March 4-11, 2012: Vacation in Sunny Scottsdale

Grant and I decided that a vacation was in order to soak in some quality family time before I return to work. After much deliberation over the best destination to travel to with a new baby, we decided on Scottsdale, AZ. We originally wanted to go to Hawaii. However, since you can't snorkel or scuba dive with an infant, and our beach time would be limited with an infant, we decided that Hawaii just wasn't in the cards for now. But Grant promised me that we would make our trip an "Operation Hawaiian Vacation in Scottsdale." And so it was!

We soaked in some sun and took Ellie swimming for her first time!





We went on a tour of all of the shaved ice locations in the greater Phoenix area!


And we even went to the Arizona Aloha Festival, an event that draws thousands of people to celebrate and enjoy Hawaiian culture through performances, food and shopping. We were so glad that Richard, Jen, Rhett (and Abby, in utero) joined us for the event. And, we were so glad to get even more shaved ice there!


Grant played a round of golf at the Phoenician with Richard, and we went to two Spring Training baseball games: A's vs. Angels, and Giants vs. Reds. Ellie had a hard time at the baseball games -- it turned out all of the cheering impeded her from taking naps.




Most of all, we enjoyed all of the family time. We have been so busy since Ellie's arrival, and have been blessed with so many visitors, that it's been rare to spend quality time with just the three of us. Our trip to Scottsdale was absolutely perfect in that regard!