Last night, in a weak moment, we arranged for a 6am wake-up call. The clerk was friendly enough about it. He said he would be knocking on our door with cold water at 6:00. The comedy is included at…
2011.01.03 Get Pizza, Find Pool, Go To Bed
Before going to bed last night, we made a logistical change to today’s itinerary. Instead of leaving Phoenix early, spending the entire afternoon at the Grand Canyon, and heading on down the road, we decided to sleep in and…

2012.01.02 Fiesta Bowl Championship
Finally, Gameday is here! With a 6:30 pm kickoff to the Fiesta Bowl, all we wanted was for the morning and afternoon to get over with as quickly as possible. As it turned out, we really had five days…
2012.01.01 Desert Botanical Garden
Today was not only the first day of the new year, it was also moving day for our family. Our lease expired at the first vacation home, and we had to pack up our belongings and move to…
2011.12.31 Fiesta Bowl Parade & Family
Howling Coyotes! Stephanie was awakened by coyotes at 4am this morning, and this was just another surprise for us by the city of Buckeye, Arizona. We have spent the last three full days in Buckeye and this town…
2011.12.30 Scottsdale and Tempe
When I woke up this morning, I did not expect the day to include a meeting with a man who ran the 4 x 100 relay with Thurman Thomas at the Missouri City Junior High School. But it was…
2011.12.29 Castles N’ Coasters
Happy Birthday Mallory! Our middle child turned 12 years old today, and while she is often the center of attention, she took it to the next level today. Her choice of activities today was to visit a Phoenix…
2011.12.28 Chewin’ Up Some Highway
Happy Birthday Uncle Joe! Today is my uncle’s birthday and we started off his lavish celebration with breakfast at McDonald’s. Not that this was his birthday wish, but it was located right across the street from our motel.…
2011.12.27 Hell’s Bells
The most important, and often overlooked, aspect of packing for a lengthy road trip is to make sure you have plenty of musical instruments for your kids to play and you have prepared them well and taught them how to…