Uncle Andy

Last week we had a special visitor at our house.

Uncle Andy!

I only get to see my brother twice a year, so for him to come and visit for an entire week was so much fun! My brother and I are super close and he's the main reason I was so excited for Kate to have a little brother!  Kate and Max are exactly as far apart in age as Andy and I.  It will be so fun to see them grow up together and I hope they become best friends too.

When Andy comes to visit it's usually in the cooler months, so this was his first time experiencing a valley summer! I don't think he was much of a fan. In fact I think his exact words were, "I don't think I've stopped sweating since I came here."  So, most of our time was spent lazing around indoors escaping the heat.

But we did make it out of the house a few times. On Wednesday we went to the Mills mall. I was excited to finally get to use my double stroller! I love it, it's so perfect for a toddler and a baby. Kate really loves the box. It's her "house".

That night after shopping we ate at the Rainforest Cafe. That place is expensive, but Kate's reaction to everything makes it worth it. She would cover her eyes and ears when it would "storm", and then laugh about it. She loved all the animatronic monkeys, elephants, and the alligator outside of the cafe.

 (I didn't tell her to do this, I swear!)

We went to this place a couple times! Bahama Bucks might be what finally convinces my brother to move back to Arizona.

On Thursday, after getting our shaved ice, I wanted to go on a drive and explore the land out here for different places to take pictures. We didn't get very far when we noticed a strange looking column of clouds in the sky. It almost looked like a tornado, but it wasn't spinning so we knew it wasn't. Andy, being the weatherman he is, said "That's a microburst." and we watched it hit and create a huge duststorm. We still needed some ingredients for dinner so instead of just going home like normal people, we drove to Frys. We parked where we could get a better view of the storm, hurried and snapped some pictures and then I went in the store with the kids while Andy took video. It was pretty crazy! By the time we had checked out the worst was passed and we were able to drive home safely. Crazy Arizona weather!

On Friday I decided to introduce Andy to Queen Creek's best kept secret, the Olive Mill. If you haven't eaten here, you must! It is a real olive mill where they brew wine and make olive oil. They have a little deli and store inside, and they use all fresh ingredients in their food. We ate some delicious sandwiches, and topped ourselves off with gelato.

I'm sure we did a few other things last week too, but mainly it was just so nice to have my brother hanging out with me and the kiddos at home! The week just flew by and I already miss him.  Come back soon!