Arizona Sea Life Aquarium

Allison and I decided to go to the new Arizona Sea Life Aquarium yesterday. It was kind of difficult to get good pictures inside, so most were blurry, but below are at least some of them that weren't too bad. If you want to see a YouTube video of the aquarium being built, it's here.

The best pictures were by a wall in the light

Our picture inside by the jellyfish mirror...where you can only see our bottom half

More summer......

I think we will be saying "more summer" for a while....it's supposed to be over 110 this week so we need to find lots of cool activites! We went to check out the ducks on Friday and then on Saturday, Carter and Mike came over to swim....lots easier to stay cool in the pool!

Carter and Grandma, checking out the ducks....

Mr. Carter.....

Carter and Grandpa.....

Brrrrrr.........

Fun with Daddy.......

Summer.....

Actually tomorrow is the first day of summer, but I think it's been here for a while! Where are the monsoon rains???? We need a little cool down.

Last night we had an early Father's Day celebration.....Happy Father's Day to all the fathers!

As you can see...... Carter was in fine form for the evening. He likes to show you how big he is when you ask....just not big enough to fill up Uncle Jeff's shoes (which he unties and tries on every time he finds them!)

Oops...Grandma is too slow......

How big is Carter??????

Happy Father's Day!

Just wanted to say Happy Father's Day to Dad and Mike!

Dust devil...at McDonald's

As Allison and I were on our way out of McDonald's this afternoon, we saw a giant dust devil several hundred feet away, and luckily, I happened to have my camera with me. When it started to go over pavement, it was more difficult to see, but it continued straight towards us. I would have stood outside my vehicle to record it, but was afraid I would have been sandblasted for those few seconds, and I didn't really feel like getting a face full of dirt :)

Peek-a-boo

Carter was having some fun playing peek-a-boo last night when we were having dinner at Dad and Mom's last night.

Bear spotted in Sun Lakes neighborhood

Ok, Dad and Mom forwarded us an email alert today from Sun Lakes talking about a black bear possibly roaming in that area yesterday. It appears to be true!!

Bear spotted in Sun Lakes neighborhood (East Valley Tribune)
http://www.eastvalleytribune.com/local/chandler/article_4d8a9648-7412-11df-805b-001cc4c03286.html

Bear spotted in Sun Lakes neighborhood (Arizona Republic)
http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/2010/06/09/20100609chandler-sun-lakes-bear-on-loose-abrk0609.html

The BIG shoes!

Carter trying on some big-boy shoes the other day...

Summer is here.......

but it has not been too hot yet! Only one 100 degree day so far although they are saying next weekend will change all that! Oh well, only 4 months until October! We have been out exploring our new community. Carter loves the ducks and "driving" the golf cart and we have been enjoying the nice walking paths!


The ducks at one of the lakes.....


Carter "driving" with a little help from Grandpa...


Pointing at the ducks in the lake......


Grandpa and Carter taking a break by the lake.....


More "duck watching"......


Mr Carter at Grandma and Grandpa's house......

One moment while I contemplate.....

A late Mother's Day and Dad's Birthday celebration

Everyone enjoyed a great dinner, ice cream, and cake over at Dad and Mom's last night for a late Mother's Day and birthday celebration for Dad. Thanks for Dad and Mom doing all the work and hosting...even though the celebrating was for them!

Carter playing and having fun throwing balls

Carter having fun until laughing and cheering catches him off-guard

Okay....here's our new home (at least new to us!!)

We finally have things sort of in order so decided to take some pics! There are still some things we need to do....eg....the new microwave and oven will be delivered tomorrow. Just takes time to get back to normal!!

Kitchen....I should have taken one from the other angle....lots of cabinets and a new oven and microwave on the way!


Screened-in Arizona room.....

Family room off the kitchen...

Family room from the kitchen...

Dining area off the kitchen...


More kitchen.....

View from the front door...


To the left of the front door....west side of living room....


East side of living room with the legs of a snoozing Stan....


Half bath off living room....


Guest Room.....


Laundry Room...


Kids Room....


From the door of the kids room....


Guest and kids bath.....(the ducks and fishes are all sitting there ready to hop in....(or be thrown in by Carter!)


Master Bedroom....


From the Master Bath...

Master Bath

Huge master closet....pictures do not do it justice!

More master closet...

Sun Lakes house

Dad and Mom have been busy organizing the inside of the house and having some landscaping done outside, and everything is really looking great! Someone has to post the first picture of their new place, so it might as well be me. They have a lot more room...inside and out...and are already enjoying their huge enclosed Arizona room in the back. I'm sure they'll be posting more pictures in the near future!

Happy Birthday to Dad!

We just wanted to wish Dad a Happy Birthday today and hope he has a great day! Have some fun in the sun!!

Also, even though we wished her a non-online Happy Mother's Day previously, I figured I would include the belated online version of a Happy Mother's Day to Mom for last Sunday :)

Slackers

The Gross Family has been slacking lately. That's not to say we haven't been SUPER-busy--in fact, that's probably why you haven't seen a post in almost a month.



Dad and Mom finished their move to Sun Lakes over the weekend, and they're starting to get settled in their new place. The house REALLY looks wonderful, and I know they'll both love it in Sun Lakes. Mom wins the award for the first injury at the new house, as she was running to get her cell phone the other night and tripped on a rug. I'll let her post pictures of the black eye, but let's just say it looks bad enough that she gets sympathy at the grocery store. I'm surprised no one's come up and told her that "she can get help." If only people knew... :)



Carter is growing like a little weed lately. I'll have to see if my in-house photographer wants to take some pictures at his play-date tomorrow. We've been slackers too. Holly and I are taking a little get-away trip later this week to Glacier National Park in Montana! We can't wait to escape the heat for a few days and enjoy the serene lakes and beautiful scenery in the middle of nowhere. I'm sure there will be plenty of pictures to post upon our return.



Then next week, I'm off to Washington DC for a couple of days for business meetings. Busy, busy, busy. It'll be great to see DC again after such a long hiatus, but I'm sure going to miss my lil' boy since I won't get to see him much between returning from Montana and getting on a plane to DC early the next morning. Here's a picture of my favorite little Cubs fan over the weekend. (Thanks to Gamma for passing along the photo!)