A Visit With Family

Earlier this week, we got a special treat that rarely happens down here: We had family come to visit!! :)

Curtis' mom, Julie, came down to Phoenix, then she and Lydia (Curtis' sister) drove down to spend some time with us in Tucson - and maybe more importantly, meet Charlotte. ;) The weather cooperated and even cooled down a bit, so we were able to show them some a few fun places around Southern Arizona. 

I don't really have great pictures of their visit, Julie is a photographer and has some great pictures, but I just wanted to give a sampling of what I had.

They came down on Monday morning, and after playing with Charlie, we took them to Kartchner Caverns where we took a tour of the Rotunda room and Throne room. Of course we aren't allowed to take pictures, but just know you NEED to visit there anyway! After that, we went a little further Southeast to Tombstone and walked around the graveyard and the town.

A few of these grave markers are what make this place entertaining!

Creative, right?

Of course things like this make me think of Charlotte. I kind of need this sign. :)

Curtis and I slept in "Charlie's room" (aka the living/dining room) and thankfully she did really well sleeping through the night. I got up early to make breakfast and we let her out...then she and Curtis went back to sleep. It was just too cute. :)

On Tuesday, we visited the Sonoran Desert Animal Museum that's West of Tucson. It's one of the top 10 museums in the country. The reason for that is probably because it's a lot more like a zoo than a museum! Curtis and I visited here in our first week of living in Arizona last year, and it was really fun to return.

Walking through the reptile/amphibian/arachnid exhibit. This is probably the only creature that wouldn't scare me out on the trails. ;)

Parrot! Not native to this area, and sadly we'll probably never see him in the wild.

Walking through the "cave" exhibit. Curtis models bat ears for us.

Not only does the museum have exhibits with live animals that are native to the desert, but also a wide sampling of plants. This one is not one that we'd see around, but it looked kind of like a Christmas tree to us.

A must see is the 12:15 show with the gila monster and the rattlesnake! 

This one is a Grand Canyon rattlesnake. 

A gila monster up close. It would be fun to see them in the wild - and with a high speed of 1.5 miles per hour, it's safe to say that we would be perfectly fine!

My dear, silly husband :)

The struggle...

Not many of the animals were active - Curtis and I found it interesting that they were way more active last time, at the same time of day when it was warmer outside. The bighorn sheep happened to be moving around though!

Here we finished with the butterfly and hummingbird areas outside.

The best picture I could get of this active little guy!

Another favorite part of the museum: the garden eels in the aquarium! They worship the large rock and fear the fish. :)

Yes, this crab is in a glass shell - hope he isn't too embarrassed! ;)

And that's all I had - we had a great time visiting and are looking forward to our next visitors, friends or family! It's now becoming the perfect time to visit, in case you need a reason. ;)