Fun with Rosalee and Zeke: Spring break

I've been meaning to post this for a few days now, but having some sick kids have made it difficult. (That's for another post!) This year we weren't planning on going anywhere for vacation but sort of last minute we decided to go on a week long tour of the Southwest United States. I keep trying to get Jesse to move us to the sunny south so I made arrangements for one of the places he's applied to to interview him during spring break. Instead of having him fly down to Arizona for a day or two, come home, and then all of us drive to Colorado for Easter, we thought we'd be crazy and take the family on a road trip. We started in Utah, went to Las Vegas, then Mesa, and ended in Colorado. If you look at a map we made a weird pear/tear drop route that probably was more miles than we should have put on the car, but oh well!
We started our vacation on Friday March 26th by driving down to Utah to celebrate my nieces and nephews birthdays. My niece, Kaylee turned 3 on the 26th and the twins, Maddie and Hudson, turned 2 on Easter.

Our poor car! We started at 50,000 miles just 2 1/2 years ago. I'm not even going to tell you how many miles the car has now after the trip.

The kids played a game where they passed a wrapped present around the circle and when the music stopped the kid with the present got to rip off some of the paper. As soon as the kids started taking the paper off, they didn't want to stop.

This is the ice cream birthday cake that Kristi made for the kids.

All of the birthday kids got to take a turn blowing out some candles on the cake.

The kids seemed to really enjoy the presents they got. The rest of the kids had fun "testing out" the toys. I felt bad for Rosalee because she was sad when all the toys were for other people. Thankfully we had some books to take her mind of it.

I find children hilarious, especially when they aren't being watched by adults. I've also noticed a lot of similarities between Zeke and his cousin Hudson (the one he's "wrestling").
Saturday the 27th
It was really windy on Saturday so Jesse and Jared took the kids outside to play with bubbles and a kite. When I went out to take some pictures the guys were attempting to get the kite up in the air while the kids were happily soaking themselves in bubble solution.

After the kids took a nap we headed down to Provo to play at a park and eat some dinner. We ate at a pizza buffet and Rosalee insisted on eating salad and bread sticks. I did get her to eat one slice of pizza, it was the raspberry dessert one.

Zeke's first trip down a slide

Sunday the 28th

We went to church with Kristi and Jared and then headed south to Vegas. We decided to stop at the Saint George temple on for a break and lunch. Rosalee started her rock collection for the vacation. (Seriously, this kid grabs rocks from EVERY place we go to!!!!) We also got to enjoy the nice warmth of southern Utah, which only made me extra excited to be heading to Arizona.

A happy Rosalee has a rock in each hand

As soon as Rosalee realized she didn't have to get right back in the car she took off! She told me she was looking for Jesus's rocks.

A rare family photo! Even rarer, all people are looking at the camera AND have their eyes open!

Rosalee asked Jesse if she could climb up and see the temple more so they walked up the stairs. When she turned around and saw me with the camera she said, "MOM!! You sneaky Mom!"

This is my favorite picture from our whole vacation! I want to get it printed and then put it in Zeke's future room.

Rosalee wanted to join in on the fun. The lighting isn't that great on this one, but with some editing I'll make it ready to be printed and put in my room.

This is the Saint George temple

More rock collecting before we had to go

Trees in bloom!
I can't wait for Spring to come to Idaho

Zeke and Jesse having a chat
Seeing this sign, and then the Nevada sign, made me really excited! I really was in need of sunshine and sandal wearing. When we got to Vegas Rosalee because really excited looking out the window at everything. We got turned around somehow and ended up on the east side of town. We went down Tropicana and stopped at the light where the MGM, New York, and Excalibur are. Rosalee said, "I want out mommy."
"No, we're in the street driving."
"Mommy I want to see the castle! I want to see princesses and fairies and an evil witch and oooohhhh a LION!!! Can I touch the lion? Maybe I'll touch the tower."

"Ummm... okay. We'll be back later and you can see somethings."
We arrived around dinner time at Jesse's cousin's house and spent the evening talking. Christine made kalua pork for dinner and I'm pretty sure I ate more than everyone combined! I need to get her recipe so I can make it for our family.

Monday the 29th
Jared (Jesse's cousin) had to work, but we met up with him for lunch. Then Christine took us to a free chocolate factory and cacti garden. What makes chocolate taste better? Being free!

