Arizona

I was originally planning to bring Bennett down to Arizona to visit my mom and dad on their mission but then it made me sad thinking Lilly would miss seeing grandma and grandpa so she was added to the visitor list. Then Tyson decided he wanted a spring break adventure and once Tyson gets involved nothing is ever simple. My little 4 day, 2 person visit quickly morphed into a 10 day, 4 city tour. However, I am glad we used the opportunity to see everyone.

Usually we fly directly out of Moline, Illinois but we found better flights with Southwest Airlines which flies out of Chicago. So the night before we flew out, we drove over to Chicago and stayed in a hotel. This allowed for a shorter travel day the next day.

Both Lilly and Bennett did an excellent job on the flight. Bennett slept most of the time and I made travel prize bags for Lilly that kept her pretty entertained, along with the IPad. It was Bennett’s first flight and the flight attendance gave him little plastic wings for his memory book.

Arriving in Arizona was a lot of fun. The moment Lilly saw grandma and grandpa she went running into their arms. It was so cute and sweet it made me a little teary eyed. It is lucky Lilly is so tiny because she really did run right into my mom’s arms. If she was bigger it could have been dangerous. Bennett took a little longer to warm up. I guess I am not doing a good job socializing him. He is a little bit of a mommy’s boy.

Since we were over in Phoenix we decided to go to the Phoenix Zoo. Before even entering the zoo we had to change everyone’s clothing. It was temperature difference between Chicago and Phoenix in March. The zoo was a fun zoo that had a different feel then what I am use to. They had a lot of desert animals and scenery. Lilly rode a camel, the train and the merry-go-round. We went into the monkey cage and Bennett got his first ice cream sandwich provide by grandma. I think grandma has provided several grandkids with their first ice cream sandwiches throughout the years.     

After the zoo we went to my mom and dad’s apartment, settled in and then went out to eat at a yummy Mexican restaurant called, Tia Rosas. After eating, we all went back home for bed. The 4 of us slept in the spare room. It was fun seeing the kids sleeping all over the ground.

The next day was spent at the Mesa, Temple visitor center, where my parents are serving their mission. We met the sister missionaries, took a tour of the rooms, and watched a cool ‘walking video’ that was very spiritual and kept Lilly’s attention. Lilly especially liked the map of Jerusalem and pushing the buttons to light things up.  We also walked around the temple to see the beautiful grounds. Then it was off to do some shopping (we needed to buy summer clothes since Tyson didn’t have enough at home that fit).

That night we had pizza and hung out at the house. Tyson and I were planning to go on a date but we were tired and went to bed instead. We are so cool, aren’t we?

The next day we started off with breakfast at the director of the visitor center’s home, Elder and Sister Cameron. They had their daughter there visiting with her 3 kids and Lilly had fun playing with her girls. Tyson had fun picking the grapefruits.

After breakfast we went to the McCormick-Stillman Railroad Park in Scottsdale. If you have kids between the ages 2-8 I think this is a must see when down in the Mesa area. It was so fun and inexpensive.  They had a train that you could ride around the park, a merry-go-round, model train museum, a restored train you could walk through, playgrounds, snack shops and picnic tables. We were able to do everything and had a really yummy picnic lunch. Even Bennett had fun and was all tired out at the end.

Once we got home my parents went to the visitor center and the rest of us had naps. We eat leftovers for dinner and spent a relaxing day at the house. It was nice just to have some relaxation time with the family.

The next day we went to the Arizona Mills Aquarium. It was located in the Mills Mall which is a very large mall. The aquarium was a good size for being in a mall. We all had lot of fun looking at all the fishes. Bennett’s favorite was probably the large turtles and Lilly liked all the little holes she could go stick her head in. My favorite part was the 360 degree tunnel tank.

After the aquarium we had dinner at the Rainforest Café. If you have never been to a Rainforest Café it is designed to look like a rainforest and it has animals scatter throughout the restaurant that move and make noises every 15 minutes. Lilly did not like it especially the gorillas. We sat right under the jaguar and Lilly would close her eyes and plug her ears whenever it went off. I am not sure if she ever got use to it. She did say she had fun when we left so that was a good sign.

The rest of the day was spent packing and getting ready for the flight the next day.

We had so much fun in Arizona with grandma and grandpa. The weather was beautiful and it was fun being outside and walking to the visitor center. Bennett learned how to roll over from his back to his tummy while we were there and Lilly talked the ears off of both grandma and grandpa.  I think she may have talked the entire time we were there.

Thank you mom and dad for driving us around, letting us stay at your house, loving our kids and all the other millions of things you did and do for us. We sure do miss you!