LONG AWAITED VACATION WITH OUR KIDS...

We've discovered it's kind of difficult to vacation with our young adult children!  What's hard about it is the SCHEDULING.  The last few years they've been in college or working diligently in their chosen professions and don't have a lot of time off.  So it had been almost four years since we had been on vacation with all of them together.  Plus we've had a couple of weddings and another coming up this summer that requires $$$ and time and travel considerations.  All that to say, we were really glad when we told them Christmas 2016 that we'd like to take them with us to hike the Grand Canyon - and they were all able to go with us!

So, here's a few pics of our first two days together in Dallas and Phoenix:

 We were flying out of Dallas, so we all loaded up in our Suburban - yes, it was a tight squeeze - and made sure we left in time to enjoy lunch at Babe's Chicken (one of our favorites)!

 We spent the night in the Old Town area of Scottsdale and ate at Rehab Burger Therapy, and Morning Squeeze.  The kids rented bikes and rode around the Old Town area, too.  This was some cool coffee shop our oldest son thought was a must!

 We checked out Hole-In-The-Rock at Papago Park - it was a fun little jaunt and photo-op with everyone, including our youngest son's fiancee.

The yards in the Phoenix area are so different from ours - so many that don't grow grass at all due to the heat, and this is fiancee's grandparent's yard.  I thought it was beautiful!  We dropped her off at their house since there was no way we could be sure they would have room for her at Phantom Ranch at the bottom of the Grand Canyon.  But, we were glad she was able to come for a part of it!

More about our Grand Canyon hike in the next post...