I took the kids on a little spring vacation this week. We drove up to Phoenix, went to the aquarium, walked the mall, then onto a hotel with a heated pool and the zoo the next day. It was absolutely wonderful. They had so much fun and I smiled so much my face was actually sore. My mom and G-ma went with us and then B-pa joined us for the zoo. Brad had to work, and although he would have enjoyed seeing the kids have so much fun, he doesn’t enjoy a hotel stay like I do and decided to stay home. (Something about having someone else make the bed for me is a HUGE appeal!)
I loved the aquarium, but I have always been fascinated with the ocean and sea life. The kids favorite part, by far, was the activities inside the mall.
This, a hamster ball thing inside a pool of water, was a riot to watch. Anthony went first then surprisingly Hailey wanted to go.
Makenna had her eyes on the merry-go-round.
I posted on Facebook that this picture reminds me that I need to be more like her and find such pure joy in simple things. She was absolutely glowing the entire ride.
Anthony also got to jump on a trampoline with bungees attached to him that made him jump over 20ft off the ground.
Once the kids exhausted themselves in the pool after dinner (Rainforest café!) mom, G-ma and I were talking about memories. What do we remember from our childhood, do we remember any vacations, trips or special days?
I remember my mom taking me and my best friend, Becca, up to Pheonix for the night when I turned 13, she took us to a huge mall, let us get makeup, try on fun clothes and just have a great girls weekend. I remember taking a trip back east when I was about 10 years old, driving from Az to Chichago to visit some of my dad’s family. My mom read allowed to me for most of the trip. The book was Ken Follett’s Pillars of the Earth. I’ve loved his books ever since.
I have some very random memories of our first house here in Tucson, (I was born in Colorado and moved here when I was 2) and some more of the second house but most of the memories are snap shots of times that were ‘ordinary.’They’re every day type of memories: My first garden, a neighbor kid stapling a bit of his finger while my dad was on the phone, being sick with the flu and getting to sleep on the couch all night, things like that.
So, the conversation made me wonder, what will my kids remember? Will they remember this trip? Given that none of the 3 of us adults talking could specifically remember special events that our parents did for us; I’m guessing that they probably won’t.
At first, I was a bit upset by this realization. What’s the point if they won’t remember this? Isn’t part of the point in doing things like this to build memories? But then I got to thinking a bit more about what my mom said about all the things my parents did for me and how without even specifically remembering the events, I was doing similar things for my kids. On the drive up to Phoenix, I read out loud to Anthony (The Hunger Games), my leprechaun traditions stemmed from my mom doing similar things, cooking together, late night movies together, all those type of this are things I now do for my kids. So, maybe it’s not so much building memories, but traditions. It’s that whole ‘living by example.’ I’m the mom I am today because of the way I was raised.
I feel asleep with the thought that not only did we get to have fun with the kids but us adults will have this memory for a long time and the kids, though they may not remember later in life, will use these experiences with their children.
(Poetic huh! Did I mention we stayed at a hotel with an open happy hour? Oh, I missed that part, sorry.)
The next day we went to the Phoenix Zoo. I will say, I was really excited to see the zoo after I learned that it’s one of the top 10 in the nation, but, honestly, I didn’t enjoy it as much as I had hoped. First, we bought the “Wild admission” to give us extra access to certain events. I won’t do that again because it didn’t include the camel rides, and although the sting ray petting was cool, it’s not something I could see my kids wanting to do twice since there’s no time limit once you’re in. Second, if you’re going with kids, and let’s face it, most of us only go to the zoo with kids, go to the right first. The right side has the enchanted forrest, the merry-go-round, the petting zoo and the play farm. We, unfortunately, went to the left first. The left is mostly desert animals and a lot of walking between exhibits. Don’t get me wrong, the kids liked it, but by the time we got over to the ‘fun’ part, everyone was exhausted and out of energy. The kids did like the cammel ride though. I loved that they all three wanted to ride together. That's so rare!
Needless to say, after two crazy days, the ride home was quiet! The kids couldn’t wait to tell dad all about their adventures and claimed it was “the bestest vacation eber!”
