Welcome to our Book of Adventures

When I told people we were doing our big family vacation to Scottsdale, Arizona (in JUNE), I definitely received some confused looks and responses like “you know it’s crazy hot there, right?”

Yep! It’s a furnace on full blast. Regardless, I was confident that our rental home and agenda would keep the kids entertained, well fed, and not too hot. Traveling with kids is a science…and every year I get a little bit smarter about it. There isn’t a place I WOULDN’T take them. In fact, my daughter wants to go to Iceland. She’s pretty set on that location, so, when she is a little bit older, I plan to do this with her despite the very short sun days and flipping cold weather (and strange food…beware of the puffin and fermented shark!).

If you are pondering where to take the kids on your next trip, consider the beautiful state of Arizona…everyone who knows me knows I LOVE this place. Don’t let the hot weather deter you…Arizona has so much to offer kids who have never seen an environment like this. The unique landscape was really my driving force behind planning the trip. We are in the midwest so our kids don’t get exposure to desert, mountains, and cactus. Experiencing new things is at the top of my list, always. Don’t worry about your agenda, here are some tips for you to consider to make your trip an easy and memorable one! And, to assist your trip planning even further, here is our agenda as a template. This is a nice head start and can hopefully be a foundation for you to adjust and make your own!

DOWNLOAD AGENDA

1. Get A Rental Home With A Pool

We knew temperatures in Arizona would be scorching (118 degrees the day we landed) so having access to a pool was crucial. There is also 6 of us. Booking a resort would give us little NO space in our room. I don’t know about you, but tripping over each other in a tiny hotel room is miserable. The solution was a large rental home (in Scottsdale) with a gorgeous backyard and pool. This house had multiple bedrooms, a huge kitchen, and a family room we never even used. The pool was perfect and a necessity. Temperatures hit 115 degrees by noon. Our day started with activities and then the afternoon was for swimming and keeping cool. We also bought lots of popsicles to keep the kids hydrated. For fun, we got each kid a snorkel mask and they learned how to use them 🤿

Our backyard had lemon and grapefruit trees which gave the kids a memorable activity…juicing grapefruits and making fresh juice every day! Every morning, before it was too hot to breathe, we had coffee out on our covered back porch. It had quite the view…the beautiful Sonoran.

2. Go Hiking Early Morning

The only good time to hike with kids in tow is early EARLY morning. We wanted to expose the kids to the desert and hike through it so we went to one of our favorite hiking spots in the Sonoran Desert. We were there at 7am to do a 1-hour hike. Temperatures were pretty warm already, but the kids did great. We enjoyed it so much we did it two days in a row. They still talk about that hike, which makes me smile 🙂 For our exact trail head location, download the agenda above!

We plan to do more of this as they get older. What I loved most about this hike was that they could see many different cactus up close. They even had to put some muscle into it going up the rocky terrain. The desert and surrounding mountains are beautiful.

3. Go To A Movie

I know what you’re thinking….why fly all the way to another state just to see a movie. I thought that, too, except that it sounded like the best idea we’ve ever had on a day that reached 118 degrees and we couldn’t check into our rental home yet. We had time to kill and we certainly couldn’t be outside with the kids for long. We went and saw the new Jurassic Park movie at the time and enjoyed the crisp air conditioning while we waited for check-in. Brilliant. And, a little parenting tip… I took a nap. And I’m not afraid to say it. The travel day is a long one…up at 4 am, get the kids up and fed, get to the airport early, board (finally), fly for 4 hours, land, get the rental car, feed the kids immediately….by the time we got to the theater I was ready to shut it down. And, I did. So, if you have an opportunity to watch a movie in a gloriously dark and cool and comfortable movie theater, I recommend a parenting-time out and taking a quick cat nap to recharge those batteries….the day is only half over.

4. Go To A Water Park

This was our most favorite day! We took the kids to Hurricane Harbor just outside of Scottsdale. We got there right when they opened and enjoyed short lines for many hours in the hot Arizona sun. After lunch, there were noticeably more people there and the lines were quite long, so we decided to head home. We rode everything and some rides twice. The kids were so brave, some of those water slides are a bit scary! It was a wonderful couple of hours staying cool and having fun together as a family. Highly recommend it!! We were having so much fun, we forgot to take pictures. Trust me when I say…it.was.awesome.

5. Go To The Aquarium

We packed everyone into the mini van and drove to OdySea Aquarium. The kids really enjoyed this. We honestly didn’t do this for us, I’m not actively seeking aquariums on trips. This one did look impressive and we knew the kids would be fascinated with it. They had everything you can imagine and very interactive for kids. It was also nice to get out of the heat for a few hours. From sharks, to penguins, and some virtual reality…it was a very cool visit and kid approved!

oh, and…. one more thing you should do when traveling with kids is….TAKE A BREAK!! (klink!)

Go out on a date (no kids!)

We had an opportunity to go out for dinner, just us. It was glorious. We drove to Kierland Commons, my favorite place to shop and eat. We chose The Greene House…delicious. We sat outside because it was actually a pleasant weather day and not too hot. We sat out on their shaded patio with drinks in hand and just…relaxed. The food was everything I expected it to be… check out the menu, we highly recommend eating here!

Speaking of food, I highly recommend cooking most meals. Restaurants can be quite expensive here. We did do Blanco Tacos our first day which was excellent. But, you know how that goes…one minute all the kids are sitting nice and behaving, the next minute there’s a kid all the way on the other side of the restaurant and another one is trying to go outside while you are all still trying to finish your dinner. We cooked every single day and we loaded up on popsicles and ice cream. Our last night, we went out for ice cream to a boutique creamery with unique flavors!

In conclusion, this trip was really and truly wonderful. The kids still talk about it and I imagine they will always remember it. We are passionate about travel with these kiddos…we can’t take them around the world yet, but we do what we can. For next year (2023), we will spend a fun-filled 8 days in Florida. Nate even has our 2024 family vacay chosen already! The kids seem to be growing at warp speed (suddenly) and I worry that we will run out of time to travel with them before they go off to start their adult lives. So, we make every summer count. I’m already calling next summer ‘the year of the kid-cation’….we have so much planned for them.

If you are looking for family vacay inspiration, consider the sun devil state. This trip to Arizona had all the things, and I couldn’t have been happier with every day’s planned activities.

I hope our agenda gets you started! Make it your own, and have a memorable time (and don’t forget the snacks!)

#GoAdventure

Heather and Nate