Living it up in Phoenix

One of my best friends, Camelia, lives in Phoenix. We visited her in January and loved it so much that we had to go again when Albert had a conference there a few weeks ago. Camelia has a son, Aiden, who is just a little over 2 years old. Little Aiden has big blue eyes and blond curls that would make any 18 month old swoon. He also has an incredible memory which makes it fun to go visit him because he remembers us.

Camelia is part of a mommy's group including one person who was nice enough to let us crash her son's birthday party on Saturday so that Cams and I could continue to catch up. It was at Chuck E. Cheese and Abby loved all of the cars there that she could "drive".



Sunday morning there was yet another birthday party that we were invited to crash but given that it was the only time when Al had free time to hang out, we chose to do that instead.



Abby absolutely loved the pool at the Biltmore. She never wanted to leave. I eventually bought her an inner tube so she could manage by herself a little bit (not that I'd leave her in the pool on her own but so she could get around a little bit by herself). After that, she wanted little to do with me and would get mad if I held on to her while she was "swimming". Abby even went down the water slide which she enjoyed by saying "weeeee" the entire time she was going down. Here's a picture of her with Albert immediately post-splashdown.



But let's be honest. I was there to honor the tradition of generations of Japanese women who have intruded upon their daughters' lives to set them up with their friends' sons. Sometimes it went well...



... yes, Aiden is holding a phone up to Abby's ear while he watches the Elmo movie. They actually got into the chair together themselves. And here's one of them at Whole Foods. Abby dragged Aiden into this car so she could show him her driving skillz



But as in any relationship, there are also the more trying moments - like when Abby tried to grab Aiden's Elmo guitar from him before he wanted to share...



Note the look of utter disdain in Abby's face.

The quick highlights and lowlights of the weekend:
1. Abby pulled Aiden's hair and we heard Aiden cry, "Abby boom my hair!". Abby then runs out of the kitchen to see a mad mommy and emits her fake distress call.

2. Abby comes down with severe case of eczema and Ann rushes her to hospital. Apparently pool and dry air are not a good combination for Abby. Strong steroids do the trick and all is well within a couple of hours.

3. Anthony takes a day off of work to do his backyard which when we last visited was a putting green. It is now a beautiful desert landscape with a firepit

4. When Abby falls asleep in the car, Aiden quietly lets us know that, "Abby sleeping." When Aiden falls asleep in the car, Abby leans over and loudly shouts, "NO!".

5. We celebrate Anthony's birthday twice with a bbq and with a nice dinner at a local Mexican restaurant the next night.

To the Tuminellos: Thank you for a great weekend in Phoenix. We had the best time and can't wait to see you all again for reunion!