We had a great time for our spring break. We loved the weather in Arizona. It was a perfect 80 something the whole time.
We left Friday afternoon and decided to drive through the night. Mike and I switched driving every two hours or so. It went pretty easy.
My “geek”, on the computer at a Denny’s where we stopped for dinner.
We got into Valencia, CA around noon. We love to stay at Embassy Suites hotels, so we always look for them when we want to stop. We were able to check into the hotel early, so we swam and took a nap. When we got up we realized we were close enough to get to the beach, so we went to Santa Monica. It was so fun. The girls loved wading in the waves and playing in the sand.
We pulled into Mesa around 3:00 pm on Sunday. The girls jumped right into the pool. My grandpa had been trying to make it warm, but had some troubles. It was chilly water, but it didn’t phase them.
We had an Easter egg hunt with my sister’s family on Monday. I didn’t get to see enough of my sister on this trip. Wish I could have seen her more, but our schedules didn’t match up. At least we got to celebrate her birthday early. They brought us some awesome food that they grilled. It was a delicious dinner.
Out to donuts in July 2009.
On Tuesday, we got up and went to Goldfield. It is ghost mining town. It’s a cute tourist trap that we had been to before, but this time, we got to go on a one hour trail ride! Mike has wanted to ride horses for so long. He made us a reservation for 10:00 am and it was a good thing because they were booked solid for the whole day. We each got our own horse. Anika’s horse, Tex, was led by our guide, Wayne. Wayne was from Arlington, Washington, so he knew all about Sedro-Woolley! Kelby knew just what she was doing because she rode a horse at her best friend’s birthday. Her horse’s name was Roy. Tegan’s was Bear. I was a little nervous on Shadow. I don’t remember ever riding a horse by myself. I’ve been vicariously riding those ponies with the girls all these years, but that isn’t the same. If Mike could have been born in a different era, he would have been a cowboy. He was very comfortable on Max and wishes he could have his own horse. The weather was absolutely fantastic. It was 80 or so degrees with a little breeze.
That afternoon was perfect for relaxing by the pool and getting a little too much sun.
On Wednesday we went for a hike out in the desert. We went to the Superstition Mountains to the Lost Dutchman State Park. Grampa came with us and it was fun to have him along. We saw a bunch of wildflowers and Mike took tons of pictures.
That afternoon, my dad came by and I made him play a game with me. I love to play “Ticket to Ride”, but not everyone will play with me. I love to play games with my dad. Then we went to the movie, "How to Train Your Dragon” in 3D. It was a GREAT movie. It is definitely one of our favorite movies, if not our favorite animated feature. It was very exciting and had a great story line. My dad and the girls had never seen a 3D movie. I think that 3D is cool.
The weather decided to get cooler after that so we decided to leave on Thursday morning and take our time getting home. We drove until about 5:00 pm and stopped at the same Embassy Suites hotel we stayed at on the way there. It just happened to be very near to the Six Flags Magic Mountain theme park. We played in the bathtub temperature pool that night, got dinner and went to bed.
The next morning we got up for our tasty hotel breakfast, packed a lunch, and went over to the theme park for the day. It was a really fun, family adventure. Anika was just a half inch shorter than she needed to be to get on most of the roller coasters, but we snuck her on a couple times anyway. We enjoyed the old-school carnival style rides there too.
All in all, we had a good time and got exhausted. The drive home the next day was a long 19 hours, but we made it safe and sound at about 4:30 am Easter Sunday. The girls do really well in the car. We listened to audio books, watched videos, and read. Now it’s back to real life again.
