Spring Break and Flagstaff

The first part of our spring break was pretty low key. LOTS of playing outside and inside. No sack lunches to make. No real schedule. I love that about spring break. On Wednesday, Radio Disney was at the shops at Norterra, so we went out there. They had games and music. My girls had fun. We treated ourselves to Dippin' Dots after and window shopping at Charming Charlie. What a fun store that is--I had never been there before. But if you need an accessory in a certain color, that is the place to go!

On Thursday late morning, we headed out for the weekend in Flagstaff. On our way, we stopped at the Out of Africa Wildlife Park in Camp Verde. We had never been there before and it was pretty fun. We found $10 off coupons on-line, so that was nice, but we enjoyed the "shows" and presentations they had. It's a pretty big park and a different set up than a zoo, but even on the little ride they take you on into the park, you have a good view of the animals.


We missed the tiger splash show but made it for the hyena show. That was so interesting and we learned a lot about those animals.

Libby and Eliza petted a snake (eww) and they and Ellie fed a camel.


They have a bus you go on for a safari ride and you can feed carrots to either a camel or a giraffe. They loved that part. The animals get their faces right up in the bus. Crazy!






(It wore Ruby out!)

From there we went to Flagstaff and got to our hotel, then headed out for dinner at Wildflower.

The next morning we had a great continental breakfast at the hotel--not just the toast or cereal breakfasts we've had at other hotels who claim to have a continental breakfast. There were waffles, muffins, English muffins, cereal, bagels, fruit, boiled eggs, scrambled eggs, sausage, etc. They also had oatmeal. I was leary of it just because I am used to the packet kind that is flavored. But I tried some--granted with some brown sugar and cinnamon on it--but it was SO good. I couldn't wait for the next day to have more. I think I will find out what kind they use and how they make it. After breakfast we drove to hike the Red Mountain Trail.





It's a nice little hike into this natural amphitheater type area. When we got there, we did a spontaneous talent show where we had singing and dancing. So funny. On the second part of the hike, Libby and I spent the time looking for branches that looked like letters to spell her name. She didn't do too shabby!


On the way back, we ate at the Galaxy Diner--a mom and pop type diner. From there we stopped at Old Navy to grab some flip flops for Ellie and Hattie whose feet were hurting them. We also found a few other deals while we were there. We walked around the mall before heading back to our room for a little bit and to put Ruby down. We got pizza and ate it at the hotel that night. Then we went to Barnes and Noble, which was actually really fun. The girls just read books and had so much fun looking around. Everyone got to pick out a book, which added up very quickly. Libby has been a voracious reader lately, so we let her get two (which she finished on the trip already) and I snuck an extra one in, too. Both I got are young adult books. I really like the first one I started. It's called Princess Academy. When we got out to the car, I was handing everyone their book and Ruby kept reaching out for hers. We were softies and felt bad, so I ran back in and got her one. She loved it and thought she was so big "reading" her book, too. She was tickled pink to get one. We topped the night of with ice cream at Baskin Robbins. Can I just say again that peanut butter and chocolate is the best ice cream. And I tried their "Lucky Mint" flavor of the month, which was divine.

On our last day, Saturday, we drove around downtown a little bit and went to a couple of shops.


One I always like to go to is called PJ Chilcottage. We all had fun looking around there. They have cute hair things, soaps, aprons, note cards, clothes and on and on. They had a magnet that I would love to get a bit bigger to put in my kitchen somewhere. It's called "In the Chairs." It's by the lady who does the Curly Girl Designs. I love all of her sayings--so cute and witty. From there we went to the Riordan Mansion and actually took a tour this time. Ruby didn't cooperate and was too "chatty" during the tour and only made it into the second room before Brian left with her. But the tour was very interesting and we all enjoyed it. They were a very neat, interesting family. I am glad we toured the house.


After that, we grabbed some lunch and headed home.