Over Valentine's and President's day weekend, we took a relaxing and warm trip to Arizona. The main reason for our venture south was for Mary Poppins and although I have no pictures of our night at the theater, it was so much fun! Naomi has been singing the songs ever since.
We spent a morning at South Mountain park hiking. This is our favorite trail and a must do every time we go to Arizona.
Steph and Naomi (and the yellow chick) get ready for story time at my favorite bookstore in the world, Changing Hands! We made lots of great book finds then headed across the parking lot to stock up at Trader Joes.
We explored a wonderful botanical garden. They had a children's garden and Naomi tried out the human sundial.
There were so many kinds of cactus, some that you could touch. I can't remember the name of this one, but it was covered with little velvety patches.
On Valentines day we went to the Mesa temple. Many of the flowers had just been planted and the grapefruit trees were were loaded with ripe fruit.
There was some pretty high jumping done to get these since all the low hanging fruit was already gone. This little chick went everywhere with us.
We went fishing at Tempe Town Lake. Gray was a bit envious of the people down the walk who were pulling out fish after fish but we soon found out they were using "questionable" bait. One trip to Grandma's pond and he'll have his confidence back.
Finding good food is always a must. A friend suggested Chino Bandido (a Chinese/Mexican place) and it did not disappoint.
All too soon, it was time to go home. I loved having time to spend with Stephanie and my parents. We don't get enough time together and it was fun to have this weekend. Also, after 30 hrs. in the car I love portable dvd players!
Who can resist this chair at the Beaver, UT Chevron!
This morning I took Gray and his friend to Beaver Mtn. then headed down to Beaver Bottoms for some cross-country skiing. It's been a long time since I last put on my skis and it was a good thing that the track was all but empty. I had forgotten how much I enjoy cross-country and also how much energy it takes. Hopefully I get up there again soon.
The groomed track I skied with Beaver mountain in the background. I love this part of the country! Every direction I turned there was a different winter sport taking place (including snowmobiling - is that a sport?) and on my way out two buses pulled up do deliver the Special Olympics athletes to compete in snowshoeing and cross-country skiing. How great is that!
