next time i'm going to the grand canyon....

TONS of pictures... 

last weekend, we went on a road trip with my parents to Arizona. We went to Mesa, Holbrook, Flagstaff, and the Grand Canyon. 

First, we visited family in Mesa (Aunt Christine, Uncle Steve, Gramma Lowe, Cousin Stephanie and Stephanie's former fiance, Tim Abbott). I feel like such an idiot, because I didn't take a single picture! 

We left Mesa and headed for Holbrook and the Petrified Forest. (side note - Holbrook is the town where my mother grew up and the Petrified Forest is where my parents met.)

the Medina's at the Petrified Forest

thunderstorms in the distance

Mr. J knows a lot about the Petrified Forest!

storms getting bigger... coming together

Petrified Forest... so romantic.

after fine dining at El Rancho (hello Navajo Tacos!) we did a quick tour of the town and headed for the Meteor Crater. 

the wigwam hotel in Holbrook. the car in front says "Doc Hudson"

Meteor Crater

baby girl, happy to be out of the car!

it was at the Meteor Crater that we had our first encounter with the many foreigners who shared our interest in Northern Arizona. 

Then, we headed to the thriving metropolis of Flagstaff, AZ. (fun side-note, Flagstaff is the name of Gabe's cat) Flagstaff is a cute town with a nice university and is home to the Lowell Observatory - discoverers of Pluto. 

happy girl - ready for bed. 

at the observatory

beautiful views.

my cuties.

happy girl!

old telescope.

We headed from Flagstaff, through the Navajo Reservation, to the Grand Canyon...  but this isn't it! this is just the Little Colorado Canyon...

Little Colorado Canyon

hey - i know him.

woof. 

 after our long travels, we finally made it to the Grand Canyon! it was unbelievable. it has been a long time since i've been there. i forgot how amazing it is. 

Grand Canyon, from Desert View

this amazing picture was taken with my phone!

when we made it to the hotel, we ventured to the pool... where we were the only Americans. it was fun to hear people speaking french. baby girl looked so sweet in her bumble bee swimsuit and hat...

 at the hotel, 80% of the patrons were Europeans. people came from all over the world to see this: 

three amigos?

wazzup!

daddy and his bumble bee.

Sunday, we did some more exploring at the Grand Canyon.

so cute, i can hardly stand it. 

our little park ranger.

view from bright angel trail head - you can see the trail i hiked a long time ago!

tourist family.

:)

wish you were here. 

another view of Bright Angel Trail

ava - world traveler!

grand canyon's best view.

gabe and ava's first time at the Grand Canyon

if you look very closely, you can see my parents on that ridge. 

another view of the trail.

Ava did great! i was worried about her being in the car for such long periods at a time, but she was a good girl. we had so much fun and we can't wait to go back!

thank you, mom and dad, for an awesome trip!

sunshine and swimming.

i love to swim. gabe loves to swim (only in a pool, though. he's not much for the beach). we were excited to share this fun with our baby girl. so saturday was the day we introduced her to the water.

we got her this cool infant floaty seat that comes with a shade... she was kickin' it!

she had a good time. she was kicking, squeeling, and enjoying the sunshine. (don't worry, we put lots of sunscreen on her!)

can't wait to take her swimming again!

5 months.

Our precious girl is 5 months old! (she was 5 months on sunday, but i was busy, then under the weather, then busy again...)

here is she is with her bear:

no doctor visit this month, so we'll have to make due with unofficial stats...

weight: 17 lbs, 8 oz
height: 25 in

you can compare to her 4 month stats/pics here.

fun facts:

she loves to be naked
she hates to be hot and gets overheated really easily
she loves to kick, especially on her tamberine toy
she slaps on her belly
she sings and talks a lot
she still HATES tummy time... but she's **THIS close to rolling over
she has been to the beach (not in the water or anything)

anniversary weekend.

last weekend, Gabe and i celebrated our 3rd wedding anniversary. it started on friday with a trip to Disneyland sans Ava, courtesy of Granny Lanny. we got to go on so many fun "big kid" rides. specifically - Splash Mountain! it had been over a year since we had been on it!!

we also checked out the new Cars Land...

saturday, we left baby Ava with Linda and headed to Newport Beach. we stayed at the Marriott Newport Beach. here was the beautiful view from our balcony.

after an afternoon relaxing at the pool, we had a lovely dinner and enjoyed the beautiful sunset.

view from our balcony as the sun went down.  

 we had such a great weekend!!!

zombie baby.

as Ava discovers her voice, she is making all sorts of fun sounds. right now, she's making a funny hissing/growling sound that makes her sound like a zombie.

happy.

this girl is happy.

father.

Gabe is a wonderful father. He is spending the summer home with Ava until the fall semester. he brings her to visit me at work for lunch, he takes her to the park, he takes her to visit grandma... they love to be together!

i LOVE this picture.

to celebrate his first father's day, i took him to the dodger game... Think Blue!!  (thanks to Linda, we went baby-free...)

i had to sneak a pic...

my father was out of town on father's day, so we celebrated last sunday. here was sweet ava on the belated father's day for grandpa! (she had some bruises from falling off the bed. poor girl)

such a sweet smiley girl!