The Grand Canyon & Sedona

After enjoying Arizona from a local perspective, we met up with my parents to see the tourist side of the state. My parents very rarely are interested in travel "just to see something", however my mom has been actively fighting cancer for a few years now and she has always wanted to see the Grand Canyon. I am so very glad that she voiced that wish - it was a really miraculous sight to see.

We spent two days at the Grand Canyon itself, both of which were beautiful and pleasant - though a little warmer than usual for this time of the year. Even with two days of exploring, we didn't see all that much of the canyon, it is just so, very, GRAND. Also, we had two small children with us, the smallest of which really enjoyed throwing stones over the side - which had me convinced he was going to fall over the edge. It was incredible and terrifying.

So beautiful. So colorful. So much natural awesomeness. And also, so many ways to get hurt.

Even though we have traveled with children since they were born, and Alex and Gretchen are incredibly good travelers, this was not the ideal trip for children who prefer to walk on their own. While we tried to revel in the views and the seemingly endless stunning nature, they were much more concerned about if there were snacks. Or movies. Or somewhere to buy ice cream. In general, our kids are not the "silent reflection" type, so this wasn't their favorite destination.

My sweet Mom and Dad

Another place we wanted to see was Jerome. Rumor has it that Jerome was a great shopping spot and a nice, quiet place to spend a day. This quite possibly was the case 10-15 years ago, but since then it seems that Jerome has fallen asleep entirely and there was not much to see or do. 

Throwing rocks off the side. Never gets old. 

The views were still awesome. And very unlike our flat Texas landscape.

The southwest is such a unique part of the US, and a place that we have not spent much time. The Grand Canyon was incredible, and just driving through the different areas of the state were so interesting to think back on what this land looked like thousands of years ago. I am so glad that we got to visit - and that we have a Phoenix family-springboard in case we are interested in future trips!

Phoenix: Meeting the Newest Gill

Jon's brother and his family live in Phoenix, AZ and we have never been to visit. In case we needed an additional reason, they also had a second little girl that we have yet to meet. So, in the spirit of seeing America and reconnecting with family - Phoenix: we're coming for you! 

Ya'll, Houston is hot. Phoenix is HOT. Yeah, yeah, dry heat and all, but when it is 112 degrees (as it was when our plane landed at 6:00pm) that goes beyond wet or dry and is just plain HEAT. In places that experience extreme weather like this, it becomes a game changer in your day to day life. Similar to traffic - you know how to avoid it, when to stay away and whether or not you adapt to it, there is an element of weather in your daily plans. 

Which is why we go outside to play between wakeup and 10am. It's still a very warm day, but not oppressive (yet), there are nice long shadows to help, and you can take precious pictures of cousins without them looking sweat-drenched and exhausted like they will later in the day. 

This great basket swing is in their front yard, and it was a big hit for the kids. Daddy and Uncle Dan took turns pushing, swinging and laying underneath the swing. Unfortunately for Daddy, he didn't realize that the trees surrounding him were plum trees. In full bloom. Leaving plums all over the yard as landmines for his clothes. He lay right on top of a ripe, juicy one. 

Look at this pure joy!!

Our beautiful baby girl

Cousins taking a break from the sun

And once the magic heat-time begins, we head toward water. The walkways at this lovely outdoor mall were covered in shade screens and misters to help keep us cool. And what kid doesn't like a fountain you can play in?!

And now to meet our newest niece/cousin, Halle. With her thick, black enviable head of hair and her wide princess eyes, this baby is docile and sweet and very patient with the long line of new relatives that wanted to hold her.

Just so Alex didn't feel left out

We enjoyed spending our collective birthdaversaries together, especially since they involved a mini-mom's getaway to an incredible luxury spa right around the corner. We learned about things like cold brew coffee and delivery to your car restaurant food. We picked fresh lemons from their backyard to make homemade lemonade and got to experience air-drying a shirt from the laundry in under 5 minutes outside. We were shown the best of Phoenix and we had some of our favorite people as tour guides.

Nawlins

People I don't know, but they seem fun, and were followed by a band 

New Orleans is one of those storied places that everyone talks about either being from, or taking some sort of crazy weekend vacation with friends to. I had never been, and it's one of the handful of drive-able places we can get to from Houston, so we decided to take our family there for Memorial Day Weekend. That's how you normally visit New Orleans, right?? Five months pregnant and with your 2 and 5 year old children? No?? Well, luckily we had some good friends join us for the G-rated version of this incredible city. 

This place just makes you want to walk around for hours with a camera. Wraparound porches, horse drawn carriages, color, greenery and every bonkers stranger you can imagine. Everything oozes history and it feels like anywhere you walk could be a movie set. 

Gretchen being precious

If you happen to be there on vacation with your young family, the aquarium is a nice place to start. It's right on the water, so it was a pleasant walk from our hotel. Though the view from the water is more cranes and shipping than beautiful scenic landscapes, we still enjoyed pointing out the boats and passing some time.  

Aquarium entrance photo. Go Blue Jays

Alex and Rhys enjoying the animals

It's the end of May, but it's still HOT. Muggy and sticky and we can enjoy walking around town as long as we duck into air conditioning periodically and promise our little people that there is a BIG treat at the end of this walk.

The bubbles are a bonus, there is so much to see walking around the street we had very few complaints.

And the payoff treat was beyond anything they could have dreamed!






Cafe Du Monde was a hit! Beignets are sacred to anyone from the region, however as far as I'm concerned fried dough covered in sugar is delicious no matter where you get it! We had a local tip that instead of waiting in the looooong line to place an order, you can dip into an air conditioned side-room and get waited on right away. So that's what we did, and it worked like a charm!

Plotting how many beignets they can eat...

My favorite part was walking around back and watching the bakers work. There is nothing but piles and piles of powdered sugar in every nook and cranny of this kitchen, and the quaint little windows made it feel like you were peeking into a neighbor's house.

Where the magic happens

Cafe Du Monde gets two thumbs up from everyone!!

 The streetcar was another kid-friendly tourist stop for us. We had the incredible good fortune of having the happiest employee-of-the-month streetcar driver taking us around. He cheered at people we passed, waved at the other drivers and any locals, and let each child have a turn ringing the bell (FUN!) and opening the door (EVEN MORE FUN!).

Ringing the bell!

If only everyone could be this nice!

Alex was obsessed with watching for streetcars the rest of the trip

We had a great time in New Orleans, and it was a perfect way to spend a 3-day weekend without dealing with an airport. Unbeknownst to us at the time, we had also managed to leave Houston just before 12 inches of rain fell in a 10 hour time period. Our neighborhood was dry, but the bridges leading out of our area were both underwater and impassable for at least 24 hours. Somehow, we made it out in time and back just after the waters had receded so our highways were nice and clear. It was known as the Memorial Day Flood of 2016. Which was a bit worse than the Memorial Day Flood of 2015, but not quite as bad as the Tax Day Flood of 2016. It floods here quite a bit, it was nice to miss out on one of them.

Perhaps the next time we visit New Orleans it will be more of an adult-party atmosphere, but this was a perfect little weekend for us and our friends.