Boarding a plane with a sick baby, not fun.

 

Not all trips start off the way you had planned (can I get an amen from all the mamas out there!?)  With our weekend Phoenix vacay we could foresee the issue before we even checked in for our flight, one word.  Flu.

 

Phoenix was also experiencing some very cold weather (unusual for them) but this was easily managed. Knowing this going into it made it that much easier to adapt.  I ran to Target and grabbed rain jackets and snow boots (boots needed for Tahoe in a few weeks, just got a jump on my next trip packing!)

 

As we arrived at the airport I noticed Ethan (our 1 year old) was not acting his usual self.  Poor guy. He wound up coming down with the flu as we started the trip off. There was no way to prepare for this and nothing we could really do to change the situation.

 

But never fear, the trip was still some how a BLAST (maybe all the super cute and fun coffee shops and hikes helped?)!  I’ve outlined our adventure below with the ways we spent our simple weekend trip to Phoenix with our kids.  You may want to read all the way cause the Phoenix PD for sure showed up!

 

Also, see why we decided on a simple weekend trip to Phoenix at the bottom of this post!

 

The Logistics:

-Airbnb near Camelback mountain

-rented a car but brought our own car seats  (beware, the rental car place is pretty far from the airport)

-a good friend in Scottsdale “lent” us her amazing babysitter Saturday night!

-Stayed mostly in Arcadia are (about 15 min from airport)

 

Some Places we ate:

Our 2 friends that were staying with us in the house got there a little earlier than we did and so they hit up the grocery store.  We ate in for breakfast (since the boys woke up at 5:30 AM, yay time difference) but our other meals we enjoyed the local fare.

 

Phoenix Public Market Downtown – Years ago when I went to Phoenix for a workshop (pre-kids) I had coffee and breakfast here.  I was telling my husband about it as we were landing at the airport but I had NO idea what the place was called or where it was.  By accident we wound up grabbing lunch at the same spot.  

 

FUN FACT: just outside this place there was a line of cactus that Ryan was so excited about.  He promptly ran up to them saying, “I love cactus” and hugged them!  Dear sweet son – “cactus 101: no hugging cactus” (thank the LORD they didn’t have stickers….this time!)

 

Frank & Lupa’s in Old Downtown Scottsdale – tasty and a great place to spend “national Margarita day”

 

The Vig Arcadia for brunch and delicious mimosas – they had a little green space on the patio for the boys!

 

Coffee/tea spots in Arcadia –

Teaspressa (I want to OPEN this place in my hometown, it was adorable and right up my ally! #inlove, I posted all about it on my Insta + stories)

Sip Coffee

Echo Coffee

What we did:

A weekend is not a lot of time and when you toss kids into the mix with naps and food and time change your hours “out and about” are limited.  But we managed to squeeze in a few fun things on Friday and Saturday!

 

Children’s Museum– We love getting out and seeing/doing but since it was rainy and about 35 degrees we chose indoor fun.  The noodle forest is on my Instagram stories and was SOOOOO hilarious to watch my boys do together! (Yes, I went in too!)

 

Hikes:

 

Window Rock in Papaya Park – was PERFECT to do with the kids and was an awesome view of Phoenix and the airport (we could have sat and counted the planes coming and going for hours)

 

Small Butte Loop – another great one with kids.  In hotter weather this could have been torture (no shade) but for us in 45 degrees it was so pleasant, also had some places to climb but mostly flat.

 

Years back when we moved here we started a Sunday night dinner group with college students from the local university.  That group grew and has sustained for about 7 years now. Some of the first “kids” that came for supper every Sunday for 4 years are grown up and getting married. (insert shocked/crying/excited emoji please!)

 

Our sweet friend, Amanda moved to Phoenix shortly after graduation, met a guy and got engaged.  We were over the moon excited for her and OF COURSE had to come to the wedding. Since she was also a babysitter we had to bring the boys along too.  History with this young lady, stories and memories are plentiful! We loved spending time with everyone!

 

So, we had a little run in with the Phoenix PD at our Airbnb!

 

We had a wonderful and amazing babysitter that we knew ahead of time come watch the boys so we could go to the wedding, stay late and have fun.  About 20 min into the reception we got a call from the sitter that someone was trying to get into the house and pounding on the door.  UMMMMMM, WHAT?!

 

She called the police and we rushed back to the house, there is no grand finale to this story….the police found nothing, the sitter was completely freaked, WE were completely freaked, our kids were asleep!!  So between the flu, rain, and police…we decided we’d wait a few years before returning to lovely Phoenix!