Happy Birthday Maxim

 Another year around the sun. Why does the time go by so fast? I seriously cannot believe he is in the double digits. He's a big 10 year old that is going into fourth grade in a few weeks.

We started his birthday weekend with a party at Main Event with a handful of his closest friends from school. Max wanted to do the same party as last year, so the boys started by bowling.

Then pizza with donuts for the cake. Andy and I got to see first-hand why Max always comes home from school with a full lunchbox. He cannot stop talking to his friends.

Max opened his gifts.

Then the boys headed to play one round of laser tag before they hit the arcade. 

We were all exhausted after the party.

I had the yard sign people put a Happy 10th Birthday sign in the front yard. Max saw this and had a big smile. He thinks this is cool and was happy I did it again.

On his birthday he opened his presents to find he got what he asked for.

Max still doesn't care for cake so we did a Blizzard again for him to blow out his candles. Look at that handsome face!

It was another great birthday for Max. I reminisced about old pictures and videos of him and still can't believe how fast time goes by and how fast kids grow up. I love being his mom and am excited to see what this next year brings for him.

San Diego

 We recently did our annual weekend in San Diego that is all about Max for his birthday. Who are we kidding though, when is it not all about Max? Ha ha! We took the Tesla with gas prices so high. Everyone always asks if it's annoying to have to stop and charge, but it's not. We stopped for a bathroom break and food. By the time we got back to the car and situated the car was charged and we were all ready to go.

We spent the first day at the beach. It was a cooler day but the sun was out so that was nice. 

The beach was exhausting for Max and he ended up cuddling up with a towel and taking a nap.

The second day, Max decided to go to the zoo. We only saw half the zoo last year so this year we went and saw the other half of the zoo. I'm glad we did the zoo on the second day because it was cloudy at the beach all day, but gorgeous at the zoo. 

That night, after dinner, we got ice cream on the boardwalk and walked along the beach. 

The next morning was Father's Day so we took Andy to breakfast at a place of his choice. We then got coffee, tea and Max his first Boba drink and sat at the beach so Max could race his r/v car that is meant for sand and water. 

That morning at the beach was so cool. For at least half an hour while we sat there, dolphins swam up and down the coast. We figured it must have been about 15 of them together jumping out of the water. It looked to me like they were playing, but Andy thinks they were feeding. It was such a cool ending to the weekend and Andy loved that Father's Day morning. We headed back to Phoenix and stopped for some Father's Day BBQ for dinner that night. 

Northern Arizona

 Following Max's end of third grade party, we piled into the car and drove north to see the sites and play tourists for the weekend. We arrived in Page, AZ pretty late so we checked into our hotel and called it a night.

In the morning, our first stop was lower antelope canyon. I have been dying to visit the canyons forever, but it just never seemed to workout until now. It did help that Max started asking about it since he learned about it in school this year. It was beyond cool. Even Max said "Mom, this is pretty cool." My pictures definitely don't do it justice. The lower canyon is shaped like a V, so it's pretty narrow at the bottom. There were many places that we had to crawl and maneuver through.

After that we went to see horseshoe bend. This is a very popular tourist attraction and there were many people there taking pictures. It's about a 15/20 minute walk out and then again back. So, we weren't there that long. It was neat to see and something that you must do while you are there. It's only 5 or 10 minutes from the canyons so you can't go to antelope canyon without stopping at horseshoe bend.

Then we went to upper antelope canyon for our scheduled tour. This was cool, but not as cool as lower antelope canyon. The upper canyon is shaped like an upside down V, so it's wider at the bottom. This caused sand to trickle down. Once we got back to the hotel I noticed all the sand in my hair. It was also fun to watch it wash out in the shower. I didn't realize how much sand fell on my head as we walked through.

I would highly recommend seeing both canyons if you are ever in the area, but if you only have time for one I would say lower antelope canyon is way cooler. I know Max would agree with me.

We packed up and headed to Flagstaff for the night. When in Flagstaff it's a must to get together with our good friends for dinner. It was so great to see them since we don't see each other much anymore. You know, life gets in the way of things. 

The next morning we got up and headed to the Grand Canyon. This was something Max has been asking to see for months, so he couldn't wait to see it. He didn't realize how big it is. He was shocked at the size. 

We had lunch at the Grand Canyon cafe and then headed to Bearizona to see some animals. We took Max here when he was two years old, but since he doesn't remember we decided to go again. He got to sit in the front seat as we drove through the attraction. He was so excited to spot all the animals, especially the bears.

After the drive-thru we parked and walked around the zoo to check out some more animals.

We were supposed to stay one more night, but Andy wanted to head back home. He hadn't slept at all while we were up north. We all decided it was a good idea to head home and get a good night sleep. Once we crawled into our own bed we realized Andy had a fantastic idea to go home one night earlier than we planned. It was an awesome holiday weekend playing tourists in Arizona. We got to see some cool sites and spend quality time together as a family. I highly recommend all five sites if you are ever visiting northern Arizona.