The Trono Tribune: Traveling

ON THE ROAD AGAIN # 30 – Go to Arizona.

My parents, niece S and I spent a week visiting my grandparents in Arizona. We flew of out cold, snowy Manchester, NH on Tuesday February 22nd and landed in warm, sunny Arizona later that day.
Wednesday, our first full day there, my mom and I went for a run in the morning and we all sat around my grandparents pool (which is not heated and way to cold to get in) talking, catching up and enjoying the sun. Which was apparently warmer then I thought and without sunscreen on, I proceeded to get burnt!
After we got up on Thursday, my mom, dad, niece, nana and I drove to Tucson to visit my Aunt K (mom’s sister), her daughter (my cousin) LA and LA’s two kids. LA and I went shopping then out to dinner and ‘bar hopping’ with some of her friends.
Friday morning, LA and I took S and her two kids to a near by park and then to BTO Yogurt (AMAZING!). Then we were off to meet my grandparents and dad in a strip mall (with a Gap outlet – score) to head back to Queen Creek (about 45 minutes outside Phoenix). My mom, dad, nana and I made sure to keep my Gramps up so he could get his birthday surprise. Around 10:30pm the doorbell rings and after a few minutes of trying to figure out who was at the door before he opened it, and found my Uncle T, Aunt S and brother on the other side. They had flown in from South Carolina and Colorado, respectively to surprise him for the weekend as an early birthday present. After everyone said hello and Gramps got all caught up on the surprise and how we made it happen, everyone went to bed.
Saturday morning my mom and I went for another run, then the guys (my dad, Uncle T, brother and Gramps) went to a spring training game and the ladies (Nana, Aunt S, mom, S and I went to the Phoenix Zoo and then to the airport for dinner and drinks while we waited for my Uncle S’s plane to arrive. (He was also supposed to fly in on Friday night with everyone else, but due to nasty weather in VT, he had to drive to Manchester on Saturday in order to get a flight out.) After he landed we headed back to Queen Creek and spent the rest of the night hanging out and catching up.
On Sunday the boys spent the day helping my grandparents with things around the house while the ladies took S to an indoor amusement play place. There was an Arby’s in the same plaza as this play place and because I love my husband so much, I went over and asked if I could get some of their bbq sauce to take home to him. The store manager gave me enough packets of sauce to fill two medium Ziploc freezer bags. I have one very happy husband!! After S had her fill of the play place, we went in search of an ice cream treat and ended up having some gelato (a first for all of us) and it was quite tasty! My brother, who’s in culinary school, made dinner for everyone, chicken cordon blue, twice baked potatoes and broccoli and it was sooooo good!
Monday my brother and I went for a run in the morning, and then he and my Aunt S had to head back to Colorado so we said our good byes. After that, with it being out last full day, we spent it lying out by the pool, soaking up the sun and relaxing. Later on in the afternoon my mom, dad and I took S to the heated pool so she could go swimming. She was freezing cold, but wouldn’t get out of the water! She had so much fun jumping and swimming. We said our goodbyes to Uncle S as he had a very early morning flight the next day.
Tuesday morning we finished packing up and my grandparents drove Uncle T, mom, dad, S and I to the airport. We had a pretty easy flight, S slept for most of it, and the 3 hour drive from Manchester to Derby was good. I crashed as soon as we got to my parents and slept so good!
Wednesday morning I got up and drove back to Burlington and spent the day hanging out with D, unpacking, doing laundry and getting caught up on everything. We had such an amazing vacation. The weather was great, we got to spend time with so much family and it was good to get out of dodge, unwind and recharge.

Here are a few pictures from the trip: