Family Fun in Phoenix

July 21-23, 2010
Sometimes you just need a little vacation....
Okay so the kids got a vacation and Mom and Dad got a vacation, but not one together so we decided to take a few days and head to the PHX valley for some summer vac fun.

After a fun filled trip to the Chandler Mall (which the kids love because of the Lego and Build-A-Bear store), it was off to our water park of choice: Big Surf. They not only had a great deal going on (4people,4 hrs, $40), but we knew it was a fun place to go (thanks for the tips Amy!). The kids loved every minute of it. We rode the waves in the wave pool and went down every slide in the park. Reagan loved them all--even the "scary" ones that were screaming fast and dark! Travis was only tall enough to go on 2 big slides, which he loved and wanted to go on a million times. The only hard part was he wanted to go on the other slides with Reagan and couldn't...he was bummed, but did have fun on the "baby" slides on the other side of the park. It was a perfect day for water fun and experience I know we will be repeating in the future!

Ready?!

So ready! Our next fun adventure was to the new Sea Life Aquarium at Arizona Mills Mall. We took Reagan to Sea World and several aquariums when she was little and she loved it so we figured this would be a hit and it was! Travis truly loved just standing and watching all the fish swim by. Reagan liked the interactive stuff best--feeling the starfish and such. There was a lot to see and the kids really enjoyed themselves.

The rays and sharks were the kids favorites. The rounded tank made it seem like they could swim right up to you!

More family fun: A Diamondbacks Game!

This was Daddy's idea and a good one too! The kids love baseball and are great at watching and cheering the DBacks on! We always hold out till after the 6th inning for cotton candy--our baseball favorite. So when it is finally time, they are so excited! The game went fast, or so it seemed to us. Unfortunately the DBacks lost 3-0....yuck! But, we did see cousin Hunter on the big screen during the game. (Very cool, but would have been more fun for him if he had known he was on there!) Reagan was very proud though and managed to tell everyone around us that was her cousin!

Lots of playing before the game!

A good game!

Funny kids!

Even sillier:

The Big Heads were fun to watch! Grace was mad he didn't win as usual!

Eating, but not missing a minute of the game!

A smile from Reagan's favorite: Justin Upton!

Loving the game!

Wanting more cotton candy of course!

So silly!

We love our Diamondbacks!

We also enjoyed the huge pool our hotel had. The kids are such fish and can hardly go a day without getting wet!

Another highlight of the trip was the temperature--it was awesome for PHX, only 99 or so all 3 days we were there. It was cloudy and overcast most of the time and we even got rained on. Cool for the desert!

Getting out of town is fun, especially together!

Wrapped Up in Life: Summer Time Fun

Ever get a little wrapped up in life?Sometimes that is how life is! Wrapped up and more coming at you by the second...sometimes it even gets messy! Well, we've all had fun being wrapped up in life this summer! (Except that I haven't taken much time to capture it on here...so here is my attempt!)

Driving up West Peak--the back side of Mount Graham Pima way-- was one of our fun day outings this summer. We stopped at the top and had lunch and shot Daddy's guns. Reagan loved it and was even a decent shot. Travis thought it was a bit loud, even with ear plugs, but enjoyed shooting also. Roxy went along for the ride and was great for entertainment. We even managed to see some awesome wildlife. We saw a bear just a few feet off the road! It watched us for a bit and then ran off and we caught up with it again just up the road! Too cool! We also manged to see a few deer. They were less skittish and let us get lots of cool pics.

Blow hard!

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder:

It is about 8, 600 feet or so at the top I think. It just seemed like we were so close to heaven...like you could reach up and touch the clouds.

Posing for Dad:

We also climbed the fire watch tower. The kids loved this! They are both so fearless!

Interesting pic huh?!

It was amazing to see a bear so close in the wild! Definitely not an experience to forget!

"Check this out Mom!" Reagan and Travis accidentally found a geo cash and were excited to see the treasures! Travis kept a bullet out of it and Reagan left her beads in it. Fun!

I love my Roxy! (Even if she is almost as big as me now!)

Shooting fun:

"Check out how good of shot I am!" as I try to keep things quiet with my finger in my ear along with ear plugs! Funny Travis!

