Road Trip

For the last 5 days, my mom, my kids, and I have been on a road trip. Thus far, we have been in Phoenix, and our next destination is Denver. The weather has been beautiful and clear, hovering in the 70s, with a fresh cool breeze, much to our delight. My mom has been working at a quilt show at the Phoenix fair grounds (hence the reason for the road trip), as she will be doing in Denver, having officially become a Carny. So, while she has been doing that, the kids and I have been having fun! We spent a whole day at the Arizona Science Center. Literally, five and a half hours. It was really great with all sorts of hands on things for the kids to do. Even my four year old was entertained the entire time. We learned all sorts of things, while we played and watched demonstrations, that got our minds moving and thinking. We even watched a 45 minute Imax film about migration that was really interesting and had great detailed shots of butterflies and small crabs. For lunch, we ate at City Bakery, which was excellent, albeit expensive. I got an idea for another side dish: white bean salad. It is something I would have never thought to make, but tasted great! 

The next day I took the kids to Piestewa Peak in Phoenix, determined to climb the Summit Trail. It was marked moderate, but I thought, "With a little determination, we can do anything." Well, it was steep, rocky, crowded, long, and hot! And after many breaks, a few encouraging pep talks, a mile long trek, and an hour and 50 minutes, the kids gave out on me and we started back down...with only about 400 feet to the summit. It took us another hour and 30 minutes to get back down, but we were rewarded with great views and amazed remarks from other hikers that the kids had made it so far. When we got to the bottom, we were exhausted! It was great, though, to get out and get some exercise and sunshine. It was also a great relationship builder between the kids and I. Although, we sure missed daddy there to carry and drag us all along!

Today, we got an exciting oil change! Okay, it was uneventful and took all of 5 minutes, but it could have been exciting, if you use your imagination. Then we went swimming in the hotel pool, which was a pleasant temperature, and ate lunch at Jason's Deli (a great deal).

 Everyone here is all excited about the Super Bowl, and I'm pretty sure Chipotle was giving out free food to fans with t-shirts, since there was a line of about 300 people coming out their door, all bearing Cardinal t-shirts.

We head out tomorrow towards Denver, so I will keep you posted!