I love how quick to grab Jesse's hand Lucas was. He is such a cute kid! Rosalee had a lot of fun with him and I like how he called her Rosie.

This is at the cacti garden which oddly is right next to the chocolate factory

Jesse taught Rosalee all about the pokey plants. She'd walk up to one and say, "Oh not too hard, this one is pokey" as she'd start to touch it.

Rosalee told me that I HAD TO take a picture of THIS rock so I did... but I made her be in the picture. Then Lucas ran over and said, "Rosie, Rosie, Rosie!!!" so I decided it would be better to have both of them in the shot.

Right after this picture was taken a small lizard scurried across the rocks toward us. Instead of getting freaked out Rosalee got excited and ran off to tell Jesse what she saw.

This picture is for my dad :)
After the chocolate factory Rosalee was exhausted! We took her back to Jared and Christine's and let her nap. While she was sleeping we took Zeke out and walk around part of the south end of The Strip. Zeke's eyes were almost popping out of his head at all the sounds and sights!
After Jared got home from work we went out to The Strip to see some more sights, specifically all the crazy lights. When we drove into Vegas the day before Rosalee rattled a list of things that she wanted to do. Before going I asked her which things she really HAD to do. Her answers-
1. See the castle. Did that on Sunday as we drove past so we bought her off with seeing "Pixie Hollow". (If you don't have a girl under age 10, Pixie Hollow is where Tinkerbell lives in Neverland with all the fairies.)
2. See some pirates
3. Touch the tower (We weren't sure if she meant the Stratosphere or the Eiffel)
4. See an evil witch

Rosalee is still convinced that we went to Tinkerbell's house in Pixie Hollow! We went to the gardens at the Bellagio. Almost everything was made out of flowers, it was amazing! We went by the gardens on our way to the street and on our way back. On the way back Rosalee told us to leave her there because it is where she wants to live.

Isn't this cute!? Rosalee insisted on getting a picture of it and I couldn't argue with her.

Couldn't argue to the point of getting a family photo! Pesky baby... why didn't he look!?
On our way to the fountains Rosalee was up on Jesse's shoulders and got to give Darth Vadar a high five. I thought she'd be freaked, but she was actually excited about it!

I know he looks like he's confused, but he was squealing with delight during the performance.
After the fountain show a guy behind Jesse (you can kind of see him in the above picture) asked Jesse some questions and then wanted to pray for him. He prayed Jesse would get a job either in the Vegas area or in Arizona. Weird, but it's what I'd like so I can't complain! After that Rosalee looked across the street and saw this-

She said that THIS was the tower she HAD to touch! On our way to the tower she saw an "interesting" looking lady in a gold sequin outfit and said, "Look the evil witch!" I almost peed myself laughing!

So we let her touch the tower and she was so happy about it!

A man dressed like Captain Jack Sparrow from Pirates of the Caribbean waved at her and she squealed and waved back to him. For days after we left Vegas she told people about seeing Tinkerbell's house and the garden where the fairies live. We were happy we could check everything off her list and then some!
Tuesday the 30th

We left Vegas and headed to Mesa, Arizona. We decided to leave around noon so the kids would take their naps in the car. Thankfully they napped during the busiest part of the trip- Hoover Dam. Due to recent security issues, the highway over the dam is being closed to tourists and they are making a new road. We had to stop for 40 minutes while some large trucks moved newly blasted rocks and debris out of the way. I was very, very, very happy the kids were asleep for that!

