Weekend in Review: Quick California Trip

Saturday morning Everly and I hopped in the car with my mom and sister's boyfriend Alex for a quick trip to California. My sister had been in Riverside for over a week with her soccer team and she had a game on Saturday night so we decided to drive out and watch her since it is only a 4 1/2 hour drive. Aspen is not as great as a traveler so Justin and her stayed home but Everly is really great to travel with. We stopped at the outlets in Palm Springs for a little shopping on the way out there. It was really hot in Palm Springs. Just as hot as Arizona. It actually was really nice and breezy when we watched her soccer game, though. It definitely cools off at night a lot more in California than in AZ. We didn't really mess around and left by like 8:30 Sunday morning so we got home by 1:30. Even though I didn't drive I was still tired from being in the car that much so both Evie and I took a nap when we got home. We both cannot wait until October when we get to go back to Disneyland for her birthday!

Car ride snapchat fun

 

 

love this girl!

Ev watching Toy Story with Alex and Teddy's donuts in Blythe.

Mortimer Farms

Last Sunday my sister and I attempted to escape the heat and headed up north to Dewey, AZ to visit the Pumpkin Fest at Mortimer Farms. It is just outside of Prescott so we were hoping for cooler temps but it was still pretty warm at the beginning. We did get some cloud cover and it cooled off a little but when we were in that direct sun it was warm. We still had a lot of fun though. It was about an hour drive for us which is the same as going to Schnepf Farms. We are still hoping to go to Schnepf Farms too just to really take advantage of all of the fall festivals. Next week we also have the Pumpkin Festival at the Botanical Gardens for the 4th year in a row!  We go to Mortimer Farms around 10 and the kids got their faces painted and did some swinging and playing before we took the hay ride to the main festival area with the corn fields. I liked that they had a simple and easy corn field for us 2 moms with 4 kids by ourselves. I did still manage to lose Everly for a bit but she wasn't scared. We did have to pay a couple of bucks for the face painting and the food but everything else was included with the $15 admission and kids 3 and under are free. The kids loved the pony ride and Everly actually specifically asked me not to hold her while she was on it. We had a little bit of toddler melt down activity from Ev but for the most part the kids were good. My favorite part was the fry bread because bread! I also got the most amazing pumpkin cookie from the store and it took everything in me to save part of it for Justin. It was good. The kids ate lunch in the car before we headed back and both Ted and Ev fell asleep on the ride back. Thanks to my sister for driving us! Here are a ton of photos and a video from the day:

 

 

this girl <3

We caught those two cuties holding hands. So sweet!

bounce house and fry bread!

teddy picked out a white pumpkin for sleeping brother

big gourds!



trunk lunch

Teddy's pumpkin and literally how he sleeps.

Bearizona!

Last Monday we took advantage of the 3-day Memorial Day weekend and took a day trip up north to visit Bearizona! We left EARLY Monday morning for the 2.5 hour drive to Williams, AZ. We met my sister as well as some family friends at the entrance. The main part of the park/attraction is that you get to drive-through the zoo and animals walk up to your car. We are Phoenix Zoo members, which I love, but this was completely different. Everly sat on my lap during the drive-through portion and we moved Aspen into Ev's front facing seat so she could enjoy it as well. You drive through at like 5mph so no one was in danger! The drive is about 20-30 min long and really neat. We saw goats, donkeys, sheep, bears, bison, and wolves. The wolves freak me out. They are just scary looking. Definitely made sure the doors were locked in their section. Once we got through the drive we parked and you can enter the walk-through area. This is where they have a café and gift shop and walk up animal enclosures. They had beavers, otters, baby bears, and some other critters. It was great for the kids to go potty and walk around after the drive up there. After that we got on an open window bus to go through the drive-through part of the park again. This was cool because the animals come up real close as the drivers have food for them. You also learn about the park and animals from the driver which is neat too. When we got back from that we went back into the walk-through section for a bird-show before leaving the park. The birds fly super low and close to your head and I may have used a swear word because I was not prepared for that, haha. It was a quick little show which was good because the kids were getting tired and hungry. Riley actually fell asleep during the show! We took a big group picture and then headed to Flagstaff for lunch. We ate at Beaver Street Brewery before heading back to Phoenix. The weather up north was amazing and I am so glad we went. The kids had a blast and Justin and I enjoyed it a lot, too. We were definitely exhausted that night but it was worth it. I highly recommend checking it out! We took a TON of pictures but here are a few of my favorites:

Entering the Park!

On the left is a sheep on his hind legs giving us a show, haha.

a deer behind the Rohr van.

baby Aspen and the bears

group shot!

 

waiting for the baby bears to come out.

Dad's and their babies.

beautiful northern AZ day!

Our group took up the back of the bus!

Cam, Kim and the bird show.

Little besties and tattoos.

Our whole awesome group. So much fun!