G&G Wallace Weekend

June's schedule gave us an opportunity to spent a fun-filled weekend with Chad's parents. We met them at the Phoenix Zoo, and enjoyed the morning's relatively cool weather while we checked out the Komodo Dragons, Orangutans and took the tram tour. And we couldn't miss Chad's beloved reptiles.

After the zoo, we stopped for lunch at SteakenBurger, which Chad had heard about on NPR. While the burgers were yummy, we all agreed that they needed more meat to warrant the price and the name "SteakenBurger." But the fries were delicious. Then we checked into our room at the Pointe Hilton Tapatio Cliffs, and headed to the big pool area. Chad played with Bree and Mason, who were beside themselves with excitement, while Fran and I relaxed with Lincoln on the lounge chairs. Bree took her floatie off after a while, and Chad helped her work on her swimming skills. And she really wanted to go on the water slide tunnel, even after I explained that she would have to swim by herself after she came out the bottom. I went down first so I'd be waiting for her, and it was dark, and fast, and scary. I heard her screaming as she came down, and I had to rescue her because she was struggling to swim to the side of the pool. But she was sure proud of herself for doing it on her own. She wanted to go down again, but the line was long, and we had to head back to the room to get cleaned up for our next adventure. Baseball time! We were off to Chase Field to see the Diamondbacks play.

It was the kids' first baseball game (unless you count when Bree was a baby), and they barely made it through the fifth inning. They only lasted that long because it was Star Wars night (our kids are slightly obsessed), and because we were just a quick elevator ride away from the kids zone, where the kids burned some time and energy playing on the big toy (Bree made fast friends with a mini Princess Leia). Then we met the mascot, Baxter, and got a quick pic with a storm trooper on the way back to our seats.

Bree was obviously in love and was on the verge of cuddling with the guy. Um, can she get any closer? Mason was a little intimidated. I couldn't get him to turn his back on the storm trooper to face me. He's no fool. He knows who the storm troopers work for.


After stuffing ourselves with delicious treats (Chase Field has an amazing food selection), we drove back to the hotel, exhausted from the our exciting jam-packed Saturday, and fell right to sleep. In the morning we wrapped up our visit with a delicious breakfast at one of the on-site restaurants. The weekend went by so quickly, and we had crammed as much fun into it as possible. And all that fun made for great memories.