Exploring Phoenix

Date Shake at Hadley Fruit Orchards

James had a conference to attend in Phoenix this past month.  He decided to drive rather than fly so we could all go with him.  I signed Ethan up for Independent study and pulled him out of school for the week,  but Brielle decided she wanted to stay.  She had an exciting week staying with Ian and Annie, getting to do movie night and ice-cream sundaes, and loved that she didn’t have to miss out on volleyball, student council and activity girls.

Preston, Ethan and I had a lot of adventures exploring the Phoenix area while James sat in his classes all day.  He did get out in the evenings early enough we were able to do fun dinners and activities together.

Hole in the Rock

Wednesday-Papago park for a hike to 'hole in the rock' and some other geocaching.  Ethan and I are not very thoughtful in our plans to get to geocaches and just follow a straight-line, which took us on some pretty serious mountain climbs.  We discovered after a couple of cache finds, we could have easily walked a nice paved trail around the mountain we had just climbed.  

After Preston had had enough hiking (he told me he was scared of the alligators), we went to Stuffington Bear Factory for a tour of how they make stuffed animals.  

It was a small family owned and operated facility, but was really interesting to see.  We were the only ones there that day for the tour, so Ethan was able to get all of his questions answered and loved it.

We went back to the hotel so Preston could nap while Ethan and I worked on his schooling.  Then James joined us for a fun evening.  We went to Rustler’s Rooste-a restaurant James remembered from his childhood.  

There is a slide to go down from where you walk in to get to the tables. 

They also had a balloon animal artist that came to the tables to make animals for the kids, and cotton candy for the kids-meal dessert.  

After dinner we took the boys miniature golfing, since Ethan has been asking to go since his birthday last year.  He was so excited he couldn’t contain himself and was bouncing around the whole evening.  

Preston just loved running over the bumps in the course.

Thursday-We checked out McCormick-Stillman Railroad Park and ended up staying almost all day.  

The boys loved the model trains, and the train ride, and the train museum they had there in addition to the 2 train-themed playgrounds.  

They LOVED the tunnel on the train ride through the park

Preston would not pull his face away from the glass the whole time they were there.  Ethan especially loved that he could complete the electric circuits by pushing a button to get the trains moving.

The velocipede at the train museum

I pulled them away so we could do nap and school work again.  That evening we had another fun dinner out at Carrabbas where the boys got to play with pizza dough while waiting for their food.

Friday-We all went swimming before breakfast and then when James went off to conference some more the boys and I explored the Bajada Nature trail at the McDowell Sonoran Preserve.  

There was discovery stations along the way so Ethan and I could learn more about the desert.  

Smelling the creosote bush-named because it smells like creosote oil

The huge Saguaro cactus-grow more arms the older they are

We then went to try a chocolate factory tour.  

The boys mostly loved that they gave so many samples a long the way as we learned how they made different kinds of candy.  

We then did some geocaching while we waited for James to finish up and then made the drive back home.