Around the World and Still Going!: Christmas Time in America! Phoenix

We left the beautiful summer weather of Pretoria, South Africa and made the loooong trek back home to the US for the holidays. After 30 hours of travel - first stop, Phoenix to visit my brother and his fiancé and my parents. Piper was a wonderful little traveler, as usual. Man we got lucky with this kiddo!

The weather in Phoenix was quite nice, not Pretoria nice, but I can't complain, I was still wearing t-shirts and flip flops, my standard uniform. We stayed at Scott and Rachaels house and my parents stay at an RV part about 10 minutes away. It was perfect! Piper got to spend the entire days with her grandparents, they drove her around the RV park in the golf cart, showing her off to all their RVing friends and we learned how to play pickleball, which is a mix between ping pong and tennis.

One of the things Paul was dying to do while in the US was buy himself a christmas present - an electric guitar, an American Standard Stratocaster (I'm supposed to say the brand since it is supposedly a very cool guitar)! We visited a guitar store so he could try out the different models and see the different color options in the flesh. He ended up ordering one just like the one he is holding below. My dad also found one he liked, I think he just needs a long, white beard and he could join ZZ Top!

Before leaving for the states I told my mom that I wanted to take Piper to see Santa and get the obligatory kid on Santa's lap picture. Mom scoped out all the possibilities in and around Phoenix and the Bass Pro Shop Santa came out on top. Umm Yeah! Perfect place for the anti-gun/hunting/taxidermy mama to take her baby! Actually they had a pretty nice set up and Santa had a real beard.

As you can see from the pictures below, Piper was a big fan of Santa. Huge.

Bass Pro Shop, also a great place for a family portrait!

We did an early christmas in Phoenix with Scott and Rachael. Most of the presents were for Piper. She had a blast tearing paper, she helped everyone open their presents!

Gramma and Papa got her a minnie mouse airplane she could ride on which she loved. Uncle Scotty and Aunt Rachael are supporting her inner artist with the drawing board that she learned how to use really quickly!

We had a friendly little tournament of pickleball until we were unceremoniously kicked off the courts because I was not wearing the correct footgear - my flip flops offended some cranky old lady I guess.

We spent a great evening visiting a neighborhood that goes all out on decorations. Even their garages were fully decked out bars and people were hanging out at a number of the houses.