Grand Canyon

Luckily for me I had the last two weeks of April off and it was great. Just as one week of vacation was ending I started another week off. Unfortunately Brody was teething the first week and he was a bit challenging but I was glad to be home with him anyway. The second week most of my family went to Arizona so that my Grandmother could see the Grand Canyon. 

Brody has flown many times as an infant but this was his first time flying as a toddler. I was as prepared as I could be and overall the flight went well. He ate lots of snacks, played with the toys I brought and spent at least half the flight sorting the magazines and pamphlets in the pocket on the back of the seats. 

The first two nights we stayed in Scotsdale and it was a gorgeous resort. We took it pretty easy, hung out by the pool ate great food. Thursday we left Scotsdale and headed to the Grand Canyon. We stopped half way and had lunch in Sedona. I had been to Sedona before and loved it. The red rock cliffs and mountains are so beautiful and something about that place just makes you feel happy. 

When we finally arrived at the Grand Canyon we rushed to make our dinner reservations. At dinner we met up with Tim and Laura McCubbin. Tim and Laura  are my parents long time friends from College. They are so funny and we are always laughing when they are around. 

The next day Brody and I had breakfast with my Dad and Grandmother while the rest of our gang was out on a scenic or I guess I should say not so scenic train ride. There train ride turned out to be a miserable bust on the vacation adventure planning. We however had fun walking the canyon perimeter at the lodge. Brody was so funny; he would walk up to the the wall and when looking over he would say "Wow" in his cute little drawn out quite way. He never even noticed the big hole in the ground but he heard everyone else say that when they looked over the wall so I guess he thought he should too. 

The rest of our time at the Grand Canyon Brody and I spent out time going to the IMAX movie, walking the national park trails, and watching live performances of Native American dancers.  Some members of our group went on a plane ride over the Canyon.  This excursion was suggested by me and was a huge hit. I would have if I had experienced this about 9 years ago when I went to the Grand Canyon with Dave's family. 

Our few short days at the Canton came to an end and we again passed through Sedona while heading back to Scottsdale. We stayed one more night in Scottsdale then headed home that Sunday morning. 

Overall the trip was GREAT!  We all had so much fun spending time together. I can't thank my Dad enough for planning and paying for this whole trip. It was so nice to spend a week away with Brody and my extended family. I am glad he had this time to know them better and to experience our family's version of a Griswold vacation. 

Short Trip With Nana

Brody's Nana had the great idea to got to Indianapolis after Easter to the Children's Museum.  I thought this sounded fun, and I was excited to have a trial run at Brody staying the night in a hotel before our big Arizona trip.  

We arrived that evening to the hotel and Brody had so much fun running back and forth between our two adjoining rooms.  After running off his energy we put him to bed and shortly after went to bed ourselves.  We knew we had a big day of playing ahead of us.  

That morning we had breakfast at the hotel and then headed over to the museum.  Brody had fun at first but all the exhibits really seamed better for older kids.  Once we found the preschool area he really started having fun.  Nana and I had fun just being together and watching Brody explore.  He was so well behaved and played so hard that eventually his little legs kept giving out.  We then packed up and headed home.  

Easter

This year's Easter was so much fun.  Brody went to his first Egg Hunt at Dr. Burberry's house.  They had over 1000 eggs and about 40 kids.  The little kids got a 30 second head start.  When I let Brody go to get his eggs he got so excited and started screaming, "ball."  The kid LOVES balls and I guess and egg kinda resembles a ball.  He unfortunately didn't quite grasp the idea of putting the eggs in his basket.  He would pick one up, shake it and then throw it back down.  When I put some in his basket for him he stopped and took them back out.  I took so many pictures of him and his cute little Easter basket but accidentally deleted most of them.  Here are the ones I have left. 

 

On Easter this year we went to my parents house.  My extended family on my Dad's side came and Brody got to play with Sydney.  Sydney is my cousins child, I need to figure out what that makes her to Brody.  Anyway, we had a great late lunch and had fun watching the babies of the group.  I tried to get some good pics of Brody at our neighbors house in her beautiful garden but he wasn't in the mood and his poor little scraped up nose didn't help my cause.  

The Cincinnatti Zoo

For my Birthday this year Dave asked what I wanted to do and I told him I wanted us to go as a family to the zoo.  I have been so excited for the weather to improve and to take him all the summery places I remembered going as a kid.  Saturday morning came and we had our special Saturday family breakfast complete with eggs, toast, goetta, and bacon (very healthy, I know).  We packed up the car for the day and started our drive.  Brody talked the entire time that we were on the road, only to fall asleep literally 1 mile from the zoo.  When we woke him he wasn't happy but soon cheered up as we headed into the zoo.

I knew that Brody was a little young to understand the concept of all these wild animals and how cool it was that he got to see them but I still thought he would think it was neat.  I guess I was wrong because Brody could have cared less about the animals.  In fact the only thing he ever noticed was that the camel had a "ball" in its exhibit.  Dave picked Brody up to see the Camel and he got so excited.  I thought good, he finally gets it but then he just started saying, "ball, ball, ball."  Despite Brody finding the animals pretty boring he did have a great time roaming around, and ridding on Dad's shoulders.  He ate a good lunch, "skyline", and enjoyed the 4D movie about salmon that we saw.  All in all it was a pretty fun trip and I look forward to going there more often once he is a little older. 

 

Latter that night we played out in the backyard while Daddy put in the post for his slack line.