Welcome, 2012!

To welcome in 2012 we were treated to G-Daddy's fireworks.  He wowed the girls with smoke bombs (they kept waiting for them to be loud, but they don't make any noise!).

He also let off these things that jump around and change color (and which DO make noise).

On New Year's Day we went back to a favorite park in Gilbert that has a fun playland.  At first Elena rode the little ferris wheel:

She cracked herself right up:

And then Clara asked to go on the big ferris wheel in her own car - she was thrilled!

Elena followed suit in her own car:

Then they took a couple rounds on their old standby favorite - the carousel:

They also practiced their driving skills:

Watch out for them in a few years!

Elena's cat, Whiskers, played at hiding from Elena:

And then Clara took a ride on the baby ferris wheel, and got head high-fived by G-Daddy:

 

Then it was off to Sonic! (America's drive-in) - it turns out Christina and Steve are bigger fans than Clara and Elena, but they still had fun.

On January second G-Daddy had arranged a fun horse-drawn carriage ride for the girls, but the man with the horses sadly had his house flooded by his hot water heater, so we switched gears and took the girls to Encanto park.  This is a third-generation park - Steve went here as a child and so did his parents!

Both girls had bumped up a bracket from when we went two years ago, so they got to ride some new rides!

They started off in bumper boats, a favorite from last time.

Then they moved on to the dragon roller coaster - things started out this exuberant:

And you can see Elena here having a great time, but Clara started frowning, then crying. 

We got the ride halted, and she hopped off never to ride again. (Elena, however, took another spin around and LOVED it!).

Clara led the charge over to the planes, and both girls had a great time.  They started off riding together, then would split into different planes and call or whistle to eachother throughout the ride!

Taking a turn on the motorcycles:

And also the baby carousel:

We're having a blast winding up our last bit of time here in Arizona - the girls love it, but have also both started asking for their own beds and toys, and are at the same time eager to get home.  It's been such a fantastic time in the sun, though!