Thankful Thursday

This week we are on vacation in Arizona. It has been a fun time for our family of five to explore the area between Phoenix up to the Grand Canyon. However, if your holidays are anything like ours, it’s a whole lot of family time in tight spaces out of our normal routine which has me thinking “Are our boys always this annoying?” “Why can’t they sleep past 6 AM?” and “Why can’t our kids just sit together nicely in the back seat of the rental car? I travelled all the way across Canada with four siblings and didn’t feel the need to pester them the whole way”. Overall it has been great but it has been equally exhausting parenting-wise. So, now that I have that out of my system, I’m ready to go!

This week I am thankful for:
1. Health. Before we left we had a gastric bug hit two of our kids. So far we have been doing great other than Nya’s lingering cough. 

2. Safety on the road. We have driven for many, many hours in our rental car and it has gone well. Oh ya, and we ran into a rattlesnake and made it safely past him (her?) on the trail. 

When we were walking the Pipeline Trail at Lake Pleasant we ran into...

3. The boys being able to go to an NBA game. We would have gone as a family but having Nya up until 10:30 PM would not be ideal. We had a Girl’s Night instead. The boys were able to shoot from the free throw line afterwards, too! 

4. Baby Girl doing well. So thankful that my friend is able to care for her. Before we left I was quite stressed about leaving her and didn’t sleep very well. Now that we are away and I get my daily reports I feel so much at peace. Phew!

5. Time to read. We don’t have wifi where we are staying so I have finished two books already! I’m now onto my last one which is my first e-book from the library: The Awakened Woman.

6. SpongeBob SquarePants. We hike pretty hard each day so when we come back to our home base the kids can watch a DVD that we bought at the local library. It has 23 episodes that cost us $2.

7. Library within walking distance. My boys have boggled my mind by seeking out books. This is so unlike them. Each day we walk to the library so they can read and I can check my emails. Wish we had one within walking distance at home, too!

8. A great visit to Sedona. It was a highlight for sure and we ended up going twice; it’s very much a “Gary and Louise” kind of place–Hiker’s Paradise. 

9. The ability to see the Grand Canyon. When we booked this trip I didn’t know if it would be too far to visit the Grand Canyon but I’m glad we made it work (it’s about 3.5 hours from Phoenix). Gary has never been so I’m glad he has now! 

10. A house with a kitchen while we are here. We went out to eat at restaurant one night and it was $80 USD. There’s just no way we could do that each day. So, a visit to the grocery store and we’re good to go back at about $20/day.

As always, I would love to hear what you are thankful for this week!

Love,
Louise

Bonus: I don't love going to zoo like places but the kids really wanted to go to Bearizona and Koen is in love with bison so I was happy for him. It's a drive through zoo!