baby molly goes to arizona

we just got back from a wonderful weekend with family in Arizona. i did a terrible job taking pictures - we were just having too much fun and the camera kept getting left behind! but here are a few...

we flew into Phoenix on Thursday (it took us three tries but eventually Alaska came through with both a plane that could fly and a pilot that could fly it). molly was amazing seeing that we started at the airport around 3:30 and didn't take off until 8:30. we are so lucky!

but all that airport stress melted away the minute we got to warm, dry Arizona and met up with Aunt Erin. Erin bought a new house right around the same time we did back in 2007 and it was fantastic to see her new pad! we even had our own room (which of course looked like a bomb had dropped on it within 5 minutes of us showing up!)

molly loved seeing her Grandma Mike (who was parked out front in the RV!), Aunt Erin, her cousins Ryan and Sara and New Year, and all the pooches (Lila, Copper and Sammy). she really loved those pooches. it's always nice for her to be around dogs that don't just want to run away from her all the time. she gave them lots of hugs and kisses. our friends Karl and Kristin even stopped by to say hello (molly met them when she was very young and thought they were the cats pj's, and they are!)

she also chased her cousin Ryan (age 4) around the house, giggling away.Ryan was so sweet, giving molly gifts, inviting her to play with him, showing her around. Ryan is the closest in age to molly of all the cousins, and i know there will be a true friendship there in the years to come. just look at the fun they had together on the road trip to Tucson!

but before we left for Tucson, we got to see some very good friends of ours who used to live in Portland. Dan and Mary Jane now live in Phoenix with their adorable daughter Faith, who is 3. we went to their place for dinner and had a really wonderful time. they plan on being there a while, and we plan on seeing them whenever we go.

on Saturday AM we all headed down to Tucson to see Aunt Beth, Uncle Sean, and cousins Sinead and Declan (Declan and molly are in the picture to the left, Declan was making sure molly looked at the camera), plus poochie Dora. Aunt Beth had reserved us a ramada at a nearby park and cousins Jim, Tina, Maggie Rae and Callum came, as did molly's third set of grandparents, Linda and Jerry (Aunt Beth's mom and dad). there was playing on the playground, chasing balls, and snacking galore! [i completely forgot to take any pictures - argh!] and that night we got to celebrate cousin Sinead's 10th bday with delicious ice cream cake. i remember the last time we were in Tucson was the Mother's Day right after Sinead was born, it doesn't seem like it's been that long, but there you go...

the next day we started things off right with the famous Feeney cottage cheese pancakes. molly was extremely enthusiastic about them and polished off quite a few (and mommy was very enthusiastic about her homemade latte from Uncle Sean).

then it was on to dress up fun and pirates on the high seas! Sinead has a wonderful array of dress up clothes and she shared them with all of us. molly got all dressed up in a cape and boa and ran around like there was no tomorrow.

and even though she was pretty fancy, she didn't let that stop her from getting a little work done in the yard. i ask you, who else could mow in a sequinzed purple cape, and get away with it?! see below for the proof.


did i mention that Sinead gave us the cape? so now we can play dress up whenever we want (which will be often!).


another fun dress up item was the merlin hat, and here is a little slideshow of a few of the Feeney's sporting it!


as for the pirates, we all had much fun setting sail and watching Declan's pirate ships sail around the pool. there was Captain Bloodsword (with a name like Bloodsword, you'd kind of have to be a pirate, right?), Soldier Canonball (ditto with that name) and Jake (ah, he could have gone on to do pretty much anything i'd say). and of course, the evil Monkey King. molly very much enjoyed sticking her feet in the pool and splashing around - which caused some rocky seas for those pirates. but Declan was always there to fish out the men (and sometimes women in the case of the princess) overboard.

from Tucson we headed back to Phoenix and left for Portland on Sunday evening. it was whirlwind, but as you can see, we had a fabulous time. molly had her entourage of cousins who played with her, gave her zerberts, read her stories, and made sure she was having fun. everyone calls her "baby molly" and seeing that she is probably the last of this particular generation of Feeney's, i'm guessing its a nickname that will stick. she'll be 30 and her cousin Ryan will ask what "baby molly" wants for dinner.

and just so you know i was serious about the dress up, here is molly helping us unpack (while calling her peeps to let them know she was back in town), all dressed up!