I had the opportunity to drive down to AZ with my parents, Rex and Colette, and Melanie and Isaac for their fall break before we headed up to WA for good. We left Wednesday afternoon. My dad had rigged up a stand for his laptop so everyone could watch movies on the way down. Unfortunately, my kids don't sleep in the car, so everyone had to content themselves with the likes of Fairytopia. We stayed the night in Flagstaff, then in the morning we woke up to conquer another state high point.
Mom was watching my kids at the hotel, we were supposed to check out at 1pm, and we had gotten an hour later start than we intended due to some confusion with the time change, so we did not have time for a leisure hike. I knew I was the weakest link of the group, so I went in front and set the fastest pace I felt like I could manage without doing damage to myself and unborn child. I love my body. I am so grateful it can do things like this, even though my regular "exercise" consists of cleaning and picking up toys and children. We powered our way up the trail, practicing my new favorite tongue twister: short steep switchbacks. ("tape deck adapter" is pretty tricky too--I had to keep saying it because I wished I had one to be able to share Hamilton with everyone in the car).
Not to say the hike wouldn't have been easier if I had been more fit. I was definitely feeling it when we got to the top. But, the trail had been so beautifully made, there was a view of the Grand Canyon in the distance from the top, I was with some of my favorite hiking buddies, and I had brought along my favorite summit snack with me (a Salted Nut Roll), so there was nothing to complain about. We signed the logbook, then descended. We got back to the hotel right before 1 (yay me!).
Actually, I was a little disappointed about one thing. A park ranger had told us in the parking lot that a group of Native Americans were going to be doing a ceremony on top of the mountain that day, and asked us to be respectful and not take pictures. We passed them on our way up, carrying all their ceremonial gear. I think they said they were from the Acoma Pueblo tribe in New Mexico. I would have liked to have seen a bit of their ceremony.
Once checked out of the hotel we hopped in the car with a Chick-fil-a lunch to continue our journey. The last stretch into Phoenix is one of my favorite drives in the world, because we enter the Sonoran desert. It's like an alternate reality version of a forest. The underbrush is prickly pear, cholla, ocotilla, and agave, and the trees are palo verde and mesquite and the amazing saguaros. It is like nowhere else in the world I have ever been and has its own enchanting beauty.
Stolen from the internet. I think that is Four Peaks, which we usually pass on our way. Dad made sure to point out EVERY landmark to Isaac--it was his first time in AZ.
We followed tradition and drove straight to Grandma and Grandpa Woods's house to say hello. So many wonderful memories in this pool . . .
We had somewhere else to be that night, so we didn't really have time for a full on swim. But . . .
The kids got in anyway. Their swimming suits were buried in luggage, so they went au naturel. There is a rule at my grandparents' house that suits are not allowed after 10 pm, however, I think it is more to discourage late night drownings than promote skinny dipping. Oh well.
We had dinner at Organ Stop Pizza with whichever Woods family members could come. This place is pure magic. The organist seemed to be in a bit of a frenzy that night though--I was spared my inevitable tears on both "Be Our Guest" and "Stars and Stripes Forever" because he blew through the rallentandos, we had the disco ball and bubbles and the full room lights almost every other song, and the dancing cats came out THREE times in one show. When I was a kid, the dancing cats hardly ever came out. I don't know if the kids were properly blown away, but they sure had a good time.
My kids and I stayed with Grandma Brunsdale, who was herself in the process of moving but was kind enough to host us anyway. Even though her house was down to bare bones, she was able to rustle up enough beds for everyone to sleep on. We had a little valve malfunction the first night on Vivien's bed which was easily remedied for subsequent sleeps.
The next morning we got up and got ready to spend a day at Canyon Lake.
Dad had rented some jet skis.
So we all took turns going out on the water . . .
. . . and playing on the shore.
It was a pretty day, and the water was still nice for swimming.
For awhile.
Luckily there was plenty of bird watching to do when it got too cold to swim anymore. I know there were more, but all I can remember now was a woodpecker, a cardinal, and a bunch of sleek, black grackles. I didn't get any pictures of them, because I was busy watching them, but this is what they look like.
When I was out on the jet ski with Colette, a duck flew right into our path and frantically tried to outrun us on the water for a couple seconds before realizing it was a lost cause and diving into the water. Rafe found a couple ducks too.
And that night we found more ducks! We had a Brunsdale family get together at Riverview Park, which is really cool. There is an amazing playground (similar to Neptune Park in Saratoga Springs, but way bigger), lots of grass, and a lake that you can actually fish in. The kids enjoyed watching the ducks swimming in the sunset. That crested duck in the middle cracks me up.
