SWAT

Maxwell was invited by his friend Raven to take a private tour of where SWAT is located.  We meet up with the commander and one of the officers, who was a sniper, at a "secret location".  Shhh, I will say it was at an airport in a private hanger.  Of course the boys had a great time and I was surprised that I enjoyed it myself.  Not only did they get to go inside the trucks and tank, but they talked a lot about gun safety.  Maxwell's favorite part was looking through the scope of a machine gun.

Raven gave Maxwell a nerf gun when we arrived

Maxwell standing on the robot, Johnny 5.

Arizona

It was March, Gabrielle had just turned one and it was time to restart our tradition of a trip to Arizona for Spring Training baseball.  We took last year off since we didn't want Gabrielle born in the camper if she decided to come early.  On the way to Phoenix we encountered rain, sleet and road closures.  We didn't think camping would be very fun in that weather so we decided to continue on to Tucson/Green Valley.  Considering the fact that it took us 11 hours to get there, the kids did great!  We parked the camper in the driveway of a neighbor of Grandma and Grandpa for our visit.  We had a little combo birthday party for Annabel and Gabrielle.  Boy, those girls do like cake!  We visited a cute park where the kids enjoyed climbing on many metal animal sculptures.  Good thing the weather was cool or metal sculptures in Arizona sun would lead to burns and crying, not cute smiles.  Maxwell, Art and Grandpa did make the drive back to Phoenix to see one Cubs game.  Now that is a dedicated Cubs fan!  We then headed back to McDowell Mountain in Phoenix for some camping.  The weather was awesome finally.  Maxwell worked on learning to ride his bike without training wheels.  Those of us who learned in the midwest never had the added difficulty of avoiding cactus while trying to stay upright.  Ouch!  He's almost got it.  Here are some pictures of our trip.

Our little pot of gold

3 generations

Happy Birthday!

Maxwell and his new friends

Aww...so cute

Spring for the Montes family

Grandpa & Annabel

Maxwell doing his homework while listening to some tunes

Gabrielle's 1st Birthday

We celebrated Gabrielle's birthday on Sunday so we could have the whole day to play.  I wanted to go to the District so the kids could ride the Carousel and we could take some pictures with our new camera.  Well when we arrived, to our surprise, the Carousel was...GONE!  We are so sad they took it down.  Maxwell and Annabel have both enjoyed riding on the Carousel and I wanted Gabrielle to have the same experience.  I'll have to find something new for her now.  Anyway, we still had a great time there.  The weather was perfect and the kids had a blast running around.  After the District, Gabrielle enjoyed eating her cake and opening her gifts.  Thanks for all the cards and presents!

This is where the Carousel used to sit.

Me & my little 1 year old

So pretty!

Daddy & Gabrielle

Annabel having fun!

Art's famous way of taking pictures

So handsome!

After her nap I wanted to take some more pictures of Gabrielle and all she wanted to do was eat the rocks.

Our little princess

Yummy cake!

Gabrielle loved her 1st cake!

Too much partying...where's my crib?

    

Door

Some of you heard me talk about the home room door I had to decorate for Teacher Appreciation Week- Voila!  Here it is!  This is what consumed my time last week.  Keep in mind I started over halfway thru and there were other glitches along the way.

My First Post

I am so excited to be starting a blog.  It has taken me a few days to figure this all out, but I think I finally got it.  My main reason for starting "Bagels & Camping" is to share with our family and friends what really goes on in Las Vegas!