What a Gem!

It is the fastest 2 weeks of the year: Gem Show! Home to the largest Gem & Mineral Show in the world, Tucson is a hot spot the first 2 weeks of February. Especially for rock hounds, like Auntie Ro!


So each spring, we eagerly await her arrival. Much to our delight, Uncle Reef & Auntie Tawnisha made the trip from Colorado as well, after taking last year off. Cousins Zander and Knox were reunited.

And Auntie Ro was in nephew heaven!

We all made it out to the gem show together one day. One of our favorite things are the amythest cathedrals. And, this year, we saw the biggest EVER! They were really an amazing sight!

Knox & Zander got to ride in style...though they are much bigger now than they were at their first gem show! Our window-shopping excursion was short-lived, because there was lunch and much more wrestling to be had back at the homestead.

Somehow I think Ib might have been enjoying himself the most.

We took the boys to the Pima Air & Space museum. Both Knox & Zander are very much into airplanes and helicopters right now.

As expected, they were pretty excited to see all those airplanes!

We did have a hard time getting them OUT of the plane...

There was also a really neat exhibit featuring old planes out of the Tucson airplane graveyard called the Boneyard Project.

Every year a select group of artists paint various parts of, or entire, airplanes. That was pretty impressive!

Planes, planes, and more planes.

The old ones were my favorite. And the beautiful Tucson day made for some great photos.

Considering we had a couple 2-year-olds, the day went pretty well. Not without meltdowns, of course. But everyone survived.

80 acres worth of planes is a lot for little guys to take in. Needless to say, we didn't see half of what was there. But it was a good day. We finished up looking at rockets, which was also a big hit.

And, seemingly as quickly as it began, our two weeks of fun came to an end. I made a Superbowl feast to be proud of. The game didn't go the way Uncle Reef had hoped, but Zander had an opportunity to yell "Touchdown!" at least once.

Having talked on Skype almost every night for the past year, Knox is pretty fond of his Uncle Reef. He even pretends to call him on the phone.

We are so thankful for Gem Show time bringing family together. Seeing the bonds growing between the boys and their aunties, uncles and cousins was priceless. Knox rode to the airport with Daddy to drop off Auntie Ro...and now every morning on the way to Miss Jeriann's they see the 7:20 plane leaving. Knox points and says "There's Auntie Ro's plane!"

Thanks for coming everyone! Until next year, we'll see you on Skype!