Summer family vacay 2014

Jake and I starting talking about a summer vacation early in 2014.

Possibilities were endless, but because we were having a baby in May, we didn't plan anything.

What if he was a screamer?

What if he was sickly?

What if he never started sleeping at night?

What if I didn't recover well?

So... we decided to plan our vacay in June.

June rolled around and luckily our baby had stopped his all night screaming fun, was healthy, slept pretty darn well, and I felt like 1 million dollars. 

So we got on the www and booked a hotel in Flagstaff.

We researched stuff to do, but decided to just do what we wanted, when we wanted.

{my favorite way to vacay}

Within minutes of arriving at our hotel….

We were enjoying the happy baby in the mirror...

We went swimming in the hotel pool, went out to dinner at a place featured on a tv show, and fell asleep watching tv channels.
{since we are channel-less at home}

Of course the life saving, baby calming, yoga ball made the trip too.

{what would we do without this thing?}

The next morning we took a drive up to snow bowl. It was gorgeous!
{and look at those adorable kids!!!}

We rode the ski lift all the way to the top of San Francisco peak.

{highest point in AZ}

I was worried it would take too long to hold the kids attention, but they loved every minute.

We even let the 4 oldest kids ride alone on the lift for the ride back down.

{what?!!!}

After our ski lift fantastico, we got some lunch and decided to be spontaneous.

SO we drove to Flagstaff Extreme.

Its a zipline adventure place that had a special course just for kids.

Sadly only the oldest 4 were tall enough to go.

{sad Macy!}

They had a blast!!!! 

Like hours and hours of zip lining.

{and Macy and I gathering pinecones, pine needles and rocks}

I want to go back with just Jake and I one day and do the grown up courses.

My small cherub ended pooping and peeing through his outfit… and the backup onesie.

{not an unusual event around here}

We sat in the car while I fed him.

Windows down.

The weather was AMAZING!

The next morning we checked out of our hotel and drove to Bearizona.
Its a "drive thru zoo".
We weren't sure what to expect, but it was really cool!
A bunch of animals right around you.
{a wolf was sauntering around the burb!!}

We drove home sad that the vacation was over.

There was an employee working at Flag Xtreme that was amazed by our family.
Are you a church group?
Daycare?
Why are they all calling him dad?
Jake and I were laughing and playing with the kids most of the time.
{While I wore Miles in the front carrier and Macy cartwheeled everywhere.}
By half way through our time there, she asked us to adopt her.

She said she had never seen a family enjoy being together as much as we do.

She was right, being together is our favorite!!!