Phoenix Day 1

 Well we had a great vacation!  I came home and had a little post-vacay depression.  There was no one to change my sheets for me and straighten the bathroom, no restaurants to do all of the cooking and dishes, and no pool.  Life is hard, huh.

The drive down was ok.  We ended up stopping every 2 hours and had someone crying on and off the whole time, but we made it.  The kids and I lived it up while Thomas was at his conference.  I braved the Phoenix traffic with the aid of our GPS and went downtown (from Mesa where we were actually staying) to the Children's Museum.  SO worth the effort and the $11 per persons over the age of 1.  I loved it as much as the kids.

I'll be the first to admit that I was a little nervous about taking all 3 small children to a museum where they would be running around by myself.  It's one thing to go to the grocery store where they are contained in a cart and the trip lasts 30 minutes.  Going to a "run around" place while having a nursing  baby made me nervous.  One of the things I've always told myself as a mom though is - I will not fear my children or fear taking them places because they are young.  I talked to my mom about it and she said to just make sure to take snacks and when the baby needed to eat, just have them have a snack too... genius.  My mother is so very smart.  It worked great and we had a perfect 5 hours out together with only a few minor fits.  I also prayed a lot about it and honestly my prayers were heard and answered.

 When you first walk in this giant tube structure on the wall.  There is air blowing all through it, so you shove scarves in a hole, they zoom around the tubes and pop out at different spots.  They float down and you can grab them.  This was my favorite exhibit.  SO cool.  I think I need one!

 There is a giant 3 story structure that is a big climbing area that is supposed to be like climbing a tree.  I couldn't go in holding Kimball, but the kids liked it - exploring together while I kept a close eye from the ground.  It was really artistic and pretty and they loved it.  Here is a picture from the bottom

 Flying bathtub anyone?

 On the second floor were trikes and scooters of all kinds... this one was SO cute.  I'm going to buy one next Christmas if I can.

 The trikes were for going through a car wash!  Well.. a trike wash... complete with air blowing on them at the end!

 Mini grocery land- what child doesn't love being in charge of the shopping!

 Henry enjoyed the kitchen and making his momma some pizza.

 Utensil sculpture on the ceiling.

 Noodle forest-  My kids were a little too short to love this... it was a little scary for me to have them in there, but it was neat none-the-less.

 The building is an old school - the Monroe School.  We love that name :)

 Their art room was awesome.  They had a giant rocket ship that kids could just paint on.  What kid doesn't want to just paint all over something!

 Drumstick headbands were the craft for the month.  Oh my heart, so so funny and cute!

 The kids in the tub on the climbing place!

 Pipes with air that you could put ping pong balls in, they would shoot out or float...

 These were just a few of the "big" things at the museum.  They had things everywhere... places to make music, scoop up and serve fake ice cream cones, sand tables, giant plunck-o boards.  It was awesome!

We returned to the hotel, rested a minute and then Thomas skipped out on his meetings a few minutes early so we could swim before it got to late.  The pool was salt water!  I loved it... not nasty and chemically but not too salty either.  It was heated with a waterfall - thank you Hilton for being so fancy!

 Kimball crawling to get in...

 Hot tub!  I love to swim.  Did you know that?  LOVE IT!  It's been awhile since I swam outside in November.  Oh wait, that was just last year in Australia...

 After going out to dinner we got ready for bed.  I was beat!  I mean super exhausted.  I fell asleep while Thomas was talking to me.  Macey took an unusual late nap and was up, happy as a clam, chatting her dad's ear off for a full hour and a half after I fell asleep.  She munched on ice the whole time, then fell asleep right where she was sitting.  It was fun to have her sleep in the bed next to us.  She felt very big too.