Our kids’ last day of
school was Tuesday, June 20th. My
last day of school was June 22nd with a grand finale of
directing my kindergarten class graduation. Once I got through that (huge sigh
of relief – it went well!), it was time to scurry home and pack for our early
morning flight to Phoenix the next morning.
Luckily, our National
Catholic Engaged Encounter Convention weekend, was just on the tail-end of the ‘record breaking heat wave’ that shut
down much of Phoenix. So, by the time we got there, it was only 115…not 120.
Our Convention was a held
at a beautiful swimming-pool themed resort that was all orange-terracotta-y
tucked into the hills above Phoenix. The kids hung out in the Convention
childcare while Mike and I attended our meetings. The childcare was extra
awesome on Saturday since they took all the kids to the pools for a few hours!
Saturday night of our
Conventions are the highlight – a big ‘ol bumpin’ dance. Mike had left to go take
the kids back to our room so they could watch tv and go to bed when the MC’s
for the night asked for a volunteer from each table. Well, wouldn’t you know, I was volunteered by
my table to be our table’s volunteer…I headed on to the stage in my dress and
wedge sandals not knowing what would be required of these volunteers. I soon discovered that we would be in
competition – basically a scavenger hunt and race followed by a
quick-as-you-can snag one of the remaining chairs on the stage situation. I
quickly tossed my wedge sandals to the table and put my game face on.
The things we had to
retrieve were easy at first – a lipstick, a $20 bill, an ID, a man’s belt, etc.
Then – when it’s down to me, one other woman and about 8 guys – we’re told we
need to return with a square of toilet paper.
Well, the nearest women’s room was FAR away, but the men’s was much
closer. One of the guys from my table
ran with me and – just as Mike returns to the lobby he sees his wife sprinting
out of the men’s restroom with a streamer of toilet paper. He just shrugged his
shoulders, shook his head and returned to his seat. No big deal. Nothing weird
about that.
In the end, it came
down to me and one other guy racing for the last chair. We had to return with
something with the Engaged Encounter logo on it. As I ran to the table, Mike
was trying to remove his nametag to hand to me. There was no time to waste. I
grabbed the nametag around Mike’s neck and like a leash dragged it (AND HIM!)
back to the stage where HE managed to slide onto the chair and the other
competitor sat ON him. Technically, WE
won because the other competitor dropped his EE logo/badge BEFORE sitting on
Mike…but it didn’t really matter…The visual of me, holding Mike as if on a
leash and another guy sitting ON him was enough to prove that…we’re all winners….?
Or really weird. Anyway, it was a good
time followed by many hours of salsa dancing!
After the Convention
wrapped up on Sunday, we spent several hours taking the kids to the
pools/slides. Super fun.
Monday morning, we got
up early, checked out and drove up to the Grand Canyon. Having never seen it,
we’d been ‘warned’ (to strong of a word) by many at the Convention, that the
Grand Canyon is, in fact, SO grand, it’s nearly impossible to completely
appreciate. And I have to admit that was
the case for us. It’s like our wee brains can’t fully grasp just how massively GRAND
this place is…it’s almost underwhelming because your expectations are so high…and
grand. At least, that was the case for us. It was the tiniest bit of a let-down…BUT
we’d been warned. I also couldn’t
thoroughly enjoy it because – with the known-to-be-slightly-accident-prone Kayliana
there – it was hard to relax next to all these massively sheer drop-offs and
cliff walls. I refused to let us go anywhere close to any of the areas that
didn’t have guardrails. And I was seriously disturbed and stressed out seeing
people go closer and closer to the edges just for the goal of getting the possible
selfie vantage point. Idiots. Honestly,
it was with a sigh of relief that we left the lookouts and headed into the
AC-infused visitor’s center.
That night we ate at a ‘historic’
diner on Route 66. (‘Historic’ apparently =’s overpriced and not awesome food).
The little town offered a nightly ‘Western/Shoot-out’ show in the middle of
main street right in front of the diner. We watched some of the locals provide some
horrific and cheesy acting and storytelling and called it a night!
On Tuesday morning, we
drove to Montezuma Castle National Monument. This was by far the highlight of
our sightseeing. Basically, it was described to us as a five story luxury
apartment building built about three stories off the ground into the limestone
cliffs and only inhabited from 1100-1400. We tried to explain to the kids just
how OLD this is. As in: when you see the
amazing cathedrals of Europe…those weren’t done with construction yet when this
place was already empty!
Last stop before the
airport was Goldfield Ghost Town. In the
middle of the desert, in the middle of a Tuesday when it’s 115 degrees, it was
nearly literally a GHOST TOWN. We had to wait for the ma/pa team to come sell
us tickets to then be our tour guide to then practically be the same people
running the gift shop, the train ride and the ice cream scoopers in the ice
cream parlor. Anyway, it was cheesy (and
so freakin’ hot) but the kids enjoyed it – especially the ‘Mystery Shack’ where
water ran UP hill, pool table balls wouldn’t roll straight and objects hung
from the ceiling crooked, at 45 degree angles. Spoooooky.
From Goldfield, we
returned to the airport and flew home. From that point on, the summer went like
this: home for 1-2 weeks (to go back to work and in any off time, powerwash and
paint the deck) and then the next event (Mike’s dad and stepmom visiting for
the 4th of July). And then home for 1-2 weeks (paint the deck and
prepare) for our week-long trip to Spokane/Mike’s 20th high school
reunion and camping trip to Yellowstone…home for 1-2 weeks (finish painting the
deck) and then sending the kids off to CYO camp…home for 1-2 weeks (finally enjoy
the deck!) and then preparing for summer to be over and school to start back
up! L
Pre-dance with my friend Rachael/race to victory!
After a day at the pools
The view from the hilltop above our hotel.
Dumb tourist was PETTING the 'lil guy. (We just took pics and avoided sharing snacks).
"It's pink!"
Don't mess with this jail guard!
With the "Town Wench." (Yes, that's what they called her).
Montezuma Castle
Goldfield Ghost Town...pretty much a Ghost Town!
