Arizona part 2

Our journey in Arizona continued with a little road trip up to Flagstaff.  It was a bit of a drive, (lengthened by a half hour stop to talk with the realtor about the 5 offers on the our house!) but overall the kids did great.  We drove through Sedona and the scenery there was gorgeous.  We stopped for a picnic lunch and we were surrounded by mountains. Fun!  We had the Lightening McQueen music playing as we approached Flagstaff and Route 66.

We stopped at a scenic overlook to see the valley we had just driven out of.  So beautiful and so different than what we see at home.

In Flagstaff we visited the visitor's center and then went to the Lowell observatory to see one really huge telescope.  (We also firmed up the sale of our house and made plans to sign a purchase agreement.)  We spent the night at a hotel.  We ended up ordering in pizza to our hotel as the kids didn't seem in the mood to wait at a restaurant.  So we had a picnic on the floor and then went swimming in the pool.  It was an outdoor pool heated to about 80 degrees.  That sounds nice, but it was probably only 60 degrees outside, so the water was chilly.  There was a hot tub too, which felt great!  The kids, however, wanted to swim in the big pool, so we went back and forth from one pool to the other.  I am pretty sure Troy and I deserve some good parenting award for our willingness to get out of a hot tub and dip into a freezing cold pool over and over for the sake of our kids!!

Timothy and Teresa slept very well in the hotel and were delighted with the breakfast the next morning...waffles, yogurt, chocolate muffins...yummy!

 

We had to get a picture with the route 66 sign in honor of Lightening McQueen.  We took a drive east of Flagstaff to see a meteor crater.  It was a pretty impressive hole in the ground!  We started a tour of the rim, but rain stopped that.

Back in Mesa, we did some more child-friendly sightseeing.  We made a trip to the Children's museum.  There was a fun climbing structure, trikes to ride, and lots of pretend play.

We spent some afternoons just hanging out at Aunt Donna's  I love this picture of Teresa.  She looks like a vacation girl with her sunglasses and books!

To keep cool one afternoon we did a little water play.  Timothy had bought a little water gun in Flagstaff and I brought a few water balloons.  We also improvised and just used a cup to toss water at each other.

One night Aunt Donna treated us to dinner and entertainment.  Organ Pizza!  You order some pizza for dinner and then get to hear a very talented organist play all sorts of music.  And there are all sorts of visual effects.  The favorite by far were the dancing kitties shown above the organ in the picture below.  Donna was amused at how entertaining the evening was for a 5 and 2.5 year old!

By the end of the week we finally found one water play area that was open.  A lovely splash park kept us cool and happy.

One picture of Troy and me!

The morning before we flew out, we headed out to visit Donna's daughter's home.  She had chickens that the kids got to feed and pet.  And even better, she had a pool that Timothy and Teresa got to do a little swimming in!

We hadn't brought their swimsuits, so Timothy had to swim in shorts and Teresa in her diaper. And that is why in the family picture Timothy doesn't have shorts on. 

Our family along with Donna and her daughter and daughter's husband.

One last picture at the airport before we headed home.  The lines to check in were really long, but the kids handled it okay.  We ended up leaving an hour late, but with a movie on the plan and some dinner the time went fast. Upon getting in our car at the airport, Timothy cried the whole way home because he was sad vacation was over.  I think that means it was a pretty good trip!