andbetsymakesfive: The 10 Year Old Trip

When John was five years old, we took him on a Five Year Old trip. It was a way to give him some individual attention after the arrival of Sally. We spent the weekend in San Francisco and had a great time riding the trolley, seeing the Golden Gate Bridge, enjoying lots of seafood, and two trips to the Ghiradelli Chocolate Factory.

We decided this was a good tradition to start, a once every five years trip with each child. A time for them to get mom and dad all to themselves. It also allows us to focus just on that child's interest, and do things that we might not be able to do as easily with the wide spread of children's ages in our family.

In January, Sally had her Five Year Old trip- a weekend in Seattle with a trip to the "spa" and lots of fun and fancy things. May, it was John's turn for his 10 Year Old Trip.

We took a long weekend and flew to Phoenix. We had an amazing time, soaking in some much needed sun, getting a taste of the diverse landscape of Arizona, and reconnecting with some friends from Seattle that had relocated to Scottsdale.

We flew from Seattle to Phoenix on Friday afternoon. We timed it to allow a stop at Anthony's Seafood Restaurant in the Seattle airport before boarding our plane. John enjoyed a Strawberry-Rhubarb Lemonade. Makes me pucker just thinking about it.

We made it to our hotel in Scottsdale with just enough time to eat outdoors at the hotel's bar before bed.

The next morning we got up early and headed north toward Walnut Canyon. We hiked the upper "Island" ruins. It was quite cold (about 47 degrees) and very windy.

Naughty boys- "look out below!"

Cliff Dwellings

Leaving Walnut Canyon we drove through Oak Creek Canyon. This is a very pretty drive from Flagstaff to Sedona. The area is where my grandparents camped on their honeymoon.

Next we visited Montezuma's Castle.

Amazing as always.

Then back to Phoenix where we met up with our friends for dinner at their home while John and their boys swam in the pool.

The rest of our weekend consisted of playing at the pool and hanging out at the resort. Since it was a holiday weekend the resort offered "dive in" movies- we watched Mega Minds. A S'more marshmallow roast, and fireworks. A lot of fun.