Because we didn't get to go fishing on our day of adventure during the Week of Love, we wanted to head out again as soon as we could and put our worms to good use.
Fortunately, Ammon has Monday afternoons off.
Even more fortunately, this past Monday was a holiday.
And most fortunately of all, the Bunkers had this holiday off and could join us on an outing! Yahoo!
The men-folk did some planning ahead of time and put the plan into motion so we could spend all afternoon and evening enjoying the Great Outdoors. Where at you ask? The Phon D Sutton Recreation Center on the Salt River.
It was fabulous! It was less than an hour north of home and everything we could hope for in a day-trip away.
Plus, the Bunkers were oober prepared and we could have had a great time even if the area turned out to not be so great. They had snacks galore, fancy drinks, and Ephraim had even made his very own boat that morning!
See! Isn't that the bestest boat you ever laid eyes on?
Of course, we came prepared with a few things too. A few snacks and drinks. And the fishing gear! This is the fishing pole that I used when I was about that age. Still works too!
After claiming a table on the high-ground, we headed down to check out the water scene. The boat floats!
And the water looked grrr-eat!
We just needed to get Daddy's fishing gear ready - everything goes faster with two!
Still...it WAS a bit of a wait. Good thing the company was so great!
And the snacks so yummy!
Finally - the two fishers were ready to go!
We packed up the chairs and snacks and poles and headed down to a lovely spot along the river (not only did Ammely get to use my childhood pole, but also my childhood chair!).
And the view was good.
Still, sometimes it's more fun to get up close and personal.
Daddy fished for a while (and Ammely fished a bit too)...
...unfortunately, the fishies weren't biting. Or maybe even present. There were lots of people playing in the river both up and down stream.
Thankfully, the water is still fun anyhow.
And even when that gets old, there's the old stand-by: just sit back and enjoy. Maybe play in the sand. Maybe close your eyes. Maybe explore the nearby trees. Just enjoy.
Even great days come to a close though. As the sun headed down, we headed back up to the table.
We grilled some hot dogs, enjoyed some cool drinks and then packed it up and headed home. Fortunately, the day pretty well wiped out the kiddos so we could play some Catch Phrase before calling it a day.
It was SO much fun.
We must do it again.
Soon.
VERY thankful for great friends and memorable days together!
This year's Week of Love was a stroke of genius. Truly.
We couldn't repeat the awesomeness of last year by actually going to Disneyland. One - I am quite pregnant and it just wouldn't be the same level of fun. Two - Disneyland is expensive.
So what did my husband do for us instead?
He brought Disneyland to us!
Welcome to the 4th Annual "Week of Love!"
The "Land Away from Lands" Edition
Day 1 (My Birthday): New Orleans Square
What lives in New Orleans Square at Disneyland? Well, several amazing things.
Our favorite is Pirates of the Caribbean. In fact, Pirates may be our very favorite ride...you know, if it were possible to pick a favorite.
Just because we couldn't get on the Pirate boats and tour through their world didn't mean we couldn't get on a boat and tour through our own world.
And so we did.
And we enjoyed every moment of it. Can you tell?
And just like at Pirates, there are women hanging at the side of the water for your amusement!
Our girls are much cuter! (And better behaved.)
And on our boat, it's just the two of us! No sharing. No need to rush a smooch.
If you haven't done this, you should. Seriously. It was SO much fun. A GREAT date night!
Last year we went from our boat ride through Pirates to the restaurant housed inside Pirates: The Blue Bayou. Yummy, Cajun food. AMAZING atmosphere.
Now the Blue Bayou is not to be found here in Phoenix.
But with a little research it was discovered that we do have this lovely establishment:
Cajun food. Yummy food. So yummy we didn't get any pictures of it. We were too busy eating it!
AND it had a pretty sweet atmosphere too. Check out the room we were dining in - a tree!
AND there was this beauty in the lobby:
Pretty reminiscent of this beauty on the Rivers of America at Disneyland, dontcha think?
