Summer Vacation 2012

This summer has been a bit of a bust in regards to travel for the Dilbeck family. Bradley, my mom, and I had some medical issues to tend to in June requiring varying lengths of recovery. It didn't seem prudent to plan for any trips if we weren't able to follow through. Then again, I can't go an entire summer without a promise of escape, so I purchased a Groupon for a two-night hotel stay in Phoenix.

The first day we took the boys. We made a big deal about going on vacation and explained that every single thing we were going to do was fun, simply because we were on vacation. Every meal. Every stop. Every bathroom break. Pure excitement. I think they bought it because B kept saying, "I love vacation!" And they both stayed up until after 10pm.

Day one we went to the Phoenix Children's Museum, ate at a popular Mexican restaurant we'd never been to, and went swimming. The next morning we went to Tempe Town Lake and rented a paddle boat.

It was too hot for anyone to be too impressed. If it would have been twenty degrees cooler, I think we would have had fun.

Then Jeff and I dropped the boys of at their grandparent's house and we were off on the second half of our vacation.

We went to go see the new Batman movie (a-fucking-mazing) and then went to dinner at The Arrogant Butcher in downtown Phoenix. Remarkably, we were able to drag dinner out longer than 30 minutes--sans kids can be a boon for our digestive systems. Then we took a sweet little walk in the rain.

We did our version of a nightcap at a coffee place and then drove around the surrounding historic neighborhoods. The whole time I tried to explain to Jeff why we needed to move the following weekend. (The minute I get out of Mesa, the more I realize I don't want to go back.)

The next morning we met with one of our favorite couple-friends, Erin and Eric, to see their amazing new home and introduce Jeff to breakfast at LGO.

It was a great weekend and it gave us a nice little reset before school starts in a week. And if there are any regrets for not going on a bigger vacation, they should be wiped out when we take Bradley to Disneyland for his first visit. So.excited!