The Hoover Dam

The new highway that will be parallel to the dam
After crossing into Arizona we all got hungry and decided to stop at Wendys for dinner. It was an odd experience because everyone around us was speaking in Spanish. Zeke kept staring at some ladies and smiling. Then when one large family started to leave some of the men came up to Zeke and started speaking in Spanish. They rubbed his head, pinched his cheeks, the ladies said things while rubbing his cheeks and pointing at his eyes, it was INSANE! All I got from the Spanish was "baby boy", "blue", "pretty" so I'm fairly sure they were complimenting him. Just as quick as they had come upon him, they left! One of the young girls said, "Oh this baby is fat and cute!" and then followed her family out the door. We had a good laugh about it for the next twenty minutes.
We got to our friend's (Anna and Alex) house in Mesa around 10 at night. We brought the things in, said a few words, and then went right to bed!
Wednesday the 31st
Rosalee had a lot of fun with Anna's son Braden but I forgot to take any pictures of them together. Alex's grandmother was also in town and Rosalee quickly adopted her as her own grandma.
We were expecting to have Jesse's interview on Thursday, but Jesse received an email asking him to come on Friday so we could have nice weather for our visit. It did NOT break my heart to have to spend another day with friends in sunny Arizona!
That evening I met up with my best friend Charlene (Chuck) who lives in Mesa now. We also got to meet her boyfriend (soon to be husband!!!!) Jose and hear the story of how they got together. Again, I didn't take any pictures but I'll make up for it at the wedding this summer. :)
That night we went to the Mesa temple and watched the Easter pageant. It's free, outdoors, and really great. If you're in Mesa around Easter, go! It is the life story of Christ from the New Testament and done very beautifully. The kids weren't too crazy so it was fairly enjoyable. The only part Rosalee didn't like was at the end when they were whipping Jesus. She yelled, "You leave Jesus alone you naughty guys!"

A shepherd and sheep from the nativity scene

It's dark, but this is the stage
Thursday the 1st
With an extra day in Mesa we decided to see some of the city. We decided to go out to lunch at a place I'd read about on Nienie's Dialogues. It is located in downtown Mesa so we got to drive around the city and see the buildings. It is called Sweet Cakes Cafe and they have the BEST cookies! They are as big as your head and they only cost $1.

Surrounded by cookies, Rosalee wanted Cheetos.
Zeke enjoyed a giant pickle... my kids are funny!
After having lunch we took the kids to the Mesa Childrens' Museum. It was small, but full of a lot of great things. I love how over half of the place was filled with furniture from IKEA. My future house and this museum will look very similar!

I would LOVE to have this as Zeke's bed!

Recognize the leaf? We have one in Rosalee's room over her bed!
Rosalee had fun playing with the stuffed monster toys. She kept calling them "octopus babies".

Blacklight fun!

Rosalee found a cape...

Jesse found the Wii!

Braden made a smoothie and Rosalee proceeded to slob and bite the toys.

Some quotes that I love

Rosalee was playing "Mom and Dad"
Friday the 2nd
We left Mesa and drove up to Camp Verde so Jesse could have an interview with Out of Africa Wildlife Park. We arrived at the park early and there already cars outside the gate waiting to enter! The owner was really nice to us and let the kids and me go on a mini-tour while Jesse was being interviewed. We got to see the baby area where they keep the babies until they are big enough to go out with the other animals, see all the reptiles they have (the park is working on building a reptile house), and Rosalee got to pet an ostrich. She wanted to pet the cobras but I had to put my foot down on that one! Jesse was offered the job but we're still considering taking it. The job would be working with all of the larger herbivores- giraffes, rhino, camels, etc. He'd also be in charge of taking people on the safari bus tours through the animal enclosures. I'll explain it all later in a different post, but we are doing some research to see if we'd be able to live off of his salary.
After the interview we got to go around the park, for free, and interact with some of the animals. We got to see them bottle feed a baby antelope and then it came up to Jesse and started sucking on his finger like a binky. Rosalee thought that was GREAT! We spent a few hours at the park (I took TONS of pictures!) and then continued our drive to Colorado. Whoever (me) had the idea to go to Colorado on the same day as Jesse's interview needs to be flogged. The kids did really well, I just got tired of being in a car with nothing but ugly brown dust to look at. By the time we got to the mountains it was too dark to appreciate them. We ended going over a mountain pass with snow and elevation 10,000+ feet in the dark... slighty creepy! But the creepiest part was when we came around a corner and saw some odd shaped thing on the side of the road. Right when Jesse was about to ask, "Was that a car on its side?" we saw a guy standing on the side of the road trying to hitchhike. We didn't have any room in our car for him so we drove to the next town (2 miles ahead) and called an ambulance and crew for him and his messed up car. We finally arrived in Colorado late that evening and we were all happy to be out of the car with family.

This is from the drive to Camp Verde. I was really surprised at how greener it was there than in the Phoenix area.

Let it begin!

After Jesse's interview we went on a safari ride. I don't know the different antelope type animals but they have a few different types. If Jesse takes the job, these are the animals he'd work with.

Rosalee got to feed the giraffe a few carrot sticks and then pet/hug him around the neck. She wasn't shy at all, she acted like this was something she does a lot.

All the zebras are pregnant

She fed a carrot stick to the camel and giggled about it

Black jaguar

This is not a crocodile or alligator, but a smaller similar animal called a caymen

If you've seen the movie Madagascar you'll understand why Rosalee ran up to these and said, "MOVE IT, MOVE IT!!!"

No zoom, just a fence and a small patch of dirt between me and a tiger

Rosalee kept talking to this tiger and then he got up and started stalking her! She was walking down the path, giggling and talking to herself, while the tiger hunched down and stalked her along the fence!

These are the stalker tiger's ladies

We went to the reptile show and I thought Rosalee would be nervous to see the animals. NOPE! She ran up to a giant tortoise and pet him so fast I couldn't take a picture. Then she walked up to this monitor lizard and introduced our family to it while Jesse pet it. Then, with Jesse's help, she pet it. I kept my distance...

I hate to say it but there are parts of Arizona that are UG-LY!!! This rock was the first interesting thing we saw for two hours while driving in the Navajo Nation.

We decided to pull over at the giant rock to change Zeke's diaper and let our legs stretch. Rosalee and I had fun playing with the camera.

BIGGEST UPSET EVER!
I know it's cheesey, but I really wanted to stop here! Poor Rosalee needed to go to the bathroom but they were all behind a locked gate so she got to learn how to go camping potty. For the next 1/2 hour she kept laughing and saying, "I pooped on the rocks!"

While feeding Zeke at the Four Corners entrance I saw this sign. I have a goal in life to go to all 50 states but I never saw an "entering New Mexico" sign so I'm confused if I've actually been to the state or not.
Saturday the 3rd
Kristi was in Colorado visiting her in-laws so she came over to Uncle Russ's to color some eggs. The kids had fun with it, but I got stressed because Rosalee's idea of fun involved making a mess. I was glad she liked it but I hope next year she'll be more into coloring eggs and less into body painting. I decided to run to the store to get some items but being the great mother that I am, I got lost and then the store didn't have what I needed so I had to go to a second store. By the time I got back to Uncle Russ's the kids had finished hunting for eggs. I was sad, but glad that my mother-in-law got some pictures.

The girls ready to color

Zeke and Sydney
This is the day he started coughing and acting sick. Can't you see it in his eyes?

MUCH more interested in using her hands than the egg scoop!

"My hands are purple and pink!"

Despite the nasty wind, Rosalee had fun finding the eggs outside. The coat was in the trunk of our car (we'd been in WARM Arizona) so she had to borrow her uncle's sweatshirt.

The girls with their goods
Sunday the 4th
Rosalee woke up on Easter and came downstairs to find her basket. She really wanted a Dora puzzle so she dug around in the basket until she found the Dora princess puzzle. Within a few minutes, the plastic wrap was off and she was playing with it. She also loved the My Little Pony she got and took it everywhere with her. I'm pretty sure she slept with it that night.

Zeke got a few things but he was mostly interested in the items he could easily chew on.

Uncle Russ took us to a cute little town called Ouray nestled in the mountains. We walked around the town for a bit before heading back to Russ's.

Monday the 5th

We left Russ's and headed back to Idaho. We hit some snow in the mountains of Utah and then nasty rain in the northern Salt Lake area. We were hoping that it would get better as we drove on, but we were wrong. Just south of the Idaho border to 20 minutes from our house we had snow. At times the snow was SO bad that we had to go 30 mph and pray we were in a lane. I kept telling Jesse to pull a u-turn and take the freeway south. (This is the same freeway we took to Vegas.) I seriously almost cried when the snow kept getting worse. I hated the idea of going from warm 80s to nasty snow and cold. I told Jesse I didn't care what the salary they offered was, WE ARE MOVING! Once the snow stopped I came to my senses and realized that we need to think it over more. Again, that's for another post.
Our trip was great and I'm glad we decided to take it. I love how great our kid are in the car, especially after nine hours. I'm thankful to our friends and family who let us stay with them along the way. I really do look forward to more family vacations!