Spring Break Larson Style

((Okay if that heading was completely true, our spring break would have been a week camping in the hills full of rocks, dirty kids, ranger rides, and new "friends and pets." Instead, I was in charge and said--"I want a vacation"...as camping often involves lots of work, I opted for a citified spring break!))

The week began slow, with a much anticipated funeral that went smoothly and one last night of work for Jason. That made for a day of getting "stuff" done around the house which included some cleaning and gardening--which Jason is already working hard at. We also had chicks...well we didn't have them, some friends incubated our eggs and they hatched this week. They are cute and fuzzy. The favorites are the little yellow one "Rosie" and the black one "Blackie." Now, we'll just hope that most of the 8 are hens and not roosters...

Next, it was off to the valley for some fun. It was quite the adventure. We managed to do a fair amount of (window)shopping--a trip to the mall, Ikea, and a visit to Bass Pro Shop, Sportsman's Warehouse, and even Cabella's....we aim to make everyone happy! Reagan even found her new most favorite store. It was in the mall and called Black Market Minerals--it was one stop shopping for "beautiful rocks" (stones and gems) and "fancy jewelry". Daddy made her day by letting her pick out and buy 6 polished rocks and even a brown and pink "rock" necklace. In the theme of making everyone happy, we ate awesome food like Carraba's, Joe's Crab Shack, In and Out, and even at Chuckie Cheese's! Oh, the fun!

Reagan got to swim everyday in the hotel pool, which was her only request for our spring break. She loved it and was quite a little fish by the end, swimming under the water, and doing somersaults and handstands in the water. Travis on the other hand wasn't so sure of the cool water and cool air.

We also caught an afternoon spring training game in Phoenix and watched the Diamond Backs get hammered by the Oakland A's. Despite the D-Backs losing it was still lots of fun. We had amazing seats and got to eat cotton candy--everyone's favorite!

Another highlight of the trip was going to the Wildlife World Zoo. It was neat....they have some awesome aquariums . Travis loved seeing the fish and Reagan loved getting to pick up starfish and even touch sting rays. Besides lots of cool animals like white tigers to see, they also had other fun things to do too--a carousel, a water log ride, a jungle boat ride, a skyride, and a train ride. Both kids favorite by far was the petting zoo. Travis loved the llamas and Reagan loved the 17 day old baby goats and the deer just loved trying to eat us! And to top the day off--we even ate an "ice cone" or snow cone which Reagan had been dying to have all week. We had lots of fun, but if you ask Reagan, she will tell you it was the "craziest zoo ever!" because they didn't have any elephants...at least none we saw.

On our way home, we also managed to take in the Apache Junction Tractor Show and Pulls. Jason had planned to meet his dad there, but unfortunately Kent was in a car accident and didn't make it--fortunately he was okay and so were my two nephews who were along for the ride. We had fun for him though and admired lots of cool tractors, old model T's, and some super expensive remote control tractors.

Travis had a double ended explosion before Globe and then several more vomiting episodes before making it home. We laughed, and at some points were tempted to cry, and at that point-- very grateful we hadn't traveled far for our vacation. We chalked it up to car sickness...but, our house has been plagued with double ended explosions since. Darn the bad luck...

But overall, our Spring Break was fantastic....I love vacations and can't wait till our next one!