Exploring Phoenix

Three things I love about living in an RV (in no particular order):

1.  No yard or house work!

2. Everyone is in one place, so there are tons of conversations, laughter, games, and memories.

3.  Less stuff to maintain, tidy, clean, and replace.  Simplicity.  

Three things I do not love about living in an RV (in order):

1.  Dog hair.  (To be fair, this is what I like least about my life no matter where I live.)

2.  Cabin fever sets in quickly if I don't make sure to get everyone outside.

3.  Washing dishes by hand.

We just wrapped up our second week in Arizona.  This week was quieter, as we got a lot of school and work accomplished and spent afternoons swimming in the pool here at the RV park.  One cool thing was the night of the super moon.  I don't think we could have picked a better place to be for viewing it!  The sky was completely clear, so we had a great view.  

Temperatures have dropped from last week, so for the past few nights we've needed to use our electric and propane heaters at night.  I'm thankful that our RV is well equipped.

These two have grown closer since we moved out of our house.  I love watching them find common ground.

The weather report said this was our last week of nice weather before the cold came in, so we decided to make use of it and swim as much as we could.  We have had the pool to ourselves almost every day of our stay.

It's a heated pool, so Jackson has been able to swim without his wetsuit!  Woohoo!

Meg doesn't always love swimming, so sometimes she brings a book or her drawing to stay busy.

This boy melts me.  He wants so badly to be a big, strong man and doesn't understand why it's taking so long!  I love his soft heart.

Cousin Itt Cactus!

This is my favorite cactus.  If we ever have a sticks and bricks home again, I'd like to have this planted there.  For some reason, it reminds me of a 1950's housewife.  Maybe because it's so tidy and cute?

So after our work/school/swimming week,  we drove back down to Phoenix on Saturday.  Our ASTC Passport gives us free admission to the Arizona Science Center, and we heard that it was worth the visit.  But first, we had to try an authentic chimichanga while we are in Arizona.  Legend has it that the chimi was invented in Phoenix.  Several local restaurants claim that they were the inventors, but nobody knows for sure.  So we loaded up and went on the search for Arizon'a best chimi!

The options were overwhelming, so I opted for the Yelp favorite of the green chili chimi.  If I ever make my own chimichanga, I will fill it with rice, beans, chicken, and cheese.  This had big chunks of beef and a LOT of green sauce.  Not my favorite, but Jeff enjoyed my leftovers the next day.  Probably goes without mentioning, but my husband was one happy guy to have so much authentic Mexican food!

After lunch, we headed over to the Arizona Science Center.  Downtown Phoenix is like downtown Portland.  Of course we are suuuuper comfortable driving our beast of a truck down the middle of busy streets that we are unfamiliar with while 6 lanes of traffic bob and weave all around us at 75 mph.  Easy.  😕

Once we found the science center, we saw that there was discounted parking across the street.  We barely made it under the clearance!  None of us had ever been in a parking garage before (small town folk), so we thought it was neat (except for Jordan).

Once inside, Jackson and I thought it good (and necessary) to pretend to be in an Alias scene, dodging bullets from enemy agents like Sydney Bristow did when she was in a parking garage.  Creepy baby was our scout! I would give you more details, but it was all very covert and classified.

 I think we need to have a talk with her about the attitude.  She's gonna' bring morale down if she doesn't cheer up.  Maybe she's upset because she misses Cindy so much?!?  

After that, we walked over to the Arizona Science Center.  This was the best ASTC museum we have been to so far!  There were 3 floors of exhibits, which the kids really enjoyed.  I was recording the video for this trip, so Jordan took a few photos for us.

This is right inside the entrance to the museum.

When you look inside the telescope, your eye shows up in the telescope on the ceiling!

We aren't big city people, but we did enjoy slipping into Phoenix a few times to see things that interested us.  We had a great day together.

Earlier in the week, we got a call from the park office to tell us that we had a package!  Mom and Dad sent us our mail, some things Jeff needed for his backup cameras, and TREATS!  Don't ask how much of the cashew clusters are left (NONE!)  

We were so excited to get mail!  There is something about this travel life that makes you feel a bit like an island and getting mail is like getting a supply package dropped from the sky.  

Thank you, Mom & Dad!!!

Here are a few other photos from the week:

We joke that Megan is Sydney's pet.  Sydney gets up on Meg's bed and lays next to her, whining to be pet.  Megan tried to hide from her, but eventually Sydney won.

On Sunday, we got to see rain for the first time in a while!  By night, it was raining in earnest, so I got to fall asleep to my favorite sound.  Then we woke up to gray skies and a peaceful morning.  It was wonderful!

Today we were doing math and Meg noticed this rainbow.  It was absolutely the brightest rainbow I have ever seen!  Pretty amazing.

This coming week, we are scheduled to drive up to the Grand Canyon.  I did my big shopping and stocked up for our Thanksgiving meal and things for the RV.  This Thanksgiving will be interesting.  No family, no friends, and very limited kitchen capabilities.  But I've got pie and am going to give it my best effort!  Hopefully Thanksgiving at the Grand Canyon will be something the kids will remember forever.