Our New Neighborhood & Some Fun Family Time!

Hey everyone!  I'm almost ready to reveal my new kitchen, but it's going to be a long post with lots of photos, so you had best rest up!  For now, I thought I'd show you a bit of our new neighborhood & some pics of some family fun-time, which we get to do on a regular basis now -- YAY!

I kept forgetting to take a pic of our new home from the front (and this isn't even that good) without autos in the driveway, so I grabbed my Point 'n Shoot from my purse just as I was returning home from an errand.  We have a landscaper coming tomorrow to do some much-needed cleanup & trimming.

We live in a very large, planned community development with six or seven different neighborhoods that each surround a park/playground.  Our neighborhood is called The Vineyards, but no, there is no wine being made here....lol!  Any grapes on a vine here right now in our extreme heat would 

be called "raisins!"

We fell in love with this area because of all the well-planned & well-maintained streets and 

common areas.  

This is the playground & park in our neighborhood.  It's less than 2 blocks away from our home, which is going to be so great for the Grands.  There are barbecues, picnic tables & a huge grassy area for playing soccer or just running around.

This is another green area with some of the walking/biking paths.  This is a block from our home.

This is less than a block in another direction.  Again, more sidewalks for walking or biking.  There are over 27 miles of these paths throughout the development.  I love having all this well-maintained greenery that we do not have to maintain -- YAY!

We had lunch with these little sweeties on Saturday.  Flynn is going to be "3" in just a few days, and Avery is 6 months & almost crawling.  I'm lovin' that I can see them just about any time I want to -- again, YAY!!!

We had lunch here, which is located in the Scottsdale Quarter shopping center.  If you haven't tried True Food Kitchen, I highly recommend it.  I'm not one bit prejudiced either, even though our son is the Executive Chef.  It certainly keeps him very busy because there are now four restaurants, another one at the Biltmore shopping center, one in Newport & another in Santa Monica.  He does a lot of traveling!  I know, shameless plug, but I'm a proud Momma!

Just in case you were wondering how Abby made the transition, I guess pictures speak louder than words.  To say she is lovin' her new surroundings would be putting it mildly.  She really didn't have any adjustment period at all, but she has become quite the huntress.  We seem to have a lot of crickets in this home, but until the "Bug Man" comes, Abby is leaving "death & destruction" in her wake!

Another little excursion I went on last week was to find this little piece of heaven on earth!  I'd been dreaming about going here (yes, I'm being rather melodramatic) since we moved.  We used to be 4 hours away & now less than 10 minutes -- YAY, YAY & YAY!  I spent 2 gloriously uninterrupted hours just getting acquainted -- my cheeks hurt from all the smilin' I was doing!

This is just a bit of a tease for my upcoming kitchen reveal.  Yes, I've caught the "Fall Decorating Bug" that is just starting to sweep blogland.  Take 2 aspirin & call me in the morning, or just go with-the-flow & start gathering up all those seasonal lovelies.

As always, thank you so much for stopping by & please come again soon!

CAS

I'm happily linking to:

 Kim's WOW Us Wednesday Party

 Open House Tour