It's the first official day of Spring, the perfect time to talk about Christmas. It will make me feel better about my continued over-eating.In 2017, we traveled to Tucson, much like we've done in recent years, only this time my brother and his new family journeyed down (and over) from Boston, making it the first holiday we would all be together in 11-years. Coincidentally, the last time we were all together for the holiday was also in Arizona, only we traveled to Mexico and were minus two spouses and three children. This go-around probably had the same amount of alcohol but had way more naps and didn't involve a run (read: slow creep) for the border.
Of those three children I mentioned, this trip would be Holden's third to Arizona. The first was over Thanksgiving when he was just a grain of rice in my belly, and the second was when he was 10-months old, so this trip was bound to leave a much bigger impression.
Good thing we made it with this pilot! 😉
Because what else do you do before a big layover then subsequent plane ride but have a giant ice cream cone? Mom and Dad had a beer at 9:30am so I guess it works out.
Grandpa, The Online Travel Savant, booked us early flights so that it was mid-afternoon by the time we arrived, which worked out well for everyone. Yes, early mornings with children are not the most fun, but best to just get it over with. After a car ride, plane ride, train ride, plane ride, another car ride, then a dolphin ride, you'd think they'd be sick of traveling for the day.
This was Day Two, around 9:30am. Every pony in the pool!
BODDINGTONS! No, I did not get it by riding in a taxi driven by Angus, my mom happened to have it in her refrigerator. HIGH FIVE!
It tastes like bananas. Seriously.
We made the Ugly Christmas Sweater cool before it was cool.
This trip was a lot more tame than we've had in the past. We ate all of our meals at the house, I even made lasagna for Christmas Eve dinner. There weren't any activities, like the year we visited the zoo, just non-stop playing in the pool, which is all we really want from a vacation to see family at this point. With Zoey being older, she doesn't really care what we do as long as she's glued to Grandma, Holden just wants access to his dad, and I just want access to alcohol. With my new-found passion for hiking, though, I did want to get out and hit the trails and see what Arizona hiking is like. I was a bit snobbish at first, all like, Well, I'm from the mountains of Mooooonnnntaaaaaannnna. *hair flip* But hiking in Arizona is hard-core - the terrain, wildlife, and plant life will all kill you.
This is a perfect example of always learning. This stack of rocks - what we call a "Stacky" because we don't know how to pronounce the actual name - is a cairn, and unless you are a Park/Forest Ranger, are dangerous, misleading, and disrupt organisms. And, unless you are a Park/Forest Ranger, should not be building them. Rangers use them as guides for a trail that becomes hard to follow, so when people place them anywhere they please, could inadvertently lead people away from the trail. We have since learned better, believing they were merely our way of saying, "We were here!" which is stupid and doesn't really matter; nature certainly doesn't care if we were here.
And thus begins The Great Christmas Build.
Holden showing Grandma how his race car track works while Ashley flips through the latest Pioneer Woman cookbook that all of us ladies got. It's like our religion.
Zoey was absent from school for her Christmas choir concert, so we all got a private showing instead.
The Ann's (Harper Ann, Zoey Ann).
Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good night!
We sat here with our late lunch with this view to our left....
His 13th Christmas, he's got this thing down. We rip open just enough for him to get his snout inside then he does the rest.
Worth it!
My Spirit Tree. Hashtag: don't touch me.
The city of Tucson fading behind us.
Hang loose and hike.
No matter the time of year, coming from Montana, lined leggings are never the best idea.
Water was here.
My face always looks so good in a hiking selfie. Here, particularly, it's because it was hot as fuck. Winter in Arizona is chilly, but still about 60-degrees warmer than we're used to so we were sweating buckets. And one major thing that Montana trails have that Arizona trails don't: water.
It was all at once surprising, pleasing, and a little spooky to have hiked far enough that Tucson ceased to exist. And because of the increase in temperature and sunshine, we forgot that it was, in fact, December, so we wound up hiking back in the dark to - yes - the last car in the parking lot.
Aaron, Ashley, and their daughter, Harper, arrived on Christmas Eve, then it was Christmas in full-force.
We had a couple of days to spend with Aaron and his family before we were due back to Montana and my brother - surprise, surprise - suggested we go hiking. It's not often that the four of us can squirrel away without children, much less hike without children, so we took full advantage, choosing to do the hardest, longest, of all the trails, the Bear Canyon to Seven Falls Trail. In both hikes, having the children with us would have SUCKED so thank goodness for Grandparents!
That's a river in Arizona for ya!
...and looking back at the trail on our right.
It was Jacob and I's first time hiking with other adults and we had a great time; great company and some great laughs.
We arrived home to a very happy, relieved Louis who was taken care of and loved by a good friend of ours. Then he got a Christmas stocking from Grandma and forgot that we had ever been gone.
Even though we were home and Christmas was essentially over, Holden asked to watch his favorite movie, National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation. Every day last year, and almost every day this year, Holden asked to watch this movie, of which I am only to happy to oblige. In fact, I'll watch it right through New Years Day evening (and maybe a few times during Christmas in July).
We're glad we were able to have the loud, messy, family Christmas; it was a lot of fun, we made some good memories, and it wound up being the springboard to my brother and I communicating more often. As we get older, Jacob and I have started to appreciate - and want - both the big, family holiday, as well as the quiet holiday in which we carry on or start our own traditions; especially as our kids get older and form lasting memories. It's fun not knowing what the next years will bring, but we'll sure remember them.
