November 2015: Thanksgiving in Phoenix

November was a month of presentations for Kate.  1st: Her class studied the different regions of the U.S. and each student had a state to research.  Kate had Indiana!  She worked really hard and was really proud of her poster.

2:  Clive Learning Academy is a New Tech Network school that focuses on Project Based Learning.  The 4th Grade project this year was to work to get approval, funding and training for a therapy dog for CLA.  The first step was to research the benefits, costs, and training procedures and present to a panel in hope to persuade them to give the approval for a therapy dog.    

Right after the presentations, the following day we took off for Phoenix to celebrate Thanksgiving with my brothers. 

We had a nice layover in New Mexico.  The kids relaxed and watch videos, ate dinner and watch the planes fly by.

While we waited for our table, they found a saddle in the airport to ride.

Yee Ha!

We finally got to Phoenix and Uncle Johnny's pool.

The water was a bit chilly, so the wet suits really came in handy.

Cold toes!!!

It didn't take long for them to take the plunge!

All Smiles!

They even talked Papa into jumping in!

We cooked most of our meals in Johnny's wonderful kitchen on our trip.  Kate and Will are master egg crackers!

Our Big excursion was a Hummer ride through the desert.  We had our own personal driver/tour guide who took us around. 

We took some time to hunt for crystals!

Brett was at it for quite a while, but no luck :(

The ride was great until we loaded up to leave some Indian ruins.  We had a nice lunch, enjoyed the ruins,  packed up our stuff,  loaded up and.......... we had a dead battery!!!   On the outside, I tried to show my calm collected self. BUT  on the inside I was kind of freaking out!!  All I could picture was us stranded in the desert without food, water or shelter!! We initially had little cell phone reception and our driver wasn't able to get a hold of his boss to come out and jump our hummer.  But after some time, they were able to get ahold of him.  He showed up and with the help of my dad, we were able to get our hummer started again.  And off we went, back to civilization!!

On a calmer note,  Johnny and Josh have a great park and grass field in their neighborhood.  We played a lot of football and Frisbee during the warm evenings. 

And leave it to Nana to never forget the spray whip cream for some fun!

Will would do this every day if he could!

Kate would never pass up a chance either!

While we were there, we put up the Xmas tree and watched a little Christmas Vacation.

Kate really wanted to go horseback riding while we were in Phoenix, so we found a ranch. 

Will Loved his horse. 

Everyone got a horse and off we went trail riding.  Each horse had its own personality for sure.  Nana's horse kept biting Brett's horse in front of her!  Papa's horse was a bit clumsy and  tripped and fell down along the ride.  Thankfully, Papa was able to hold on and not fall off or get hurt. 

Will and I had a horse that really didn't like to follow the rules and must have missed breakfast that morning.  He frequently spotted a yummy bush and decided to just leave the pack and veer off the trail.   AND he really doesn't like to follow verbal commands or hard tugs on his reigns.   Our guide had to get pretty stern with our horse a few times to get him back in line.

In the end,  Will still had a hard time telling his horse goodbye.

And so did Kate.  She got to ride all by herself and LOVED EVERY MINUTE OF IT!

Late on on the trip we visited the Phoenix Zoo.  Will was very social and loved talking to the zoo keeper about the animals.

Kate had been studying Prairie Dogs at school. So she was super excited to see them in real person!

Lots of places for cute pics!

Sometimes little Will needed boost to get a good view.

We don't have elephants at our Blank Park Zoo in DSM.  So this was a real treat.

And That mean looking cat made me a little nervous!

On one of our last days we found an Awesome park not too far from Johnny and Josh's house.  There was so much to do!

We thought paddle boating would be fun.  Boy did we forget what a work out that would be!

Keep Going!!!

Lots of birds and ducks to feed.

Kate and boys led the way to the little amusement area of the park.

Can't pass up these fun rides.

Sand Art Fun!  Kate was ALL OVER THIS!

Will caught on pretty quick too.

On our last night we made Nana's famous Lasagna!  It's a lot of work, so thankfully we had a few more hands to help this time around. 

Finally, on our way back home!  Will was So Tired he fell asleep before take off!

Kate enjoyed a quiet lunch and a movie while her brother slept the flight away!  It was a great trip!  We can't wait to go back again!