Thursday, March 26, 2009

2009 Phoenix Trip

Warning this post contains a ridiculously large amount of photos, as in 40 photos- which was just a small amount compared to the FULL 4 GB SD card that is all from this past week.
We just returned from our vacation in Phoenix, Arizona. After the past couple days, I can't believe that we were HOT and feeling DEHYDRATED all last week. I thought 9 days in the warm weather would last forever but I could have stayed another two weeks. I LOVE Phoenix! I was so glad that D and Jam's family came along this year, it was a blast to have someone to enjoy it with, and Porter LOVED being with the cousins 24/7. Here is what we got to enjoy: (Paige these are all hyperlinked so you can check them out with your kiddies.)
1. Enchanted Island - There is a beautiful park located in downtown Phoenix that we visited last year. It has beautiful ponds and rivers that run through it. Palm trees are everywhere and the kids love feeding the ducks. You can ride the paddle boats in the water, or take a train ride around the park. There is also this random children's amusement park where the kids can go on kid-friendly roller coasters and rides. My child was strangely not tall enough for the carousel but tall enough for the bumper boats? Great find, especially when you can spend the day there for only a few bucks.
2. Spring Training Baseball - March is the month for the MLB's Spring Training, and the Cactus League is located in no other than Arizona. The sun was beating down on us this day, mid 90's and the kids were fighting over the shade of the strollers. Jared loves the setting.
3. Children's Museum of Phoenix - Jamie found this and it was a total blast. This will definitly a place we will return to each year. There is a million or two things for the kids to explore HANDS ON and it is even entertaining for the adults to see the amazing things that they have come up with.
4. Swimming - We swam at least once a day, and the kids usually made it twice. There were two amazing pools, one was freezing, and the other was warm? They all loved it.
5. Makutu's Island - This kids jungle gym was located in Chandler, and it was a glorified McDonald's play area with waterfalls and aquariums, and slides coming from trees and who knows what else. Adults could play too, although it was quite the workout getting through myself, let alone dragging a 16 month old along.
6. Golfing - We stopped on the way home at Lake Powell's Golf Course to give Porter a break from the car. Instead of going to a park, Jared got to golf and Porter had acres of greens to run wild on. And I am always entertained driving around in the golf cart. By the end, Porter had exhausted himself to the point of nap which was a mission accomplished.
7. Phoenix's Air Show - Porter knows what an airplane is now. The earth shook and so did our entire bodies as these jets swooped through. It was absolutely amazing to see and feel the power of these amazing machines. They even had a ton of planes that you could climb into and see. It was a hot day, but really cool.
OKAY I am already excited for next year. That was just TOO much fun.

















































4 comments:

JLR said...

(sigh) I miss it sooo much. I had such a blast. I'm glad you made it back safe. Thanks for inviting us. Ash and Zach are still talking about it. Zachary is telling everyone that he can now float in a pool. I wish we could still be down there. 2010 Phoenix Trip... here we come!

Snarr mama said...

Looks like you had SO much fun!

Just Us said...

Yeah, well, our tornadoes are pretty awesome too!

Paige said...

I am so glad we got to spend some time with y'all. I cant wait until you come back either! And thanks for being a tourist so now I know all the cool places to visit!