Day 2: Fantasyland
Saturday we took advantage of the wonders at nearby Freestone Park. Truly, I'm not sure you could get any closer to the rides of Fantasyland. There were several to choose from but Ammely only wanted to ride the carousel.
Now, I know the train at Disneyland doesn't really belong to Fantasyland - or any land really - but it was still very Disney-esque. And there isa train ride of sorts in Fantasyland. So it totally counts. And it was totally fun.
And we had some delicious treats! Any Disney experience would not be complete without them!
When the day began we had anticipated ending up at '"the castle" with family that evening. Fortunately, we had all been to the Open House previously, as our plans for the night changed a bit. PLUS, you can see this beautiful edifice from just about anywhere in the Gilbert area.
The night was still wonderful even though it wasn't what we were expecting. Mama and Daddy spoiled me with a few books I had been wanting for a while now:
Read it by the next day. Loved it! Thank you SO much!
I've already pulled this out for inspiration for FHE - again, thank you!
And Tamzon and JT spoiled me with this bad boy:
They were SO thoughtful. My brother had gotten me one of these for Christmas a little over a year ago, but I had already managed to break it. Tamzon had spent probably a good hour at my house once trying to fix the one I had. She got it temporarily working, but now I have a brand new one that she assures me will be more sturdy for my peeling and coring needs!
All of us married folks spent the evening eating Pei Wei and sharing in each other's company. It was especially nice because we were kid-free! Well, everyone but us. Our Ammely had broken out with a fever that day and we couldn't leave her at the sitter's. And Belle and Kent had band new Maggie - but who doesn't love to have a newborn in the midst? It's like they're not even there except to look cute anyhow!
AND Mama made delicious cupcakes and everybody sang to me!
Happy Birthday to me!
Day 3: Main Street USA
I had mentioned earlier how no Disney experience is complete without a tasty Disney treat. In particular, no Disney experience is complete without this tasty treat:
I must have taught Ammon well. Not only did he buy his very own churro on Main Street last year while waiting for me to nurse Ammely in the ladies room, but THIS year he looked up how to make these tasty pieces of heaven in our very own kitchen!
And then he DID it!
Well, he eventually did it!
They were SO good too! We inhaled all of them in like two minutes. Seriously. We ate them so fast we realized we didn't even breathe long enough to share them with Ammely.
To expand on the Main Street theme we went upstairs and took advantage of this piece of magic -
- we actually got to wander down Main Street!
Amazing.
Day 4: Adventureland
This was Ammon's half day at work. So when he got home he gave me my letter where I discovered that this day was Adventureland and as such I got to choose my own adventure.
Option A: Includes a longer drive, but is supposed to be absolutely gorgeous. A road trip all should take at some point. This would make the journey the majority of the experience.
Option B: A quicker, easier drive to a similar destination as Option A. This would give us a less pretty drive but more time at a destination.
My pick? Option A!
What was Option A?
The Apache Trail. A breathtaking drive that takes you past THREE lakes - Canyon Lake, Apache Lake, and Roosevelt Lake.
How was it you ask? Just as advertised.
Breathtaking. And totally worth it. And the pictures don't do it justice...especially since I took most of them while driving.
We stopped at Canyon Lake for a couple of minutes.
Beautiful, yes?
But we hadn't purchased a Tonto Pass (didn't know we needed one) - so we were anxious to get back to the truck, get a pass, and get on to the next destination.
After Canyon Lake (and Tortilla Flats where we got our pass) we got to the real adventurous part of the excursion.
And even though the road was dirt...and even though there were lots of turns and one way bridges...and even though it was crazy bumpy at times...it was so totally worth it. We got to see beautiful scenery the WHOLE drive. And there were a few places to stop and stretch the legs and really take it in.
We followed the river a good portion of the way from here and it wasn't long before we saw Apache Lake before us:
The plan had been to drop a line in the water and try to pull out some fishies. But our fishing gear wasn't ready and we were losing light. And having never done this stretch before, we didn't want to do it in the dark.
So we just ate really quick and got going again.
Would you like to play a fun game with me while looking at this next series of photos? It's called "Where's Ammely?"
Ready.
Set.
Go!
Ha!
I guess all is well that ends well.
The sun was just sinking below the horizon as we hit pavement and Roosevelt Dam/Roosevelt Lake. Unfortunately, the motion combined with lack of light meant no pictures. This was the best I could do:
Roosevelt Lake was massive compared to the others though. It truly made the first two lakes look like ponds. And it was gorgeous.
We plan to go back someday we have more time.
You should plan to go someday too.
Have an adventure.
Day 5: tomorrowland
Last year while visiting Tomorrowland we watched the attendees at the Jedi Academy. We did this mid-day and we were starving. So while we watched the show we ate a couple of burgers - "Astro Burgers" or some such nonsense.
They were terrible. And like $10 a piece. We have not forgotten this.
So this year Ammon decided to improve upon the experience.
And trust me, he did.
We grilled hamburgers at home and they were so delicious that we took not one picture but instead devoured them.
While devouring them - we enjoyed this classic:
Not a Disney, it is true, but a classic. And totally relevant for the day. Perfection.
Day 6: Frontierland
For you to appreciate this night's activities, I feel it necessary to let you have a sneak peek into my daily letter from my sweetheart.
"So to explain more about what we'll be doing tonight I have my friend Delbert the Dutchman Miner! Yea! Heeeeeeeeeeere's Delbert! 'Howdy pretty little ladies! We gonna be diggin fer gold her this night we are! At least, we woulda be doin that ... if there wer gold in these here flat lands. So we're shottin fer the next best thing: Silver! So grab yer suvel and yer pan! We gonna be rich folks, we all r. Ya also may have notised that we aint the bestest at the spellin. We bin hoppin you wer willin to help us out with that tonite two. We'd be most ableyeged...Let's a get goin! Yee haw!'"
So to help out Delbert, we got properly attired...
....grabbed our shovel...
...and got started!
We had great success.
Ammely and I (with only a bit of help from our guide, Ammon) found all SIX pieces of treasure! Scrabble, Buffalo Wing Pringles and Tirimisu, plus three precious nuggets of love notes for yours truly.
So we grilled up the grub...
....enjoyed every morsel....
...and stayed up way later than we should have playing Scrabble! (And the game went to Ammon, sigh.)
Day 7: Toon Town
Today was a day of walking down memory lane. We each brainstormed a cartoon we watched as children and then we watched them together...over pizza.
To begin with, since he knew what was coming and didn't need brainstorming time, we watched this from Ammon's childhood:
After a little thinking, I recalled parts of a show that I had loved to watch with one of my best friends when I was small. We would rent it from the library. But I couldn't remember its name!
So I texted Serenity (my dear friend) and she remembered! It was the Music Machine!
Unfortuantely, it wasn't anywhere to be found. So we watched a brief teaser clip on Youtube.
Then we watched an episode of the Berenstain Bears that I loved when I was young: The Messy Room.
Day 8 (Valentines Day): Souvenir Shopping
What's the best way to end an excursion in Disneyland? Souvenir shopping of course! So that is what we did.
Ammely was thrilled with this day's activity.
And being inside the Disney store made us feel like we actually shopping in Disneyland...just for a few minutes. And the shopping was successful! How could it not be in that store?
My souvenir (although Ammely thinks that it is hers):
Ammon's souvenir:
Sidenote: They had these cute little onesies and caps from Monster's Inc. and I found myself wishing that Belle's twins were still small just so we could buy them.
And since we were right there and because we like her to be happy, we let Ammely play in the play area for a while.
Also, just in case any of you have been keeping track and were concerned that we left out Critter Country - fear not. We also stopped at the pet store.
Disnelyand experience complete. Falling in love more every day with my most thought and creative eternal companion - never complete.
...unfortunately, the fishies weren't biting. Or maybe even present. There were lots of people playing in the river both up and down stream.
