A trip to Arizona

I have a couple of weeks off during the doldrums of winter - a perfect time to take a "snowbird" vacation. We were thinking of exotic places like Florida, San Diego, the Keys . . . and we decided to take a less expensive, lower effort trip to Arizona with the added bonus of being able to have Henry meet Scott's Grandma and Grandpa Pete! (We were sorry that we weren't able to hang with Alisha, Jeff, and their family - hope you're enjoying TX.)

Our trip was short - just from Sunday evening to Thursday, with only one full day to spend in Phoenix. It felt like one REALLY long road trip. By the end, I think we were all glad to get out of the car. Grace really liked staying in the same hotel room as mom and dad and Henry, maybe too much, as she didn't fall asleep until two hours beyond her bedtime (much to our chagrin), and she really liked having a hotel pool to swim in.

Here we are at Grandma and Grandpa's. We talked about a lot of things like family history, counting grand- and great-grand children, how Grandpa and Grandma met . . . It was really great to be able to visit with them and to introduce them to one of their newest great-grandchildren.



After our visit we ate lunch at a GREAT place called "Aunt Chiladas" which was part of a resort. We were surrounded by business-types on the power lunches brokering deals or whatever they do (eat, maybe) during their lunch breaks. We sat outside on a bright, sunny day beneath an orange tree overburdened with large, fresh, ripe fruit and chittering finches. The salsa was the best restaurant salsa I've had and their Chimichanga was good, too. (I judge all Mexican places by their salsa and chimis.)

We also stopped by a HUGE park in Tempe sponsored by the Kiwanis Club. Grace was most interested in the playgrounds.







Britta and Henry enjoyed the view from the duck pond.



Grace tried to feed the ducks her Smarties, but they weren't taking it.

All in all, we loved our trip. We tried to time the driving so that the bulk of it was during Grace and Henry's nap times, and it worked out fairly well. Grace loved to see the huge cactuses (cacti? cactren?), Daddy loved the warm weather and started to complain about Utah winter weather before we left, Mommy loved getting out of the car, and Henry, well, honestly, he won't remember this, but loved every minute . . . almost!

We love you Gma and Gpa Pete!