Coachella Valley Preserve

What an amazing place this is. You are literally surrounded by desert BUT here are these random oasis' with these Beautiful large palm trees and ponds! Actually they are not so random. Since we are on the fault line the water comes up from under the earth and creates these beautiful areas. We hiked nearly 3 miles and Aria did so well. We only had to carry her at the very end back to the car on daddy's shoulders. Take a good look at the photo of her near one of the ponds.....it is the one she ends up falling in to....hence the change of clothes! We had a great time and got to see some beautiful flora and fauna before the weather starts getting too hot. The weather was perfect (actually a little chilly at times) and we enjoyed a great lunch underneath the canopy of one of these oasis. Until the next adventure!

Saving a bunny

On a long walk this past weekend we came across a little bunny. At first we just thought it was too young and having difficulty getting around but soon realized that it was actually injured. Now more than likely this little guy was destined to be hawk or owl food but we could not just leave it and Aria was too excited for us to just say goodbye to it so we packed it up in the stroller and tried nursing it back to health to be able to take it to the animal shelter. Here is a pic of the cute little one and we did take it to the Living Desert preserve here.

City of Parks

Indio is actually called the "city of festivals" for all the music festivals and the world famous Date festival each held here annually. However....as a newcomer I think it should be called the city of parks! There are so many parks here and in the surrounding areas that it gives us plenty of variety on what to do each day. Instead of asking Aria "what to you want to do today?" I ask her "which park would you like to go too?"! For some reason she has decided to color code them and say "the red one" or " the blue one". I have no idea what she means or which park since there are more parks than colors but I nod my head and off we go!

Aria has made a really great new friend David. We meet up at the park a lot and will soon be having pool time together. David just turned 3 last week so they are close in age. Here are a couple pics of them at a little fair we went to at a church.

David and Aria

I have not written since we went and visited the La Quinta fire station here. It was VERY nice. It was a new station and they gave us a tour. We went with the local moms group that I joined here to meet other moms and tots in the area. It was so much fun. They really showed the kids a good time by showing them around, letting them play in the firetrucks, and showing them what they look like in their uniforms and to not be afraid of them. Then they gave them stickers that looked like their badges to wear on their arms and finally them let them each pick out a beanie baby!! Aria got a little snail which we named swirley. It is so cute b/c each time she gets it out she tells us that the fireman gave it to her. Ha! She loved the misting station they had too. This is great b/c they have these around town a lot especially during the hot summer months.

Yeah Mist!!!

Notice her right out front

Giving the fireman a 'high five'

We have all kinda been tossing a cold/allergies around this week and have been a little puny so we are probably not going to be doing too much this weekend. We might try and get in going to a park.
BTW....I do not think I have mentioned that I have REALLY enjoyed being able to stay home with Aria right now. She has been so much fun (most of the time:) ) and we are having a blast learning everyday and wearing each other out! I am so thankful and grateful for this opportunity!
Until next write:

Parks

We had lots of fun today! We went this morning to another great park in the area with lots of slides and swings and met with a mom that is the wife of one of Matt's co-workers. She was very nice and extremely helpful. I look forward to many more playdates. Then after Aria's nap we went to the neighborhood park where I got a few pics. Tommorow we have another full day of working out, playdates and shopping! Enjoy the pics.

East view

"Feather!"

West view

Field near main playground

Aria loves this slide!

Our new town

Well...it has been a week now and we are getting settled in to our new routine and new town. Aria is loving all the playgrounds and her new big girl bed. Our new town is beautiful, surrounded by mountains with snow on them this time of year and TONS of palm trees. On one of our outings we went to a local childrens museum. I put some pictures up here and you can see a couple of them I was having fun taking pics of the scenery from the courtyard of the museum. So far most of the people we have come across seem really nice and friendly and seem to really want to help. Our new home is quite a bit larger than our other home so it has been different learning to organize and clean the new space but it has a great layout and is fairly new so it is pretty easy to maintain which is great b/c Aria needs as much of my time as possible to go places and play which is all she seems to want to do. We still can't believe this is our new home and we miss our family and friends but we are also always up for adventure and are really enjoying the different things California has to offer us. Enjoy the pics!

They had a real police motorcycle that Aria enjoyed "riding"

The grocery store was so cute and realistic
(notice all the pop tarts, she has never even had any before)

yummy asparagus

artwork time

sand spot

beautiful view from the courtyard

mountains and palm trees

We Are Moving!!!! (in case you did not know)

Well here we are in 2011 and already big changes are happening. We are moving to California! That is right...I said California. Very far away from anywhere we have ever lived and from family and friends BUT we know we are in His hands and are looking forward to whats in store for us. Matt has been out at his new job for a month now so needless to say I have been busy at home with Aria and getting everything ready for the big move in February. Stay tuned as I try to update when I have a chance. Meanwhile, enjoy a couple pics from Christmas!

Crazy Face

(Will definitely be shown at her wedding)

Aria's first gift to open!

At Zoolights safari in Birmingham

So Aria had her first "visit" with Santa this year. Last year she did pretty well visiting Santa at a race we were at and this year we went to the mall. She loved the Carousel and train ride but really enjoyed visiting Santa and keeps talking about the coloring book that Santa gave her! She did so well and smiled very nicely. What a big girl! She keeps telling me that it is almost christmas and she is so excited. This year launches the first year that she knows what is going on with Christmas and we hope we can throw the real meaning in there for her as well. Next is a copy of our 2010 Christmas card. Enjoy!