Today we visited Amanda’s old camp Orme. We got to see where she used to bunk (a few different spots), where she used to ride, and where she would lasso the cattle :) Everyone there was extremely nice, although we didn’t really talk to many people. Sam and Charlotte were very into the “rocks” (they wanted to take the big ones home) while Harrison was happy running around. The drive from Scottsdale took a bit over an hour and the drive into the camp was very scenic. The immediate drive into the camp was extremely bumpy:
Insert video of kids!
After Amanda showed us the camp, we grabbed lunch at Gabriela’s Tacos. It was a very “local” place, but the food was amazing. Sam was upset that he didn’t get a waffle 1, but he enjoyed the food nonetheless. We then took a drive to Jerome. That was even more scenic and well worth the extra time. The kids slept (or rested) during most of this part of the drive. On the way back to Amanda’s mom’s place in Scottsdale, Charlotte pooped in her pants and then used her finger to determine if she had done so. When I found out, I just about lost it - again, going overboard.
Note to self: don’t be such a dick. They are only little once and this will be the last time that I am in AZ on vacation with them at this age.
Earlier this week we took the kids to the zoo, which was amazing! They got to see a “4D” video (i.e., real effects in addition to the 3D movie) on Ice Age which has been a fan favorite as of late. We also saw “Dinosaur’s in the Desert” where they had fake (but realistic) dinosaurs in one particular area and saw a ton of animals. The highest rated sightings seemed to be the lions and a rhino. We also took sam to see his friend Liam (Deasey - Bill and Donna) who were staying at the Phoenician. They had an amazing water slide, several pools, and a hot tub. I got to take Charlotte down the slide once which went very well. She wanted to go a second time, but by herself - unfortunately she ended up backwards at the bottom and hit her head. I then was going to take her down again, but the “guard” told us that she had to go down by herself. Rather than skipping it, she tried it again by herself (because she is fearless!) and ended up backwards again and hit her head again. She was not happy with the guard for not allowing me to take her down :( Sam had a great time with Liam. He especially seemed to like the hot tub.
The rest of the week so far has been in the community pool. Charlotte is really starting to swim. She can really only swim a bit (e.g., to me as far as she can hold her breath), but she is getting her arms out and making it back and forth.
Oh, and we stopped at the outlets on the way back today so that I could get sneakers. I ended up getting Lebron James sneakers for almost 50% off.
- Charlotte wanted to look through the menu to see what they had and saw they had a waffle. Sam was ok just picking a burritto as he likes them, but was upset when he saw that he could have had a waffle. I did not help the situation as I scolded Sam telling him “this is what you picked - just eat it!”. I was frustrated from the kids not listening for (what seemed like) pretty much the entire morning, but I should have been more sensitive. It would have been easy to help convince him that the burritto was ok (or even to have just bought him a waffle). Dad fail :( [return]