The Groff Family

Camden has a window in his mouth

It finally happened for him!! Camden's been waiting and waiting to lose a tooth.  He is seven and a half years old.  Many of his friends were losing teeth at age 5 and he was feeling kind of left out of this rite of passage.  But on June 1st, 2014 it happened for him!  What an exciting day.  And he was thrilled to wake up to a Sacajawea dollar under his pillow the next morning that the tooth fairy had brought for him.

Camden doing a great back float

Here are some pics from the kids' swimming lessons.  A lady that we go to church with is a swim teacher and held lessons in her backyard pool.  I was able to get a couple of pictures Audrey and Camden, but I couldn't get any of Patrick.  Patrick and I did a Mommy-and-me class so I was always in the water with him which made it so I couldn't get any pictures of him in the water.  All 3 kids learned so much and became much better swimmers in the couple of weeks that their lessons lasted.

Spitting like a whale

Audrey's back float

Patrick sucking on a Gatorade lid

Audrey on the streets of Tombstone in front of the OK Corral

In April my sister Lara and her family came to visit us for a few days.  Don't ask me how, but I don't have a single picture of them with me.  But we did go to Tombstone together, which is just about an hour away from us.  My camera battery died within the first few minutes of being there, but I was able to get a couple of pictures.  Lara, if you have any pics of your stay here, will you send them to me?

OK Corral actors

Just taking a break

Cathedral Rock

Last April my sister, Stephanie and her family, went to Sedona for her sister-in-law's wedding.  Well, what do you do when your sister is only 4 hours away and you've always wanted to see Sedona anyway?  Make a 4 hour trip to Sedona of course!  We were there less than 24 hours, but it was a good time.  We hiked Cathedral Rock.  It was a short hike (approximately 1.5 miles), but practically straight up.  I was amazed at how well all of the kids did hiking.  Aaron, of course, did not like it, but was such a trooper and hung in there the whole way.

There were times we were literally scaling straight up.  Coming down was even more treacherous , and I am so impressed with the kids.  And little Miss Independent, AKA Audrey, refused to accept anybody's hand to help her along.  Sheesh!  That girl will be the death of me one day.

The hike was beautiful.  When we got to the top it was just a narrow overlook of the vast canyons surrounding the area.  The parts of the mountain that you see that just jut straight up was not part of the hike that we did, though some people choose to rock climb it.

It was a fun little overnight stay and a beautiful hike.  We didn't stay too long because my sister's family needed to get involved with all of the wedding prep and activities, but we had fun for the small amount of time we got to spend together, and the kids loved seeing their cousins.

Embarking on the hike with cousins, aunts, uncles, etc.

Audrey LOVES being with her beloved girl cousins, Jessica and Ellie.  She would only accept help from them.

Jessica and Ellie navigating one of the "straight up areas."  I believe that Audrey is in between them.

A reluctant smile.  This was not his cup of tea.

Camden with his boy cousins, Jonah and Mason

Brotherly love

A family pic at the top, while sitting on a ledge. Look closely and you might notice that Aaron is crapping his pants.

The views from the top.  Apparently a woman died near here one week prior when a wind gust blew her off

We did not climb these, but they are pretty to look at

We pretty much slid on our butts back down while giving each other a hand.  This is Stephanie's sister-in-law and her fiancee who were married the following day.  Audrey wouldn't accept any help.  She is patiently waiting her turn to just slide down on her own.

Diamond Back Rattlesnake

Silly kids taking a break during our hike

Once the pathway went downhill they finally got going

Throwing rocks in the creek

Scorpion that crawled onto Camden's hand

Awwww, they do love each other

Over Spring Break in March we took a little weekend vacation to Rocky Point, Mexico.  It's only a 4 hour drive away and is really cheap.  I was worried that it would be a crazy college spring break destination, but we took a chance and we practically had the beach to ourselves.  So worth it!  We rented a little house that was 2 rows back from the beach...about a 2 minute walk, and it had fabulous views.  We paid $95/night for a 2 bedroom home with a kitchen, and that included all taxes and cleaning fees.  You can't beat that!  The kids just played at the beach all day.

After one day of being there Patrick came down with a really high fever.  He was super cuddly and just wanted to sleep.  We tried going to some pharmacies/drug stores to get some Ibuprofen, and boy, was that a challenge!  Besides the language barrier, we had a problem with them not taking US dollars.  Every where else did, but not the pharmacies!  When we finally worked it out, we ended up with some infant drops rather than the dosage that he needed, and it was all in Spanish!  Luckily I have a Pediatric Nurse for a sister who speaks Spanish, but since we were out of the country, I couldn't call her.  But my texting worked, so we went back and forth on that and she cleared up the dosage for us which helped some.  When we got back to Arizona I took him in and he had Pneumonia and ear infections!  Poor kid.  But he was still so good on the trip and enjoyed it so much.  I just got lots of cuddle time with him on the beach and back at the house.

For the most part we cooked our own food, but there were a couple of times that we drove into town at ate at some very yummy taco stands.  I think I need to go back now to get a taco. Yum yum.  We love Mexico.

Aaron buried Camden

Audrey at play

Beautiful homes line the beach.  As you can see, we were quite alone.

Running from the waves!

Looking through tide pools at low tide in the evening

Horse back rides for hire.  One day when the kids are older we will do this!

Still having fun even though he was sooo sick

If you look closely you can see all the little coral in the sand at low tide.  Shoes are a must if you go into the tide pools

Cute boy!

Drawing in the sand

Audrey didn't think she needed her swimsuit that evening for the tide pools, so she wore her clothes, but then took them off when she decided to play in the water/and sand.  Well....when in Mexico....

The front of our rental house.  It was named Kokopelli  There was a stray cat that kept coming to visit.  The kids were in love with it and kept feeding it and named it Kokopelli.

From the back patio...Mom had to be in one of the shots, even if it's not the best pic

The back of the house

Our awesome view

My feet enjoying the hammock and overlooking the beach while Patrick slept feverishly inside and Aaron had the other 2 kids down at the beach playing.  I was enjoying listening to Jimmy Buffet, having a Dr. Pepper, and reading a book.

 Audrey loves to dance!  She took a little ballet class from Parks and Rec last January through March.  On the last day parents got to come in and observe the class and what they learned.  This was the only day we were allowed inside.  Usually I would just watch from the windows.  Audrey especially loved her teacher because she had pink hair.  She is very good at dance and would like me to get her into some tap-dance lessons.  Hopefully we will do that soon.