Well even though I had decided we were going to stay local....
I still had that insane urge to get the heck out of town!
It's "fall break" which means I needed some cooler temps and fall scenery.
We had finished all of our sporting events on Saturday and I was trying to fight the urge.
But I couldn't resist. lol
Which means I talked Ryan into taking off work on Monday also and I hurried
and booked us a mini cabin in Flagstaff!
Ahhh mountains here we come!! :)
(and it seriously took me longer to dig out warm winter clothes to pack than it did to drive there!!)
Anden and his great photography skills...bugging everyone in the car! lol
We went straight to our little cabin motel right at the bottom of Snowbowl Ski Resort.
It's definitely old and rustic.
But that's what I like about it!
We were there 5 minutes before it was time to start exploring!
The weather was so cool and amazing!
We just love when we get to actually wear jackets!
We ventured up into the forest and found this cool rope swing.
The kids played on that forever!
Which meant you know who was yelling "MY TURN! MY TURN!"
Once she realized she was in fact a big kid like Anden and Taylee,
she wouldn't get off that swing either!
Then Laiklyn had an epic meltdown that we were taking a break from the swing.
So her and Ryan went for their "own walk"
while the big kids and I went further on exploring the forest.
We had a find the biggest pine cone race,
find the smallest pine cone,
see who can throw the rock the furthest,
see who can throw a rock and hit a tree,
you know all the usual forest games! ;)
We came across a homemade teepee!
It was pretty authentic!
Taylee swore there was going to be a real live Indian inside. ha
But instead there was a bird and a squirrel.
That was just as exciting for them! lol
Eventually we headed back before I went into labor!
Then it was off to the little lodge restaurant for dinner.
After Laiklyn rearranged the entire restaurant (ugh)
we headed back to our cabin to dump her in bed
and play UNO the rest of the night!
The next morning we were up at the crack of dawn compliments
of the wild wee one.
So we headed over to the restaurant for breakfast as soon as they opened at 7am!
The kids loved just playing in the forest behind the cabins
while we packed up.
Then we headed up to Snowbowl Resort!
That's where the scenery took it up a notch!!
I get giddy when I start to see the vibrant colors of fall leaves!
We pulled over and the kids darted out to start collecting pretty leaves!
Don't be fooled by the gorgeous sunny skies.
It was 46 degrees!!!
Yes for us desert wimps that have barely gotten below 100 degrees,
this was quite the shock!
This little area was like being in a yellow wonderland!
So pretty!!
The kids darted from leaf to leaf to twig to branch to anything they could touch!
Then we took our box of newfound treasures and loaded back into the car.
We continued heading up to Snowbowl.
Once there we loaded onto the chairlift to head to the top!
The sign at the bottom stated it was 45 degrees at base
and 27 degrees at the top of mountain!
Holy crap we were going to freeze!
There was a slight wind too that was adding to the cold temps!
But we were determined to make it!
So we bundled into each other and set out for the 25 min ride to the top!
Anden, Ryan and Laiklyn were in the first chair
Then Taylee and I followed
Such gorgeous scenery!
I just love the mountains!
We finally reached the top and got off the chair lift.
HOLY CRAP IT WAS COLD AND WINDY!!
All of our hands were frozen!
We walked around for a minute.
Like literally one minute.
Then Taylee had to pee and luckily they had a bathroom up there.
So we all huddled in the Highest Toilet in Arizona at 11,500 feet to warm up! haha
Then we darted back to the chair lift!
Mom can we PLEASE go back down to where it's warm?!
haha so cross that off our list.
Rode up to the top of the mountain to take a leak and come back down!
I did make them pose for one pic up top to document we really were there!
Back on the chair lift!
Which by the way nobody told us it would be ten times colder riding down
than riding up!!
But at least the view coming down was amazing!
Since our eyelids were frozen open we didn't miss a thing!
In the far right horizon, that white line is the top of the Grand Canyon!
Good thing I packed all of our Uggs.
Our feet were the only part of our bodies that didn't get cold!
Laiklyn miraculously fall asleep on the way back down.
I guess when you're frozen and tied down that'll do the trick!
Once we got back to the lodge we hung out inside a bit to warm up.
Then it was back to exploring.
The big kids loved this huge checkers set!
Quite the competitive game broke out....big surprise with these two!
Finallly we loaded our freezing bodies back into the car
and headed into town to eat!
Then it was a rat race back to Phoenix to get to the kids annual doctor appointments
(yes that I made the appointments 6 mos ago before knowing it was Fall Break!)
and sports practices!
And yes we had to stop at home real quick to change from our winter clothes
back into summer clothes!
It was 90 degrees and we were already sweating.
Suddenly we really missed those freezing temps!! lol
What a super fun, quick and chilly little escape to the mountains!!
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