picture to see the hair standing up on the top of his head.

Gabriel playing with the toy Mops got for him. I had one of these when I was his age!

And...the maracas, of course...

The rocket is Gabriel's new favorite toy. He loves to get on and propel himself forward.

Finally, we set up his Fisher Price Garage he got for his birthday. He loves it!

Gabriel's Uncle Adam and Aunt Airely came to visit this past weekend. We had such a fun time even though we didn't seem to do too much. We went to the beach on Saturday, but it was cloudy. Adam and Airely were so much fun for Gabriel!

That's it for July. Gabriel is set for some fun in August. In a couple of weeks he is going to stay with Mops & Granddaddy for a few days while I go to CA for work.

July 4th Weekend

Gabriel had a very busy 4th of July weekend. Mommy and Daddy were both off work Friday and got to take Gabriel to the park in the morning and to the beach in the afternoon. Here are a couple of pictures of our boy in action at the park.

Gabriel had so much fun at the beach. This was the first time he got to sit and play in the sand with the toys and didn't eat very much sand! He finished with sand from head to toe...he is getting to be such a big boy!

Of course, daddy was teaching Gabriel how to dig in the sand and build sand castles.

More fun to come this weekend. Hopefully, the weather will allow for us to have more fun at the beach!

Need I say more? This is my favorite!

Gabriel's First Birthday

Happy Birthday to Gabriel! Today we celebrated Gabriel's first year and what a fun one it was! Here is the birthday boy with Mops. Getting ready to eat his birthday cupcake.

And, for the beginning...

We got a little messy, but oh, it was so yummy!

Luckily, the high chair is on wheels. We rolled Gabriel right into the bathroom for a bath.

What an evening! This is the first of 3 birthday celebrations. The ones to come are at school and then the big part next weekend! Yipee...a week long celebration!