Travis has kept busy playing Legos, Cars, and with Buzz and Woody this summer. We have enjoyed some of Travis's antics lately. He is so silly/ornery sometimes...like telling Papa he is "a crazy man" and Rusten that he "saw a girl and she has oobies." He loves "chenchiladas and ozcones." We've managed to go to a few movies this summer and Travis's favorite was "Stoy Story." Ya just gotta love this guy:

We've enjoyed our back yard this summer--everything from just hanging out with Roxy and Peter and playing fetch to practicing gymnastics, and digging up treasure in the sand box to swimming most every day available in our "back yard" pool! Daddy has kept busy this summer with work of course, and Scouting, tractor tinkering, overseeing our garden, and of course keeping our lawns beautifully manicured.Mom has kept busy this summer with work --2 nights a week isn't much work though, luckily leaving plenty of time for fun with the kids and other mom activities...like canning peach slices, canning peach and strawberry jam, bottling yummy salsa (using mostly just veggies from our garden!), and running a million miles with M.C.--I've ran over 21 miles twice so far this summer not to mention all our shorter runs, and we even have manged to run some up Mt. Graham! (which is hard, but the beauty makes it worth it by the way!) We hope to do the Flagstaff Marathon in September! Scary and exciting! Reagan has kept busy with lots of fun camps this summer....Rock Star dance camp, Tennis camp in the early morning, and gymnastics camp times 2! This girl loves keeping busy and wants something to do all the time. She has made lots of crafts (thanks to Grandma Mayrice's gift) and has read lots of books. Her favorite past times are probably having friends over, putting on fake nails, playing Legos and watching Scooby Doo or Tom and Jerry with Travis though! Hanging out with friends has been fun!
"Hey Mom! Look what I can do!" Reagan is mastering her kick over!

Oh.. and not to forget the most recent camp---Basketball with the Bulldogs! Reagan was a bit nervous to go since it was in Safford, but was excited because Hunter would be there. She loved every minute of it! She was with the 4-6 year old group- so she was a bit on the big side, but worked hard and even got MVP and rewarded with a new black basketball! Way to go Reagan!

There were lots of kids...and Reagan wasn't even the only one from Thatcher, there were quite a few including her friend Denim.

Hanging with Hunter....

Twins? Ever since they were little, when we would have them together, people would ask if they were twins. They still look like it to me! Cute aren't they?!

One of the biggest highlight for the summer was swim lessons with Bonnie. It was great for Mom because she does them just up the road from us. It was great for the kids because Bonnie is so awesome and does such a fantastic job! Reagan mastered her freestyle stroke and learned lots of new ones. She also was able to do the back stroke by the end. Her favorite was the diving board of course! I hadn't intended on putting Travis in, thinking he was too young, but he wanted in the water the first day and Bonnie said she could fit him in. Travis wanted to be in the water and already swims underwater at home, but didn't want anything to do with Bonnie on the first two lessons. By the third lesson with the help of some bribery, Travis loved Bonnie and wanted to go every day to swim for her. He learned how to dive for things and how to use his arms now. He still prays most every day that he is thankful for Bonnie and that he can swim good for her. Too cute!

Travis loves Bonnie!

Reagan diving....she did this as much as Bonnie would allow!

A fish!

Another fish! Look at Travis go!

We've enjoyed the rain this summer, especially the last few weeks. Of course the 24th of July Celebration in Safford was a rain party, but we loved it just the same. Reagan rode on the float with all her little friends and got really wet. Travis and Reagan both enjoyed catching frogs with the cousins at the Church after the parade. Oh, the memories we make!

Along with all the other fun stuff we've done, we managed to have some awesome and fun days at the Safford pool with friends. Travis is addicted to the slides and we just go up and down them over and over! Kaela has spent at least one day a week with us while Tanya works....this gives Reagan a chance to "mother" and Travis a chance to share. Both love having her around.

We've also enjoyed the simple pleasures the last few weeks of watching lightning storms from our back porch and just eating snow cones in the hot sun. We truly love summer and I honestly am not looking forward to it ending. I love just hanging out and having fun--what a blessing summer is!