Dolphins in Vegas

After a surprise last minute trip to Albuquerque, we flew out to Las Vegas for a few days. The group I was interviewing with put us up in top floor of the nicest hotel I have ever been in.Alyssa liked the bed.

Unfortunately we were so tired from the Albuquerque "shuttle run" style trip earlier that week (Marie will blog about that one later), that we didn't get out and enjoy Vegas as much as we could have. We did however get to see the dolphins at the Mirage. Alyssa loved it.Back at the hotel she combined her two highlights from the trip by taking her toy dolphin onto the bed and jumping on the bed and yelling "Jump like a dolphin!" We caught a clip of this on video:

The Heard Museum

We were really looking forward to visiting the Heard Museum when we were in Phoenix. We were really lucky to visit on a day when they had some special performances and events at the museum.


Alyssa tried her hand at grinding corn.


The Inuit art was extremely exquisite. Here is one of our favorite pictures.


Dan really enjoyed the kachinas. Here are some examples of his favorites.


One of the highlights was seeing a H0pi dance performance. It even put Alyssa in a kind of trance.

Phoenix Childrens Museum

One of our favorite things to do in a new place is to take Alyssa to the Children's Museum. Her favorite part of the Phoenix Children's Museum was the room for 3 and under. It was a busy day when we went, and I think she felt a little overwhelmed in the areas with the older children. Here are pictures of some of her favorite activities.


Alyssa is always happy with dogs around. Pressing the button resulted in a dog barking. She loved it.


Balls. Another of her favorite toys. Notice that balls and dogs also go together.

Her exclamations of "Pretty! Pretty!" rang out as she "planted" the flowers outside the child size house.

At this point, I think the San Antonio Children's Museum was still our favorite.

Simple Pleasures

I really try to find new and interesting things to show Alyssa, both to keep her entertained and to introduce her to new experiences. Not that I feel my efforts are wasted, but it is interesting to see the fun that she creates for herself. Here is one game that she loves to play at the condo we are staying at in Scottsdale.

She has also invented a game we call "run to dolphin". In its simplest form, Dan or I sit on the couch holding her stuffed animal dolphin, she backs up as far as she can, and then runs top speed to collide with the couch and her dolphin. She has also recently invented "walking backwards" and "walk like a dinosaur". Stay tuned for images and video!

Old Town Scottsdale

Does anyone else feel like the are always playing catchup with their blog? We came out to Phoenix almost three weeks ago, and I'm just now getting to Phoenix pictures.

We love Old Town Scottsdale. There is a great mix of art galleries, jewelry stores and Old West inspired themes. We love to stroll around. This was Alyssa's first trip to this part of Scottsdale. The second picture is of Alyssa picking out her favorite polished rocks at one of the souvenir shops. We finished off this great, albeit very HOT evening with a trip to the Sugarbowl.

Paper Crown Princess

Alyssa seems to be drawn to jewelry at a very young age. Even at Target when we walk by the jewelry counter she runs over, presses her face up to the class, and declares, "Pretty! Pretty!" So I thought it would be fun to make some paper jewelry at home. For whatever reason, the only thing she actually wanted to wear was the crown. Here she is surveying our living room from her perch on the couch, studying up on different kinds of dinosaurs. I love what an eclectic mix of interests she has!