Fall Break

What a busy week!

BEST FALL BREAK EVER! :)

I took off Monday since Brody and Corey were both off. Then Wednesday, Corey was a trooper at the dentist. And Thursday, he was even more brave at his MRI. And then the fun started!

On the way home from the MRI, Corey, in "drunk" off anesthesia mode, was insistent upon getting donuts. "Can you get them at any store?" "Are we there yet?" "Is Dunkin' Donuts the farthest store?" He was impatient to say the least, but he wolfed down two or three donuts. (We promised him he could have "whatever" he wanted for dinner after starving all day.)

Friday the fun started.

On Friday morning, Rob had work to finish up, so I herded the boys off to San Tan Village, the local outdoor shopping mall. They have two great kids' areas (in which Corey is technically too tall to participate!) The kids had a great time, and best of all, they each got a pair of Sketchers when the mall opened. Corey really needed new shoes - he'd killed his previous pair - and Brody's Elmo shoes were nearly falling apart. Corey is surprisingly brand-conscious for a 5-year old, and for whatever reason, he loves Sketchers. Brody does too, now, since his shoes light up and he calls them his "fire truck shoe-ies."

We swung home to grab Daddy for some bowling. We had originally planned on visiting the pumpkin patch (our house is seriously devoid of Halloween spirit, at least on the outside, and Phoenix folks are obsessed with Halloween!) but the local "patch" is more of a theme park, and it just seemed like too much. Corey wanted to bowl, so that made things easy. Corey won the first round (fair and square - Rob should be ashamed), and Rob came back to win the second round.

Friday night, Rob went out with his friend Jason, so I covered hockey on Saturday morning while Rob recovered. I'm no Sarah Palin (thank goodness) but I made an okay hockey mom. I managed to get all of his equipment on and it didn't fall off before we took it off after practice! Brody expects food during hockey practice, so he had lots of pretzels.

We got home, finished packing the car, and got on the road. After a quick stop at Culver's (we hardly ever drive that way, so it was a great treat for me), we started the two and a half hour trip north. We arrived in Flagstaff at 2:30, and checked in early. (I used Marriott points for the first time ever!)

After resting in the room for a few minutes (and catching a few minutes of the KU football game), we decided to explore "historic downtown Flagstaff." Corey was upset, because he wanted to stay in the room. (It was a theme, he wanted to have dinner in the room too. It was all about the hotel room for him.)

Flagstaff is pretty small and didn't have much to offer for us non-hiking, non-camping folks. However, we found a pretty cool cooking store (Seasoned Kitchen) and bought a Life is Good shirt for Bobo. (It has a dump truck on it!) We finished with dinner at the Beaver Street Brewery, recommended by Nancy and Jason. We made it there just before it got crowded, and the food was great.

We went back to the hotel to watch more sports (the kids watched a movie). Corey and I moved down to the lobby while Rob put Bobo to bed, so it worked out well, regardless of the small room.

In the morning, the boys and I went down early for breakfast which gave Rob a few extra minutes to sleep (on his birthday) and we brought him breakfast in bed, care of Fairfield Inn. :)

We packed up and headed north again to the Grand Canyon! It took about 90 minutes, and it was just $25 for the carload. We didn't really know what we were doing, but as I later told Rob, I don't think I would have done anything differently.

We started around the Visitor's Center, at Mather Point, and walked about 2.7 miles to the "village." It took us nearly three hours, because we stopped so often to take pictures and check out the view. It was a little hilly, too. Now, I had run 2 miles earlier (part of a recent exercise kick), so I was very tired (and starving) by the time we reached the village around 1 p.m. But I have to say, I was most impressed that Corey held his own on that trail. It was hilly, it was LONG, and it was a little warm at times (when the sun was on us - it was cool in the shade.) What an almost-six-year-old!

Brody called the canyon "canaroon" all day. We're pretty sure he thought it was a kangaroo. First, because he was jumping up and down when he said "canaroon" and second, because at one point, the thought the "canaroon" would eat his towel bunny.

At one point, we saw a buck just about 20 feet from the path!

We had lunch at El Tovar, one of the best hotels at the canyon. It was delicious. Then we hitched a ride back to our car via a free shuttle bus. Before moving on, we visited the bookstore, where Brody became enraptured by a stuffed duck that quacks. Corey had to have the hawk, which makes hawk noises. Brody was so taken by the duck that he made a few friends trying to show EVERYONE how the duck worked. In fact, twice while he had that duck complete strangers took his photo! (One a nice Asian woman in the bookstore, who didn't speak English, but indicated she wanted to do so before actually taking the photo. One a Frenchman who did not ask first.)

We drove about 25 miles east to another lookout point, Desert Vista.

At Desert Vista, you could see the Colorado River (the view was mostly obstructed elsewhere due to rock formations) and the painted desert. Also, you were kind of on the edge of the canyon, so it was a unique perspective. The Grand Canyon is so amazing in person that photos don't really do it justice. Especially because looking at the photos, we really could just be right in front of a backdrop! (But we're not.)

Corey and Rob went up in the tower to see the view even higher. Bobo was not happy with Mommy, who told him that he was not old enough to go up. "Bobo too little to go in tower?" Unfortunately, yes. Also, who else would stay behind with Chicken Carrie, who was going no higher than absolutely necessary? (The path we took to the village earlier had been terrifyingly close to the edge - so much so that Corey complained I squeezed his hand too hard!)

It was after 4:30 p.m. before we headed back to Phoenix - a four-hour drive. We arrived home just before 9, after just one quick gas stop in Flagstaff. We took a different route home. One time we went past Snow Bowl, but the second time we came through Cameron.

We had a great time! Brody is still talking about "canaroon" and Corey was thrilled to share the adventure with his teacher today, who happens to be from Flagstaff!

I doubt our next weekend will live up to the last, but we'll keep you informed! There are far too many photos to share. Click here to view a LOT more on Shutterfly!!! (They include a few from before the trip - hockey, bowling, etc.)