Merry Christmas Arizona!

WARNING - LONG, LONG POST!

I hope everyone's 2012 has started off well (the one whole day of it!). But I don't want to focus on 2012 just yet, I want to talk about how we closed out 2011. This year we had a destination Christmas with the Syring's in Phoenix, AZ. I have to say, the weather was unbelievable but Christmas without cold doesn't compute with this Midwest family and we found ourselves on many occasions reminding each other that it was Christmas Eve or Christmas Day. Never-the-less, we were in AZ with Mike, Mara and Rohan and it was great! Here's how our time in AZ went day by day:

DAY 1 - We're HERE! We arrived in the afternoon and pretty much spent the rest of the day catching up, getting a rental van and enjoying a nice walk around the Syring's new neighborhood (we love the new house and location!!!).

DAY 2 - Our day started early because we had a decent drive to the south rim of the Grand Canyon. We had a rental van which allowed us to chat and the boys to play. All I can say about this there is no doubt this amazing landscape should be on the list of Wonders of the World. It is spectacular and when people say you have to see it to understand they're correct. I have never seen a landscape that mesmerized and awed me continuously like the Grand Canyon. We were lucky enough to see it as the sun rose and as it set. Besides the amazing views, the Canyon also offered us glimpses of mule deer and elk.

We had a hotel for the night and the boys enjoyed the pool and all of the novel amenitites a hotel offers to young children (bouncing on beds, pillow fights, late night bed times...). The adults also partook in a little novel fun by instigating an all out pillow war. The pictures are hilarious and Jackson and Rohan had a blast (we did too!).

On our way back to Phoenix we stopped in Flagstaff to enjoy two favorite spots we had discovered two years ago: Thorpe Park and the Railroad Cafe. The Cafe is a little diner with trains that run around tracks near the ceiling. You can imagine how entertained Jackson and Rohan were!

It was Christmas Eve so on our way back home our talks involved hyping up Santa's arrival and figuring out what we should leave him to eat.

DAY 3 - Merry Christmas! My present to myself, Mara and Mike was to get everyone up at 4 am and go for a 7.1 mile run. It was excellent!!! And then my day was made when we woke the boys up and told them Santa had come. Both were blurry-eyed but excited and headed downstairs to see if they had been naughty or nice. Jackson was pleased to see Santa found him in AZ, Rohan was all smiles from the time he woke up Christmas morning until he went to bed. I was excited to see Santa Mike found me in AZ and left me the gift of laughter in the form of the book, "I'm Better Than Your Kids". I have laugh enough to cry every time I have opened this book. THANK YOU MIKE!

After presents we enjoyed a good amount of park time that involved football, soccer, a playground and feeding the ducks and geese. The evening was wrapped up with a Packer win over the Bears (sorry Honey!).
DAY 4 - A trip to Phoenix wouldn't be complete without a trip to the Matador coffee house. So we headed out for a nice walk to get our caffeine fix. I love their cafe au laits, an appropriate drink to have at a place called Matador : )

A trip to AZ isn't complete without a trail run! We decided to do a Stokes and Syring tag team run. Chris and I stayed with Rohan and Jackson while Mike and Mara did the first half of their run and then vice versa. The boys we enthralled for about an hour playing with rocks, trucks and cars. What more could two boys ask for?

That evening we did one of my favorite things to do in AZ, go climbing. Mike and Mara belong to a gym called AZ on the Rocks of which I have been a few times before but Jackson and Chris had not. I would have bet money that Jackson wouldn't have climbed more than 5 feet off the ground, simply because a few months ago he was in a harness and had the option to climb and got about 3 feet up and said no way. This set up was MUCH larger and intimidating. Well, I was wrong. Jackson took to the wall and had a blast. After he was tired of the harness he and Rohan free climbed on a wall with crash pads underneath them. Both of those monkeys were free climbing up the wall and jumping to the crash pads below. Is this my kid?Chris enjoyed the climbing as well, but I'm not sure as much as I did. Once again, I could have climbed a lot longer but my forearms wouldn't have it; 2 hours was all they could take. If I could go more often I'm sure conditioning would help but unfortunately the closest climbing gym to us is in Milwaukee.
DAY 5 - To wrap up the stay on a high note Mike, Mara and I hit the road at 6 am for a nice run. Kudos to Mike for getting up after first deciding not to, that was awesome and meant a lot to me.

Before heading to the airport we hit the park where the boys can feed the ducks and geese and then it was back to Green Bay.

It was a great trip and I enjoyed spending the Holiday with the Syring's. Jackson and Rohan got along famously and that makes me wish even more that we lived closer. Maybe someday? THANK YOU to Mike, Mara and Rohan for hosting us and putting up with us : ) We hope to see you all again soon!!!

NOTE - I only have a small sample of the photos from our trip here. If you want to see more check out my brother's blog, he has a TON!