Amelia meets Arizona

Phew! Traveling with four young children can be exhausting! Especially when your family is responsible for delaying a flight. Not many people can say they have done that. I'd like to think of it as checking an item off my bucket list. An item I possibly didn't even realize was on my bucket list until I crossed it off, but none then less, it's crossed off. The story of how we delayed a flight is far less fun than being able to say we delayed it, so at that we will leave it (It involved vomit. And lots of it.). We are finally recovering from a jam-packed 5 day trip to Arizona. 

A 5 day trip that included swimming,

 bubbles,

and jumping from Grandpa's shoulders as he shoots out of the water.

It also included a trip to the train park. Where Kaden couldn't wait for Aunt Rocky to arrive. He paced along the tracks mumbling, "Where's Rocky? Where's Rocky?! Where. Is. Rocky!" She finally made it. 

 What train park is complete without an old western town?

 And of course, we rode the train. A time or two. Or four. 

My grandparents with their great grandkids. Can't beat that. 

Kaden wanted Granny to make him a city. It had everything our city has. A gas station, Hy-Vee and Target. What else do you need?

On our last full day, once everyone was good and tired, we went to the zoo. We got in with a membership an hour early. The animals apparently aren't early risers. We spent the first hour looking in empty cages.

the giraffe cage

the tiger cage

the lion cage

And looking at maps. My kids have an obsession with zoo maps. If they don't each have their own zoo map, hello meltdown. Daddy is secretly proud. He's a map guy too.

We finally kicked things off with a good ole fashioned camel ride. It seemed fitting that a haboob came threatening our zoo trip while they rode the camel. They were able to get the full Middle-Eastern experience that way. On a side note, when did we start calling dust storms haboobs? I lived in Arizona my whole life, I grew up in dust storms, never did I ever hear them called haboobs until I moved to Nebraska. I don't like it, it feels snobby, like we're trying to fancify dust storms. Sorry for the rant, back to the camel. His name is Isaac. 

My most anticipated zoo adventure was feeding the giraffes.

Kaden was trying to see who's tongue was longer.

The next day was airport day. Kaden cried the whole way there because he was going to miss his Granny. We had fun. Can't wait to go back. In a car minivan. 

Here are some of my iPhone favorites. My iFavorites if you will.