One of the best things about the trip as far as Cam was concerned was the outside time. He's been stuck inside for months and was a little stir crazy. Once he discovered the joy of going outside in shorts and a t-shirt he was hooked. He'd stand at the door and cry any time we cam inside.
He especially loved exploring this area behind where we were staying. The flowering bushes were as tall as he was and he loved the rocks. There were also rabbits hopping about all around .
First thing in the morning (okay, so after nebs and breakfast and getting dressed) we put on a light jacket and head outside.
We wanted to touch all the flowers.
And follow the ducks. He was pretty surprised when they finally flew off. How's they do that?
A big first for Cam on this trip was pool time. He was a little apprehensive about going in the pool at first but he eventually liked it. Somehow we managed to get no photos of him in the pool. There's video somewhere. Maybe I'll put that up at some point. He liked playing in the little pool fountain things as well. He'd just stand there feeling the water on his hands.
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A few days into the trip we went to the Gilbert Riparian Preserve for some birding and Cam came along in the backpack. He was a champ. So was Chelsey for carrying him as this was my big birding day of the trip. I saw 42 species of birds that day and over the course of the morning averaged one new species of bird every three minutes.
After our morning of birding we stopped for lunch at Joe's Farm Grill. We had a good time and it was so refreshing to eat outside when it had been so cold back in MN. One of the very few advantages to having CF is that Cam can eat any kind of horrible heart attack food he wants. In fact, the doctor encourages it since he needs extra fat. Cam helped himself to the french fries. He loves french fries. They're good for him! A bottle of sunscreen kept him occupied while we waited for food.
One day we took Cam on a short drive across Phoenix to South Mountain. The area we wanted to visit was closed so we swung though the South Mountain Environmental Center (which was also closed.) At least the trails were open so we took a short hike. It was one of the first times Cam wanted to hold my hand as we walked. It was so cute.
This kids loves to explore outside. I can't wait for it to get warmer here.
We did have a few adventures without Cam when my parents took him for the day. We took a drive out to Globe and back. This mountain is slowly being taken down one layer at a time for the copper. It was an incredible sight. If you've never thought about the environmental cost of the copper wires in your computer, click on this photo for a closer view. This was just a tiny part of the mining operation.
This is more of what we wanted to see. This was a very pretty drive though the Tonto National Forest. We pulled off on the side of the road and set the camera up on the hood of the car to get this shot. It was in incredibly busy road so I'm not sure how we got a photo without cars in the background.
Cam made a return visit of sorts on this trip to the Capital Grille. He was last there as a fetus when we told my parents Chelsey was pregnant. He was considerably more trouble this time. In fact, he was a terror. He refused to sit so he ran around the nice restaurant making all kinds of noise. Needless to say we got the hell out of there as soon as possible. I didn't have much time to savor my steak. Sometimes he's good at restaurants. This was not one of those times. Here he is wearing my hat at the restaurant.
Toward the end of the trip we visited the Chiluly glass exhibition at the Botanical Garden. All kinds of crazy glass sculptures were added to the park and it was pretty. Camden stayed in the backpack the whole time as the garden was pretty much all spines and things that hurt when touched. Here's one of the largest sculptures. That's all glass.
Here's Cam in the backpack sporting his red hat.
I discovered that it is really hard to ID birds with a toddler bouncing on your back.
We had fun though and he was happy to be outside.
That's about it!
~Kirk
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