Oh lolli lollipop

And now, the promised pictures from out vacation:


Here we are arriving into Phoenix airport, on our way to the car. J settled in with Grandest, my father, with no hesitation. It helped that we were on A BUS after having ridden A PLANE! He was overwhelmed with it all and sleepy besides.


J loved our old school phone in the motel and spent a lot of time picking it up and saying "Heywhoa?" We unplugged it, of course, so our motel owners wouldn't kind him a lot less cute than we do.


Here is a four generation photo, the main reason we went to AZ in the first place, so J could meet his great-grandmother Gebby. (Yes, yes, I need to learn the glasses wearing in photos rule, okay? I forgot I had them on so I forgot to take them off!)


After a little trepidation on his part, she won him over with Cheetos, and he was her best friend.


Here J is with Grandeur, my mother, and his cousins S and T. We went out to eat at a country club for Thanksgiving, and Grandeur helped watch all the little ones while the parents ate in shifts. J behaved relatively well, with only a little yelling and some rough housing with the blinds. I'm not sure the proprietors were entirely happy we'd come, but the food was fabulous (turkey, prime rib, oysters, crab legs, chocolate fondue, and all the usual suspects).


Clearly, J had a hard time getting used to Grandeur...or the opposite of that! I think he ended up here 10 times during our two day stay.


A family photo at the Phoenix Zoo (where we were bribing J with a sucker, because that's the great parents we are)!


The "petting zoo" was really just a huge collection of very calm goats, but J was thrilled anyway. After just a moment of instruction, he was petting with the best of them.


He even tried to show his cousin S how to do it, though, as usual, all the she did was point and laugh at him for his efforts! Then she gave him her cold to take home. Sweet!