Enjoyed sleeping in a place with our own individual/quiet rooms and cozy beds (no offense Holiday Inn)! Being able to do some laundry and make our own breakfast and coffee isn't all bad. Oh, and I would be remiss (lol) if I didn't mention that our Holiday Inn rate was about $90/night and our Scottsdale Links condo was $125/night (both before taxes)!! No comparison. Thank you Travelocity (or the "Gnome" as G would say). Major bargain for 2 bedrooms/2 baths/laundry/kitchen/dining room/living room/balcony...
Our last couple of days were spent mostly relaxing poolside in Scottsdale. This is my idea of a vacation....although a bonus would have been cabana boys bringing drinks, etc...but it wasn't that kind of place -- and it was a family vacation. :) The resort had activities and the kids participated in tie dying some shirts. They turned out pretty good and they had fun. G also took the kids to the Desert Botanical Gardens -- while I stayed by the pool :) (I mighta done a load of laundry while they were gone! How exhausting, right!?) Had a great dinner at the Yard House which G knew of from his AZ travels. We got there in time for Happy Hour and G ordered a bunch of 1/2 off appetizers like a pro!! Also, shopped one of the neat malls in Scottsdale and mostly just relaxed. G and the girls went to The Cheesecake Factory one night for dinner....my kids are really into that place and can't understand why there isn't one in Michigan. Jake and I had a date night carry out dinner back at the condo. Our last full day in AZ we headed to In-N-Out for lunch -- I had never been and I had heard from my cousin and others how good it was so we wanted to check it out. It was yummy and now I can say I was there! I especially liked their fries. Then off to one of G's co-workers houses (Jenn) to pick some grapefruit in her yard. My kids all LOVE grapefruit -- especially Megan -- and couldn't wait to do this. We find it amazing that people can go pick a fresh grapefruit in the morning and have it for breakfast The kids saved room in their luggage to bring some home. Turns out we got white and red grapefruit and some lemons, too! Thanks Jenn and Steve!!
That evening (our last full day), the kids went and played "Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader" in the activities center at the resort. (Two of my kids are in 5th grade... I guess they each won a round.) Then later, they were showing the movie Tron and the kids enjoyed that, too. The parents enjoyed a couple hours break from the kiddies. One last night in the pool and hot tub before we headed home Saturday afternoon...
After seven great days of nice weather, Mother Nature tried to make it easier for us to leave. It got chilly and rainy the morning we left and there were actually weather advisories in Northern Arizona (Grand Canyon) area. Our flight home was slightly delayed and made a connection through Salt Lake City. (Apparently, Delta overbooked our return flight and contacted us a couple weeks before we left. We scored a $2,000 voucher for the inconvenience of changing our return flight and making this connection!! So, to us it was well worth it - especially since we used our miles for the trip! Thank you Delta!) Watched Little Fockers on the flight back and got in around 11 pm. Back to life....back to reality!!!
What I like about Arizona is that there are so many climates in one state...at the same time of year..and the landscape can change just within a short drive. You can literally see snow capped mountains, pine trees, palm trees, cool rock formations, cactus, be in 40 degrees and 90 degrees in the same day with just a short drive. As far as I can tell, the only thing missing is...the Ocean and beaches! If they can get those, I would probably move there. Or California (minus the earthquakes) or Florida (minus the hurricanes). We all had a great family vacation and the rest and relaxation couldn't have come at a better time!! We LOVE Arizona!
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| It's nice to have a kitchen on a family vacation |
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| Home away from Home |
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| Living Room - Jacob Already Watching TV! |
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| Master Bedroom |
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| Dining Area |
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| The Pool (woulda looked better if I actually got outta my lounge chair to take the picture) |
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| Yard House=Good Food-Good Times! |
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Kristin took this pretty picture at the Botanical Gardens Kids in Front of Chihuly Art Glass Piece (I love Chihuly art and met him when I worked at Guardian) |
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| Scottsdale In -N- Out...Good Stuff! |
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| The Kids Picking Grapefruit with Jenn and Steve |
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| Our Last Night at the Pool (Complete with mood changing lights) |
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The sad rainy trip to the airport :( My "Sun" charm, magnets, pen and a cool Rubiks-like photo block of the Grand Canyon (the kids fought over that like it was gold)
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3 comments:
Clearly a cheesecake factory obsession runs in the family!!! So here's the scoop- Apparently the owners are from MI, and swore they would never open one here. They have something against us, I guess…
What I wouldn't give to be by that pool right now!
Say it isn't so.... I won't tell the kids - don't want to burst their bubble! LOL!
LOVE this!! I had forgotten you started this blog thing until I just saw your "signature" on my email!!
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