Christmas
December 2006 - January 2007

Eric, April, and Patrick came to Arizona to visit us during Christmas. They stayed with us at the fabulous Oahu Dreamz Resort for the first couple of days, and then in Mesa with Grandma and Grandpa for the remainder of their trip.

Some favorite memories from their visit:

	Patrick could have spent the entire trip hiding in his "cave" (the cupboard in the photo below). He would crawl in, shut the door, and then yell at the top of his lungs in a sing-song voice: "DADDY, COME FIND ME!"
	When we visited the Arizona Science Center, Patrick became unhappy for some reason toward the end. As we made our way back toward the main entrance to get to the IMAX theatre, Patrick saw an open supply closet behind the main ticketing center, and made a break for it. He ran in the room, slammed the door, and refused to open it when his parents finally caught up to him. Of course no one at the ticket counter had a key. I watched all of this from the line at the IMAX theatre. The guy who was about to take my ticket apologized and said he had to go take care of something and he'd be right back - he had just been summoned over the radio to get to the supply room immediately and unlock the door because a child locked himself inside. "It's okay," I explained, trying to hold back the laughter. "That child is my nephew."
	Apparently children Patrick's age are terrified of The Rainforest Cafe. We thought it would be a fun experience for him, seeing all these animals come to life while we were eating. We were wrong. At least I was wrong... I think it was my idea to go there. Maybe the parents knew better. He was so scared he wouldn't sit at the table. We finally got him to sit up at the bar where the bartender found himself reluctantly waiting on all the other terrified kids in the restaurant. The bar stools were the hindquarters of various animals. Patrick would only sit on the frog legs, no other stool would do. He's already got a soft spot for herps! I'm so happy. {sniff}

Photos