A VIP Night at Legoland Discovery Center

This weekend was supposed to be our annual trip to Tontozona with our friends from Phoenix. We made the reservation for our little studio cabin, like we have every year, back in November. Then, they called a few months ago and said they are having volunteer workers come in to do projects around camp all summer and they are giving them all the studios to stay in. They were having over 100 other people there this weekend, which meant we were out of a place to stay. We could've crammed in one of the cabins with our friends, but decided to just forget it. I was bummed.

But, with the Fossil Creek trip last weekend and then our fun night in Phoenix yesterday, we've had lots of summer fun this week. Okay, now to our trip yesterday....

One of the perks of my job, besides saving thousands of dollars a year on groceries, is free events. Every so often, we'll get tickets to something fun, like the Dbacks suite, or to a show. Last night, we were invited to a VIP event at Legoland Discovery Center. It's fairly new and in a mall in Phoenix, well, Tempe actually. They invited us to an event when they opened, but it was a school night. This time, it was from 6-9 and the kids are on summer break. Perfect!

The boys were in church camp all week, so I literally picked them up at 3:00, drove home to get Em and David and off we went. We got there 40 minutes before our event, had time to grab Subway at the Food Court in the mall, and in we went. My kids are so deprieved living in a small town that they think just going to a mall is neat.

They were impressed with this octopus made out of Legos.


What was great about the event is that it was closed to the public.  So, there wasn't a ton of people there.  We got to me the AZ Cardinals mascot.

Then, the first thing we walked threw was this mini land of Arizona.  Basically, every Arizona landmark was there and made out of Legos.  Very cool.  Things were also interactive, which was fun.

Look, we took the kids to the Grand Canyon!  :)

And they had a boat race at Tempe Town Lake.

Ben just went to Montezuma's Castle on a school field trip.

Then, we got in to the main part and it's like Lego's everywhere.

Ben didn't want to pose with this girl.  

There was a meet and greet with Emmit.

Ben ran up to him and then kept trying to twist his head off.

There were two rides.  You have to peddle to go up and Ben was alone, and couldn't get it peddling fast enough to go up.  At one point, he just gave up and put his hands behind his head and relaxed.  He rode it another time with Emily and they went high.

There was this awesome area where you could build Lego cars and then try them down the track or race them.

David tried it and his car didn't make it off the ramp

So, he worked really hard at making it perfect.  Then, it flew off the ramp like a champ!

And here's a video of their race:

And there was other fun things to do....

This is where the master builder builds everything.

It's someones job to build Legos all day.  Nice!

I think this Lego girl looked like me.  Well if I were a Lego and 3 feet tall...

We got to see the new Lego 4D movie, which is why they had this VIP night.  

It was very cool.

And the kids LOVED this play house.  Literally, they could've spent all night there.  Ben came out and was dripping sweat from running and climbing so much.

The event was over at 9:00 and you can tell from Big Ben that it was 8:45 and we were the last people there.  Oh my gosh, why didn't I take a picture of Ben with Big Ben?  Oh well, I'll take him to see the real thing one day.

Then, Em did a handstand on the way because that's what she does.

We got home at 10:30 which really wasn't too bad.  The kids had a BLAST!  I mean they loved it.  No lines and no crowds were great.  Plus, free popcorn, soda, water, etc.  It was a fun night.

We leave for vacation in just a few days/

The summer is flying by!

Around Our House...

It's been a busy summer so far.  The boys are on a Lego quest to redesign superheros.  Ben made Spiderham on the right and the left is Green Gobbler instead of Green Goblin.

Noah made Goose Rider.

And there is The Mighty Boar instead of Thor... and so many more.  

We've been enjoying the summer movies at Harkins. 

The girls all went to their first mid high get together at church on Wednesday night.

Only to find they take a break for the summer and won't be back until July.  Ooops.

David watched this video where this little boy shaved his eyebrows and his Mom drew on funky ones.  David thought it was hilarious.  So, I drew eyebrows on the boys.  

This bunny in our front yard is the cutest thing ever.  He digs a little hole in the ground and gets down in there to stay cool.  He's so cute.  I was telling the kids about how we used to have rabbits feet on keychains and they were dyed these funky colors like bright orange.  Were those things really rabbits feet?  I remember you could feel little claws in them.  Oh, the '80's.  Good times.  That stuff would just never fly today.  Real or fake.  

