Happy birthday, Coop!

Cooper invited us to his swim party today

to celebrate the big #4

Cheese!

And now--cupcakes!

For everyone!

Oh yeah,

and we did some swimming too!

Pancakes for Robots

I joined the BroncoBots team this year--

programming and building isn't really my jam,

but media and marketing is and they've been in need of one

for a few years now.

My first project:

I designed the flyer...

and help make the pancakes...

 

Sedona by Jackson

I asked for a new camera for Christmas--

wow did Mom and Dad deliver.

I put it, my good eye,

and awesome editing skills to good use

in Sedona:

and Jerome:

Pretty good, huh?

Unboxing

Since we left the day after Christmas,

there wasn't much time for checking out all our gifts.

We were thrilled to get them out today!

I was SO EXCITED about my new pottery wheel!

You should see my cup!

We were SUPER EXCITED about the trampoline--

we stood at the door giggling and squealing,

waiting for Santa's crew to finish setting it up

YESSSSS!

It's better than we had hoped!!

I see a lot of hours out here

in our futures...

Sedona...to Phoenix Day 8: A bit more "fun" before home

Despite the ups and downs of this trip

(did I mention that we were canceled off our return flight?

Yep, had to fix that...),

we were still disappointed to be headed home.

We needed a few pictures to remember

the beautiful, Pinteresty house by:

The front porch

The separate bedroom suite

Mom, Dad and Jack shared

Jack was in a bedroom next door

Our loft

The living room 

And one more shot of the view

(and it's still cloudy...)

We needed one of the hanging chair too.

Definitely a favorite sitting nook

We finished off the food

rang the bell one more time

and we were off!

Oh look--

it's sunny south of Sedona.

Our flight isn't until this evening

so we had some time this afternoon

for a bit more fun.

We headed to this 3D minigolf place

It was weird, but cool

with a lot of challenging holes

Not a bad way to spend the afternoon!

We all have this odd obsession with In and Out Burger,

so when we found that there were several nearby...

I mean, what else could we do

but stop for lunch?

Dad,

looking sad about being a solo table

(but not really...)

Because In and Out requires a picture!

We thankfully got on the plane

without any hiccups.

The landing was...HARD!

One of the biggest bumps we've experienced.

The Dads went to get the cars

while the rest of us gathered to get the bags.

Except,

they didn't come.

There was a storm with lightning in the area

delaying things a bit

but then they lost the baggage tram

and told us that "all the luggage has been delivered."

We thought the crowd was going to revolt.

This, on top of our credit cards being hacked today

(yep, add something else to the downs of the trip)

was just about to send everyone over the edge.

Luckily, they found the tram

and AMAZINGLY all our bags were there.

Whew.

Trip, DONE!

So we had a canceled flight,

no rental cars,

overnight drive to Sedona,

speeding tickets,

crap-tacular hotel,

ridiculous bill for the car,

rain, rain and more rain,

blinding foggy drives,

fog in the Grand Canyon,

canceled return flight,

mouse in the house,

stolen credit cards,

and briefly lost baggage.

BUT...

we also made it to Sedona,

figured out the rental car,

had a beautiful house,

lots of tasty meals,

beautiful scenery,

a Jeep adventure,

a memorable Grand Canyon story,

2 national parks,

hot tub time,

lots of hikes and walks,

plenty of time for chats and naps,

game nights,

no lost luggage,

safe return home

and reimbursement for flights, hotel, car, gas, and food from Southwest.  

We all agreed it wasn't our best vacation,

but it was still a good one!

Definitely "epic."

 

Sedona Day 7: Rain, rain go away

Sigh.

It's raining.

Again.

Our morning was filled with a lot of this:

The day was sort of filled with disappointments.

Not the way we wanted to end our trip.

But sort of par for the course.

We searched for a loooong time for a way to get the Chiefs game

and eventually found a way to stream it from FB

(thanks Danelle!).

But we had to change streams every few minutes. Irksome.

Mom, Dad and I decided to go for a hike

in the afternoon.

It was grey and drizzly

(but nice to be out)

until it poured on us on the way home.

The parents decided it was time to turn things around.

We had a fancy final vacation dinner

and drove the 30 minutes into Sedona

to get ice cream at the only non-golden arch McDonalds

in the world!

Top that off with some "shots"

and "mixed drinks" of whatever juices

we could find in the fridge

and I'd say things ended on a high note.

Sedona,

you weren't what we had planned,

but you were certainly memorable.

Sedona Day 6: Iconic Hikes to Ring in the New Year

This kids' loft is pretty spectacular.

We have our own balcony and all these bunks

which are amazing places to chill

with our friends

There is also this awesome deck

but all the rain and cool temperatures

has made it hard to enjoy.

Mom and Dad were making the best of a dry morning.

Speaking of making the best of the pause in rain...

we REALLY needed to check out some trails today.

After all,

that's what we do!

So first we headed to Sugarloaf

The clouds kinda added to the mystique,

don't you think?

It misted just a little

but the cool temps made it a great day for hiking

There were lots of things to check out along the way

Including this formation we thought looked like

a guy laying down and something is sticking up...

The initial hike was supposed to be a

1-2 mile loop.

But then we found that the summit

of Sugarloaf was an off-spur...

Oh, this was worth the climb!

What a view!

It was a good place for lunch

and chilling

and a few epic pictures

We decided to cut that hike short

(what could be cooler than the summit??)

and head to our next stop--

the quintessential Sedona hike...

Bell Rock

The formations around Bell Rock were amazing

but we could not WAIT to scurry up the rocks

we'd been admiring all week

Here's how far up

we actually are:

We learned this was the first hike like this

our friends had ever been on.

They hadn't ever scrambled up rocks,

seeing how high they could go,

leaving their parents in the dust

Oh, the things we could teach them!

After a bit,:

they decided to head back down

and get a jump start on showers

for our upcoming NYE celebrations--

which made for an awesome picture

We stayed back

and climbed a bit more

It was so good

to just climb

Mom and Dad were glad to be out and about too

But our dinner plans were calling

so we headed back to the trailhead

(but not before one more picture)

Back at the house,

Mom and I sat on the deck for a bit,

listening to the rain

and recognizing

our matching good taste in hats

So what's the plan for NYE?

Mom made some calls

and the Mexican restaurant we picked

suggested we arrive before 5:00 to get a table

(they weren't taking reservations).

So here we are!!!

(we were nearly the only people in the restaurant)

NYE?

Calls for some tasty food and drinks!

You know what else NYE calls for?

HOT TUB!

The parents have watched us enjoy it all week.

Tonight was the night for them to jump in

(and put those robes to good use!

Jackson shouldn't be the only one lounging in one!)

Adult time in the hot tub looks a little different

than kid time in the hot tub!

They said it was nice and peaceful

and a perfect way to spend NYE

After all that hot tubbing,

we had an epic charcuterie board,

some games,

and of course,

a NYE toast

Now THAT is how you should celebrate NYE!