Phun in Phoenix!

Earlier this week, the kids and I were able to spend a few days in Phoenix visiting my two sisters who live there. It was a very busy couple of days and we had a great time. Maylan and Brandon want to move there now, of course. Monday morning started with a return trip to the much anticipated Makutu's Island. It's a big indoor playground and we've been there a few times now and the kids claim it's better than Disneyland. I don't agree, but it is a fun place to kill a few hours. My good friend Erika from high school lives in Phoenix now and her and her kids joined us there for the day. She has a daughter Maylan's age and they became fast friends, which was nice for all of us! Brandon and her son also got along fabulously. It was great to see them. The last time we went, none of my pictures turned out because the lighting in there is very dim. This time, I sent my camera with Maylan and Brandon and they took a few (actually about 100) pictures of the inside of the place. Here are just a couple to get the idea of what the place is like from their perspective:

After Makutu's Island, we met up with Amy and went swimming at Shelly's place. A very fun first day. Day two started at the Children's Museum in Phoenix. This turned out to be both the kids' favorite thing we did. It was a great place and very well done.

This area was Maylan's favorite for some reason. They had a car wash set up and the kids could ride tricycles through it. Maylan loved to ride this little tricycle with the seat on the back. She would give anyone a ride who wanted it.

Marissa and Brandon were her most frequent customers. Marissa especially loved riding on the back. She felt like such a big girl!

Here they are heading through the wash! You'd think they'd get sick of it, but they never did!

This is kind of a weird picture of Maylan, but this was both her and Brandon's other favorite spot: the grocery store. Maylan was the shopper,

and Brandon was the checker. It was a perfect arrangement for much entertainment.

Marissa and Brady were entertained by everything! These hanging balls were in the little kid area. That was a fun place to play, too, but the big kids got sick of it quickly, of course.

This was another cool area. They took hundreds of foam noodles and hung them from the ceiling, creating an area where kids could completely disappear! It was fun to work your way through it to the play area on the other side.

Brandon liked the green noodles best, of course.

Marissa crawling through the "flower garden".

When we walked in, there was this wall covered in hundreds of old hanging CD's. Maylan thought it was beautiful and wanted her picture taken next to it.

Brandon poking out of the tunnels.

Marissa had no desire to explore the tunnels herself, but she enjoyed looking for Maylan and Brandon while they explored the tunnels.

Cool little un-motorized Segway-looking thing. Harder to ride than it looks!

Banging on the drums was highly entertaining for the young-uns.

This area was also very cool. There was air flowing through the tubes and the kids could put colorful scarves or balls in the little holes in the bottom, the air would suck them up and through the tubes and them spit them out the top. This was Brandon's fascination for a long time. It was pretty darn cool.

Maylan decided once to stuff as many scarves as she could get into the machine at once. They got stuck and we had to have a worker un-jam the machine. Oops.

Marissa loved to play with the scarves. She is so good at standing now and has taken lots of steps on her own, just not very many at the same time. I keep thinking she's going to take off walking any time now. Hopefully soon!

Sisters sharing a sucker outside in some big tubes that provided some welcome shade for lunch.

And last but not least, my two little cooks making up a delicious pizza and taco lunch for me in the play kitchen that was better equipped than my real kitchen! It was a really fun children's museum and I know that's where the kids will want to go next time we're in Phoenix. We actually had to leave the museum a little earlier than we wanted because my talented friend Erika was taking pictures of us all that evening. The photo shoot went great and those pictures will be posted soon!

Wednesday was our last day in Phoenix and once again, we went with Shelly and Brady and met Erika and her kids at a mini waterpark in Scottsdale. It was a perfect place with a big pool, fountains, diving boards, and even a lazy river and really cool waterslide. I didn't take very many pictures at the pool because we were having too much fun. Above is Maylan and her new best friend cruising down the lazy river. That was also Brandon's favorite part of the waterpark but I didn't get any pictures of him on it because he was always with me (and Marissa).

Maylan's favorite part of the pool was the high dive. She had never been off one before and it was "very scary" the first time, but then no big deal.

Marissa loved it all and I loved it when Maylan would take her off my hands for a little while and play with her in the water.

Fountains!

And Brandon in the fountains!

And I guess that's it for our Phabulous Phoenix trip! Can't wait to go again!