So, the new trend for girls is to dip dye their hair in Kook Aid.  One of Emily's friends did it and it looks cute.  Em wanted to try it, but was nervous, so she wanted to do purple.  I didn't think it would turn out on her dark hair, but we went for it anyway.  

So, your supposed to hold your head over cups of hot Kool Aid for like 30 minutes.  I thought that was ridiculous.  So, I cut out fingers from gloves and put the Kool Aid in there and twist tied it around here little pony tails.  Much better.  They look like little purple balloons hanging from her hair. or little eggplants.  

Then, you make a paste of Kool Aid and conditioner and put that on your hair with foil for an hour.

And then, you rinse with cold water and the results???

NOTHING!  BWAHAHAHAHAHA!

I felt so bad for her, she was excited and then like what? This sucks!  :)

I told her we need to do a bright color or it will never show up in her hair.  Her friends are all blondes, so it shows up easily.   It was a little more obvious in full sun.  Last night, when we were volunteering at church, I could see some purple in the sun.

But, we weren't very impressed with it.  So, we picked up an actual box of purple hair color from Walmart when we were out on Sunday.  Now, the box came with a bleaching agent, to bleach brown hair first, but Emily absolutely didn't want to do that.  So, I figured we'd just slap on the purple and see what we get.  Worst case scenario, it's a fail again, and we can just redo it with the bleach.  But, it was so easy with just the premade dye and foil.  An hour later and it was a nice purple.  Nothing bright like on the box, but it was perfect for her.  She was super excited and loves it.

And this is what Ben does for exercise. It may look easy, but seriously, don't try it. I almost injured myself.


Emily went to camp last week at our church and the boys did this week. They usually do the week together, but you have to pick activities you want to do and the boys didn't really like the activities last week. I didn't really want to take them two different weeks, but hey, it sure is quiet around here. I'll take it! The boys this week are doing rock climbing, wood chuck (who knows what that is), man camp and spy school. That's right up there alley! Last week, Emily did archery, rock climbing, duct tape crafts and cooking. They have a great time! And I let them off the hook from enrichment hour and chores if they are at camp.

We leave for our vacation in like 9 days. How did that happen so fast?

45

My sweet husband turned 45 today. I think most people would describe my husband as a family man, and he so is. It's one of the things I love most about him. He 100% without a doubt will put the four of us first. I love that about him. But, I love that he is the ying to my yang. He's calm when I need to chill. He thinks things through when I'd jump the gun. He's my balance and my rock.

Since we already had our Fossil Creek surprise, today was just going to be a day to relax and do some things that David enjoys.

It started with Noah coming out of his room and giving David a stack of 10 homemade cards. That kid is so thoughtful.

We made breakfast.  And by we, I mean David and I.  The kids would've helped, but David said he enjoys cooking.  So, by all means, make us some waffles!  :)  Then, he opened a few presents.

Emily made him a cake.  Chocolate with chocolate frosting is always his request.

We went to the pool and enjoyed some sun and flips.

Noah snuggled with his Dad.

Then, wanted a tummy rub.  Wait?  Whose birthday is it?

We ran a quick errand to Home Depot, went to Olive Garden for dinner with a gift card from David's Mom and came home to enjoy cake.  (Don't ask about Emily's hair; more on that tomorrow).

I don't know what he wished for, but knowing my husband, it wasn't a wish for himself. 

We all love you so much babe.
Happy birthday!

Fossil Creek

If you live in Arizona, you've seen pictures or video of Fossil Creek.  It is this oasis smack dab in the middle of the desert.  Who would think?  David has always wanted to go.  There were two things stopping us.

First, it was so overcrowded.  There were reports that the gates would open at 8AM with a line on the highway and if you were more than 100 cars past that line, you wouldn't get in.  The gate is almost an hour from hour house.  Who wants to drive all that way and get turned away?

Second, we kept reading that you need a high clearance vehicle to get back there.  It's 14 miles on a bumpy dirt road.  I thought about renting something, but since we'd need it so early in the day and wouldn't get home until a rental place is closed, we'd need it for 2 days.  Trucks rent for about $100 a day.  Is $200 worth it?

Well, a few things changed.  The National Park Service implemented a permit system.  You buy a permit for the area you want to park and you get a spot.  That simple.  Nice!  I also read and saw several videos that showed you can get back there with a little car, you just have to go slow over really bumpy parts.  So, we went for it in our van!