I could tell Annie wanted to join them, so I stayed close.
I didn't take any pictures of cousins, but we had a tasty dinner and a fun time catching up with all of them that could make it. There are lots of little kids between us now! After the party broke up a bit we went to the playground. A couple approached us and asked if their 5 year old daughter could play with the kids for awhile. Vivien took to the girl surprisingly quickly and they played hard for a good half hour. Once as she ran by me she said, "Look Mom! My first friend in Arizona!" When we were ready to go I went over to thank the parents for coming over and they were surprised to find out I was Vivien's mom. They thought Colette was. I guess it's possible . . . if she had gotten pregnant at 11 . . . She'd be a fun mom though--look at her climbing with all the kids!
The next day my dad went to Emma and Jacob's swim meet with Grandma Brunsdale and everyone else hung out with Grandma Ann. We swam in the pool and chatted on the blue couches. Grandpa came home for lunch and talked with Vivien for awhile. He even played for her to sing for him, and much to my surprise she actually participated, albeit reservedly.
That night we had another picnic at Gene Autry park with Woods cousins. When we got there, there was a huge volleyball tournament and a birthday party going on, which was surprising because usually the park is empty. But it did not interrupt our visiting. Vivien and Rafe had a great time playing with their second cousins and commandeering the Jensen's tricycle built for two.
The next day was Sunday. With some concerted effort we found a ward that met at 10:30, which left time for French toast with Grandma Ann and Sunday roast with Grandma Brunsdale before Melanie and Isaac had to catch their flight home.
Annie was the after-meal entertainment.
Everyone else decided to take off that evening and drive to Page. The kids and I were flying straight to WA on Tuesday (I didn't much fancy driving from AZ to UT only to get in the car again and drive to WA the next day . . . and I happened to score tickets for all four of us for $185 total), so we had a couple more days to relax, which was fortunate because Annie decided to come down with hand, foot, and mouth disease and be generally miserable.
So, while she recovered my kids got to experience a couple of my favorite things about staying with Grandma Brunsdale: banana bread for breakfast, Disney movie marathons, and reading the books that were special enough to have survived the moving purge.
We were excited to crack open this book and find it signed by Patricia Polacco, one of my kids' favorite authors.
Tuesday was interesting. At 3 in the morning I woke to Rafe standing half asleep by my bed repeating, "Guess I need a change. Guess I need a change," over and over. I quickly figured out this was code for, "I just peed all over myself and everything." I don't know if I fully understood how much cleaning up of urine I would be expected to do as a mother.
Later that morning we had a little issue that took some figuring out. Grandma Brunsdale was giving away her china and my mom wanted it because they had used it at my parents' wedding luncheon. We had neglected to send it with them in the van, so Grandma was worrying about how to get it to them with her impending move. My mom suggested we store it at Grandma Ann's until they could come pick it up, so Grandma packed it all up in little boxes to get it ready to go. The boxes maybe weighed 30 pounds each, but when it was time to load up, she would not let me lift any of them, because I am pregnant. So I had to watch her put them one by one on the seat of her walker and wheel them over rugs and through three doorways to the car. I moved one while she wasn't looking and she got really mad at me and told me she would never forgive herself if I lost my baby from lifting boxes at her house. I tried to tell her I had already this pregnancy carried a 40 pound pack up Mt Fuji and climbed Humphreys Peak not 5 days prior, but she would not have it. When her walker wouldn't fit in the trunk with the boxes she wanted to forget the whole thing, but I talked her into driving over to Grandma Ann's, assuring her she probably had a dolly we could use. Luckily Grandma Ann could lift the boxes no problem, so Grandma finally conceded that they were safe for me to lift and we were able to get them safely tucked away in a closet. I am not looking forward to getting older. But I am glad I have two exemplary grandmothers to show me how it's done, and I am glad my kids have gotten to meet them.
There was a little hiccup with the journey home when they sent an email that my flight from PHX to SFO had been cancelled for "air traffic control reasons" half an hour before we were going to leave for the airport, but I called the airline and they were able to get me on a flight from PHX to Portland that left about the same time, so all was well. Grandma walked us all the way in to the security gate with the kids in a wheelchair. We said goodbye and wished her luck with her move. The plane that took us from Portland to Seattle had propellers on it, which was quite exciting for the kids. The kids did wonderfully and were very happy to see their Daddy at SeaTac!
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