Sand vs. Snow

Since we didn't make it to Saguaro National Park on our trip as we had intended, we decided to at least check out something else cool along the way. Outside of Las Cruces, New Mexico is White Sands National Monument, an enjoyable place to stop if you don't mind the missiles flying overheard. Ok, not really, but there is a missile testing ground nearby and apparently they close the road from time to time so tourists like us don't get blown up accidentally. The monument is a section of the otherwise bleak desert where quartz sand forms a large group of pure white dunes. It made for some beautiful scenery, and some sand sledding - which we weren't able to do last summer when we went to the other sand dunes in Colorado. We didn't have a lot of time to stick around, but the boys did get some sledding in and had a blast doing it. Since we don't often get snow this far south, it was the next best thing!

That's a big cactus...

While in Phoenix for Spring Training, we had a little time to look around the place. We had intended to travel to Saguaro National Park near Tucson on our way out of town, but ran out of time. That park is famous for its giant cacti, which I was excited to see, but we got to see plenty of them outside of Phoenix. We took a short drive to South Mountain Park and took the winding road up the mountain for an impressive view of the city.

Did a little rock climbing...

That's a big cactus. Paul wanted to give his new friend a hug...

It didn't work out well...

Nolan tried to save Adam from making the same mistake as Paul...

It didn't work out well for any of them...

Adam conquered the mountain, and his older brother...

Not sure what else to say about these three... they definitely had a good spring break though.

Getting Ready for the Season...

Years ago, we took the oldest Sellers boy to a couple of Spring Training games when we lived in Florida. Back then, the Indians played in Winter Haven, Florida each March. But around the time we left the Sunshine State, they left as well, moving Spring Training operations to Goodyear, Arizona. We remembered it was a great time going to the games in Florida, because it was a smaller stadium and you got cheaper and closer seats than if you go to a regular season game. So since we wanted to go to the Grand Canyon, which also happens to be in Arizona, we opted to do both at once during our spring break. Goodyear did not disappoint. The weather was fantastic, the stadium was beautiful, and the Indians are poised to make another run at the playoffs this year. This could be their year!!

The day's lineup! These three were waiting on the bench...

Trying to get an autograph from Francisco Lindor... he skipped over Paul though. Maybe next time...

Nolan did get Manager Terry Francona to sign this ball for him though!

And here's a throwback to the last time we made it to an Indians Spring Training game... was back in 2008, but the weather wasn't as nice that time. Go Tribe!

Portraits in the Canyon

It's not often you get a backdrop like the Grand Canyon, so we decided to use the opportunity to try to take some portraits of the boys. We don't get the big camera out as much as we used to, since smart phones have obviously come a long way in photo quality. But we decided to take advantage of the situation and made the boys put on nice shirts to get their photos taken. Unfortunately the sun was not as cooperative as we'd hoped, and Nolan may have eaten one too many chocolate donuts for breakfast. He somehow managed to miss his shirt when he threw up a chocolate stream in the parking lot, but his face does look a little pained in a few of the photos we took. He was a trooper though, not complaining and still trying to fake a smile. Here are some of the shots we got: