How's this for thinking outside the box?? ;)

So, as recently mentioned, we bought our plane tickets for the Fam Reunion in July on our way home from AZ. Well, BR knew this and, seeing as his wheels are always turning, he came up with a brilliant travel plan to get us out there! It's brilliant in his mind because it puts first the things that matter most.

He says to me, "Mom, I've got a great idea! We should drive to Wheat Ridge the day before we are going to fly out for the family reunion."

Me: "Why in the world would we want to drive 8 hours just to save 1 our on the airplane the next day?!?!"

BR: "Well, because then we could be sure to be on the same flight as Grandma and Grandpa." (Aahhh Sweet!)

Me: "That's a really nice idea, but it's a little too late, we already bought our tickets, and they leave from SLC."

BR: "I know mom, but I'm talking about driving there the day before!!"

I then proceed to try to help him see that it would be insanity to drive to Wheat Ridge the day before, only to turn around and hurry back to make our flight...and also try once again to help him see how much faster we'll get there without the detour drive to CO.

After processing all of the kinks to his plan that I'd brought up, he quickly came up with a whole new set of simple ideas:

BR: "That would be really neat if our plane could catch up to the plane that Grandma and Grandpa take and send over a tube that would connect our plane to theirs. Then we could climb through the tube and have our luggage sent over also before the tube is disconnected."

Whew!! I never knew that having the same flight as grandma and grandpa would be so important! ;) I mean it would be one thing to get a connecting flight, in which we could all hook up but....wow these plans are BIG time!! :) See how much he loves you grandma and grandpa?

Arizona 2008- Leaving on a Jet Plane!!

Tuesday, February 26

We got up early and returned GM's manwagon

then headed to PHX airport.

GM went to check us in and get boarding passes, while I stood in a separate line to use some travel vouchers we had to purchase our plane tickets for the E Family Reunion in July (short line, we knew which flights...should be no problem...right??). HA! After much time and much confusion, the guy finally figured out how to apply the vouchers and gave us our tickets. We ran to the security line (which naturally turned out to be VERY long) and waded through that…making it to our gate just in time for final boarding. Whew.

This time BR and I sat together one row ahead of MC and GM so it was nicer than the first flight, in that way…except that we’d booked window seats for both of our kids and BR got his, but there was a lady in MC’s (who apparently decided she didn’t want her aisle seat and without any apology or explanation took poor MC’s seat…however she did offer to allow MC to lean over her to peak at the Grand Canyon as we flew over it…how gracious!) :P

Grandpa J was at the airport to pick us up

and he and GM tried to play their game of not seeing each other...

but it was pretty funny because when both parties are so busy not seeing each other, they don’t see the other person not seeing them. LOL

Arizona 2008- Day 3...To the Desert Museum and Beyond

Sorry I left y'all hangin'...dying to know what happened next on the Grand Woellhaf Arizona Adventure! ;) Well, wait no longer...I give you day three!! :D

Monday, February 25

We got up and went to Ihop for breakfast and then headed to grandma and grandpa’s house for our scheduled gathering time (9:30 a.m.) and hung out there until Uncle W and Aunt D showed up. MC and I had fun exploring the backyard and looking for a stepping stone she’d made with her hand and footprint back in 2005. With grandma’s help we found it and she got to see how much she’s grown!! Boy, it’s amazing to see how fast kids grow.
MC and Cousin L also played together for a while in the backyard. BR…well… you guessed it, played computer games until it was time to go.

Our activity for the day was to head out West to the Desert Museum.

It’s almost like a zoo as well. We got to see lots of reptiles and spiders and smaller animals. There’s an aviary area.

We watched an otter swimming around from an underground viewing window for quite a while.

MC and BR both decided it would be great fun to be otters! (They’re little guppies in the water anyway…they love to swim!!)

BR got to see a bobcat from a window that looks right into its den.

GM almost got scalped by a diving falcon during a bird show in the afternoon. And we all looked for the heard of javelin (wild pig like animals) that live out in the ravines we walked over…but never saw any.


Again we relaxed in the afternoon. MC played with her cousin while BR played on the computer (we had to set some limits though or nobody would have seen hide nor hair of him till it was time to go…or time to eat…maybe). :P

We had a spaghetti and sausage dinner with everybody again. (Grandma C, Grandpa D, Uncle W, Aunt D, Cousins E, and the four of us). After dinner we chatted a bit. After a while the kids (MC, BR, and Cousin L) and I

(Molly trying her hand at photography...pretty good eh?)

went out back to enjoy the nice Arizona evening and play on the hammock.

We had a grand time...

until it got too chilly

and we had to go back inside. Pretty soon it was time to say good-bye again…this time it was a tough good-bye for the kids because we had to head to the airport early the next day and so we had to say good-bye till next time we come. The kids kind of fell apart and cried for quite a while. Poor kids, I wish we could live near all the people we love all the time so we wouldn't have to miss them and so the bonds of love and friendship could grow strong and solid!! Our sweet kids are so eager to love anybody that loves them though, so I hope that will be the strength their bonds need.

Arizona 2008- Day 2- Tucson

Sunday, February 24

Grandma and Grandpa invited us to their children’s service at their church. It starts at 9:45 a.m. and we wanted to be early. So we got up and got ready and left the hotel at 9. We ate a few things at the continental breakfast but wanted more so when we got to the church at 9:20 we decided to try our luck at grabbing something to eat. We went to a Wild Oats that was around the corner and grabbed some food…stuffing our faces as fast as we could and made it back at 9:40. The service is a live puppet show called K’Deo. They sing and dance and do a skit with a message. Their uncle William is the star of the show dressed as a life size frog looking guy named Bernard (I’m not exactly sure what he is but he’s green with a big green head and he wears overalls). It’s pretty entertaining and well put together.



We got some lunch after that and then we headed to Sabino Canyon for a tram ride up through Sabino National Forest with Grandma C, Grandpa D, Uncle W, Aunt D, and cousin L and cousin E. The funny thing is that it’s like a forest of pine trees in the mountains…except they are saguaro cacti instead of pine trees. We didn’t get to go all the way up the mountain because last year the road was completely washed out from a huge flash flood and they’ve only got it replaced about halfway up.


Grandma hanging on to BR as we drove over one of several "water falls" along the way.












After a relaxing afternoon at grandma and grandpa’s house...

(while MC and her little cousin L who was the "master of ceremonies" and "party planner" decorated), we had an early birthday party for MC. She was ecstatic to know she’d be getting a double birthday, an Arizona one and a Utah one. :) All were given party hats to wear…but by the time dinner was served only a select few die hards were still donning their party paraphernalia…besides the birthday girl…hats off to Dad, Grandpa, and Uncle W!!




Party agenda:

Eat Dinner: Bratwursts, Chicken, Baked Beans, Baby Carrots, Chips
Open Presents
Eat Cake and Ice cream
Play with presents




Around 7:30 we were all beat and ready to call it a night so we headed back to the hotel and went to bed.

(Well…the kids went to bed and we watched “Jane Austen Book Club”…definitely one of GM’s favorite movies!!) ;)

Arizona 2008- A Day with Uncle D and Aunt P

Saturday February 23
Continued…

***Warning: I changed ML's acronym to GM because I kept confusing myself between MC (my daughter) and ML (my husband)***

So then we call Aunt P and Uncle D. Our plan was to do as much with as we could with them before heading to Tucson in the evening to check into our hotel.

P and D wanted to meet us at “Tia Rosa’s” for lunch. We were so happy to oblige because we were starved and we’d heard good things about the place (from them). :) They beat us there by about a half an hour so we told them to go ahead and get started without us, unfortunately Tia Rosa doesn’t seat partial parties and didn’t even offer them chips and salsa at the bar, so they took a walk to get their mind off of hunger pangs. We happened to arrive while they were walking and so GM went to find them, or move the car or something, while MC and I went to the bathroom. Of course, P & D came back while we had all scattered. But at last, we all got together and were able to fill our tummies and discuss what to do next.


At the Zoo.


MC at the big tree house at the zoo.

We decided on the Phoenix Zoo and we had lots of fun there with P & D. The elephants were especially fun!! Well, not exactly the elephants…just as we got there, we got to see the hind ends of the elephants being ushered back into their cages behind the scenes. Then 2 guys came out and started sticking tree limbs into stumps to simulate a real tree and stashing carrots all over the place. The most curious hiding place for carrots being a large hanging barrel with small holes drilled all around it…and we were so excited to see how the elephants were going to extract the carrots from this hanging barrel. But here’s the thing: these guys took FOREVER with their carrot hiding and branch planting. We wanted to see the elephants come back and check out their new treats, so P started to chant, “Elephants, Elephants, Elephants, Elephants…” A few people joined in…namely GM and Uncle D…but to no avail…those darn carrot hiders were taking their own sweet time. So we got bored and left.

The animals that we did get to see, and all really liked, were the little monkeys (See: As Promised) and the little turtles (which were technically not even inside the zoo and we could have just watched them and left…but what fun would that have been??)


Our Navigator.


MC and Aunt P watching the flamingos.

After the zoo we wanted to go to an exhibit of photographs at the LDS visitors center but then we decided that we REALLY wanted to see where P & D live and see the famous fountain. We were very awed by the fountain!! It looks like Old Faithful except you don’t have to sit around for an hour waiting for it to go off…and apparently they die it green for St. Patty’s day…maybe we’ll have to go back!! ;) And we all liked hanging out with P & D at their house. We mooched food off of them…all their food! (Poor P & D probably had to go out to eat AND go grocery shopping after we left.) ;) MC and BR explored around P and D’s house a bit (inside and out), GM perused all of their DVD’s and talked Sc-Fi and politics with D (actually…I can’t remember everything they “talked”), MC tried to taunt Jet out from under the bed with his favorite feather toy, MC and P and I played a few games of UNO, and BR usurped Uncle D’s phone and played his only game till it was time to go.


MC and her daddy.

After bidding Adieu to Uncle D and Aunt P, GM called grandma and grandpa in Tucson and told them according to the gps we’d be there at 8:47. (They chuckled at the exact ETA we gave but it just so happened that we did arrive at 8:47…despite all odds! Way to go Tiggy!)

We visited for a while, but we were all pretty beat so after prying BR off the computer game (do we see a pattern??) ;) and sleeping MC out of my arms for daddy to carry her out to the car, we went and checked into the hotel and went to bed.

Arizona 2008- Getting There

Saturday February 23

At the last minute ML and I decided to take the kids on their first flight and take advantage of a weekend special to Phoenix. ML wanted it to be a big secret and surprise the kids with the news at the last possible moment…well by last possible moment I’m thinking that means as we’re heading out the door to the airport…nope. He had this elaborate scheme to fool them all the way to getting on the plane!!

So we got up in the morning (having packed all night while they were asleep) and told the kids we had to run daddy somewhere. They didn’t ask questions, just hopped in and went along for the ride (I guesss??). While we were waiting for ML to check in and get the boarding passes BR looked up to see if there’s a flight to Phoenix. After finding one he said to me, “That would be really neat if we could fly to Phoenix, rent a car, and drive to Tucson and sleep there in a hotel”. (I’m thinking, “Maybe we shouldn’t have made all of these arrangements on the floor in the hall outside the kids’ door!!”) I quickly tried to dismiss that idea telling him it’s a great idea, but we’d have to save for a long time first because it would be really expensive. :P (I don’t think he bought it, he just looked at me and nodded and then looked away with a sparkle in his eye.)

While in line for the security screening, ML briefed the kids about what they had to do with their shoes/jackets etc. and that he got them special passes to go through the security area and back to the plane. All the while we kept making comments to each other about how we’d miss each other and all that…except I’m pretty sure they just went right over their heads, because they were so busy looking around and checking everything out. While we were in line ML opened up his carry on and ML spots her little Hello Kitty journal and some of her other things we’d packed and she wants to know what it’s doing in his bag. So the tangled web was further developed. :P “Well, MC, we didn’t want you to be bored while we waited for daddy to get on his airplane.”



MC with her "not getting bored waiting for "daddy's" airplane kit"


We finally made it through the line and headed to the gate. As soon as we found D5 BR looked up and it and shouted, “PHOENIX!?!?! Dad gets to go to PHOENIX?!?! No fair!!” After that he headed straight for the windows and climbed up on the ledge to watch the planes take off, land, and do whatever else they do out there. He stayed there most of the time. However, at one point he came back and sat by ML and was making comments that sounded like he knew what we were up to :P so I figured our game was about up…but no. ML got out his phone and dialed and started talking. It took me a minute to figure out it was a bogus call and he was pretending to check in with his dad and tell him the kids and I would be out there to ride home in about 15.



BR watching all the planes do their thing.


So when they started boarding, ML asked them if they wanted to see the inside of the plane. They sure did!!! We got on and ML ushers BR into row 12 (where BR and I had seats) and then to MC and he went back to theirs on row 31. (I’m not sure what happened with MC after this but ML told me she said she knew the whole time). :) BR was SO intrigued by every little button and gadget, and by the view out the window as well. After a few seconds I asked him if he was ready to get off and he ignored me, he still had stuff to check out. I asked him again and he quietly said that he was. So then I asked him if he’d rather sit down and stay on the plane and he sweetly said, “Yes”. I told him okay, we would stay and he laughed and told me that he knew I was joking. After inquiring why he thought I was joking he told me that he knew we were going back home because grandpa was still at the airport. I showed him the boarding pass and that we had seat assignments and he was thrilled beyond speech…almost. He loved the flight, every minute of it. Every few seconds he’d nudge me to point out something he could see, or something the plane was doing (ie. accelerating, ascending, etc.). It was such a joy to fly with him because of his obvious relish of the whole experience!! It was like being a kid again and experiencing it all for the first time all over again!


Oh to be a kid again!!


Once we landed and he stood up to get ready to get off the plane, he noted how fast we’d gotten there and how warm he felt already and then he said, “This is my style!! HEAT and SPEED!!”

We got our luggage (which MC and BR insisted on pulling…they probably looked like our little slaves) ;) and headed to get a car. We went through Dollar Rental because we know they offer Dodge Chargers in the Full size category. (Chargers are about as cool to ML as Dodge Magnums…I definitely prefer the Charger, to me the Magnums look like a glorified station wagon.) However when he went to pick up the car he saw the sign said: Full size: Dodge, Charger; Dodge, Magnum; or Crown Victoria (gag). He promptly asked if any Magnums were available (of course), but they said all they had were Crown Victorias (GAG). What could he say?? Well as he was loading in our suitcases a guy pulled up in a Titanium Grey Dodge Magnum, fresh from the car wash, and ML promptly asked if we could take it. We could. ( Boy was he ecstatic!! And hey, If my honey is happy, then I’m happy as pie…even if it means riding in a “manwagon”). :)




ML exploring all the ins and outs of his "manwagon". :)

Sick

We went to AZ for the weekend as you may well know if you've read imutimuinc lately (since I'm way behind here). When we got back it was warm and we hoped against hope that we brought the warm weather back with us from AZ...and that it was here to stay...yeah right!! :P Well, about the time the cold started rolling in (it snowed quite a bit yesterday), I started coming down with some kind of head cold I guess. But I think it's my body's way of rebelling and telling me to take me back to the warm weather!! It was SO nice while it lasted!!

Come back soon...travel-blogs to come.