Work & Relaxation

We had a great few days in Phoenix last week at the AWI convention. It was a pretty good balance of work and rest. We toured the Ping factory the first day. It was very interesting!

Mis and I went to a ladies lunch (most everyone is 20+years our senior) at Arcadia Farms which featured Phoenix’s local food then toured the Desert Botanical Garden. It was interesting too, but it’s a desert, so I’m sure you guessed the theme….cacti. The delicious lunch was my favorite part of the outing.

The mountains from our room at the Arizona Biltmore.

We participated in an “Amazing Race” around the 39-acre resort. Our team of five won and we each received $200 to the resort. We worked hard, so I think we deserved it.

We hiked Camelback Mountain (I only hiked half way. The guide..ahem…was a bit misleading about the difficulty level.) early one morning before sunrise. The full moon illuminated the rocks beautifully as we hiked, then the sun began to rise and take over for the moon. Watching this transition while overlooking Phoenix was breathtaking. 

JMA and I enjoyed massages at the spa after our amazing race then the crazy hike.

I enjoyed the change of scenery, delicious cuisine, and lovely weather during our time in Phoenix. I was surprised to see the monotone coloring…mostly shades of brown. Grass was a rarity except at our resort. Rocks and cacti were the theme everywhere else.

Grateful for the opportunity.

Weekender

We took advantage of a work conference JMA and a friend/teammate had in Orlando and made it a mini family trip sort of. The moms and kids enjoyed the resort amenities while the dads “worked”.

Reminded me of the way Rea use to do this.

Checking out the view from the room.

Dinner and fun at Downtown Disney with friends.

Fuzz’s first time exploring a pool.

I beach entry pools!!!

They are perfect for my non-swimming kids!

Intentional Fun

Last month we set aside some time for a weekend of intentional fun. We started at Lowery Park Zoo. Warm day, but NO crowds.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We stayed in Tampa…I realized this was one of the first times we stayed in a hotel with just our little family…no extended family. Here she is “on the phone” planning a “sleepover”.

Aunt Julie and the girls drove over for pizza and pool time.

The next day they drove over (to Tampa) again and we hit the Florida Aquarium.

As we were walking in, RJA woke up and stared at a man playing the saxophone outside of the aquarium.

  

Maddie and Rea braving the water area outside.

(walking up the ramp)

Fun trip, but exhausting.

Rough Start…Great Ending!

JMA went on a business trip to San Francisco for several days last month. While he was gone, I took RJA for her 5 month check-up and she got shots. She felt pretty yucky for about 12 hours…she was being her normal sweet self, but looked like this….

After a bath to bring down her temperature and soak off the band-aids, she snuggles up on my bed and went to sleep.

We took advantage of daddy being gone and planned a trip to Lakeland at the end of the week. We loved watching Aunt Julie and the girls doing school. Reagan helped them do their calendar….

…then her own little seat during journal time. So sweet! So big!

(Sitting back watching all this brought a lot of interesting thoughts about homeschooling. More on this later maybe.)

After school, Aunt Julie had a spontaneous idea to use our new passes to Mosi (Museum of Science & Industry)…so we packed up and went.

AEA and RJA were the only ones on board at first…then the others jumped on.

Since we only had a couple of hours, we chose a small kids section of the museum. We’ll go back a few more times to see the other exhibits. We practiced “less is more” this trip….

Tomorrow I will write about the GRAND FANALE to the week!