But, let me back up here.  Our friends, The Sutton's, have thought about going with us too.  Now, with the permit system, they were in!  So, Dakri and I were planning the trip and this weekend was the best time, so I thought we should surprise David for his 45th birthday, which is Sunday.  So, we bought the permits and I emailed his coworked and boss.  I arranged for him to get the day off.  And his coworker scheduled a fake meeting with him, so he wouldn't schedule anything that he couldn't cancel.

The Sutton family new, some other friends of ours new, actually, almost 20 people knew and somehow nobody slipped to David.  He got home from work Thursday night and we told him he had to open a gift early.  It was a Go Pro.  Then, I told him we are going to use it tomorrow when we go to.... and the kids all yelled FOSSIL CREEK!  He was like what?  But, I'm working...  It was a great surprise.  I was so glad to finally be able to tell him.  I was spinning little lies over lies and it's just exhausting not to be honest.



We booked our permit at the Waterfall trail, which is the closest to the big waterfall.  I'm going to be making notes throughout this as I know I won't remember the next time we go.  We got the the gate at about 8:30, and started our way down the 14 mile road.  It was bumpy, but doable.  We went about 12 miles per hour the whole way, so it took some time.  But, it was worth it!

Once you park, you have a mile hike to get to the falls.  We wore regular sneakers/hiking shoes down instead of water shoes and were really glad we did.  It was bumpy, rocky and sandy and it would've been awful with open toed water shoes.  Not to mention when they are soaking wet on the way back.  We also got out or big Grand Canyon backpack and piled everything in there.  I did not bring my good camera.  Just my phone and the Go Pro.  We also packed to the falls, plenty of water, trail mix, apples and other snacks.  As well as a few towels, goggles for the kids and a few blow up inner tubes.  And some trash bags to carry trash out.  Nobody likes litter bugs, and we could see litter here and there.  Sad, some people have such a disregard for nature.

It was about a 25 minute walk back, and we finally reached the falls!

Here are a few videos:

Here we are behind the waterfall.  There was room for about 5 people and that was it.  We all snuggled in.

Noah got cold after the waterfall and had to sit out.  The water flows from the spring year round at a constant 72 degrees.  They call it a warm spring instead of a hot spring.  72 felt great when it's 100 outside.  

Then, we just swam around.  

The current was so strong near the fall that you could swim with all your might and not go anywhere.

When we got there, about 10 other people were there.  After about an hour, there was probably close to 100.  So, we left.  Too many people.  But, this is where it would've been better to get to the gate right at 8:00.  You'd have a little more time at the falls alone.

The hike out was HOT!  Almost 100 degrees out.

We stopped to wet hats along the way and Ben wanted to soak his head.  We could've just jumped in again, but it was a process to get shoes and socks back on.  A spare set of socks is a good idea too.  If one gets wet, hiking would not be fun.

Dakri and I had never been here and with the permit system, we decided to take a chance and book a second permit.  They are only $6.  You can only park where you buy your permit and we knew we wouldn't want to hang at the waterfall area once it got packed.  So, we took a chance and booked at another area.  The rangers were posting orange stickers on cars all day, saying they'd be towed, etc.  So, you have to have a permit for the area you want.  When we tried to book a second permit, it wouldn't let us since we already had a reservation, so we created an account in our husbands name and booked a second one.  And we are so glad we did....

We found this beautiful area and it was just us for the entire afternoon.  We had packed a lunch and left it in the car, and this was only a 2 minute walk from the car, so we could just bring everything down to the creek and enjoy the day.  We had a few small inner tubes, but some bigger ones would've been good to just lay and enjoy.  This was the Homestead parking area.  Next time, we'd probably book at the Fossil Creek Bridge parking area, just to explore that area.  But, this was super nice too.

Here's pictures from our afternoon...

We are still learning to work the Go Pro and realized our fingers get in the way a lot.  We'll learn.  David took this of me floating around down the creek.  The water is clear and you can see fish and everything.

And a 60 second walk down the trail and we found a rope swing.

Noah and I walked back and he's just the cutest little thing.  I love him and his little Nemo tube.

I jumped in the water by mistake with my tank top on, so I just swam in it.  Whatever.  

Here's a video of our time there:

It was a great day trip and David enjoyed the start to his birthday weekend!  

Our Weekend

It was 100 degrees this weekend. Perfect for spending time at the pool. I also solved Ben's Rubiks Cube.  It was a good weekend.