Yesterday was our first full day in Phoenix. There is so much sky here, it’s makes me breath a little easier I think. Yesterday, my dear friend Dawn, came into town for a business trip. We went to Papago park where we had a picnic by a pond. I kept imagining what it would be like to be lost in the desert and then find an oasis, like Alec and Raja in The Black Stallion Returns. This pond reminded me of that part of the movie except there weren’t any camels, turbans, horses, men with knives and there were minivans in the parking lot, but aside from that it was similar, I guess. After the picnic we climbed the Hole in the Rock trail where we reached a hole in the top of a huge rock. The boys had lots of fun until….until Nathanael fell down and let the entire park know he was in pain. He then continued to question, rather loudly, why God made rocks. I supose it was because he thought it to be the rocks that caused him to fall not running too fast in the slick bottom Chuck Taylors he insisted on having that he still won’t put on himself, but I’m getting on another tangent. After we got down the trail, where along the way I was reminded by my sweet son’s screaming voice that he was not going to walk on the rocks anymore (I’m not sure if he thgouht we were going to fly down the trail) we packed up and begin to make our way to Trader Joes. I will never live in a place that doesn’t have Trader Joes. Hear that God? Make sure you put one down the street from my tiny little room in the basement of the mansion in heaven. K? But along the way to TJ’s we got sidetracked, it happens, by the Goodwill. Dawn who is forever cheerful didn’t mind if we made a pit stop. We went in and and came out with a tube top, sari tank top, Batman gun, Matchbox Pirates Cove, and a flyer for the 50% off sale for Saturday. That’s another post. By the way, if you are wondering where Brent was during all of this, he was at lunch with a friend from Santa Barbara who was also in town for business. Finally, we made it to TJ’s were Dawn cheerfully offered to push Noah in the cart. Except Noah decided he would love on her by spitting, poking, and finally punching to the point Dawn actually started to lose her cheerfulness for about a minute and a half!! We made it home for 30 minutes and then left for Oregano’s, a pizzeria we discovered on our last trip out here. Unfortunately, we had to wait an hour even though it wasn’t even six o’clock, but I must say, it was worth it. And so are the five pounds I gained.