A Little Bit of Summer in February

Finally! 

After living in Flagstaff for 1.5 years, 

we made it down to the Valley of the Sun. 

It's not that we have not wanted to go, 

but we've never had a good excuse to pay for gas and a hotel. 

(Any relatives or good friends are more than welcome to move there

and host us occasionally!)

Wednesday night Karl mentioned something about a conference 

down in Phoenixthat he would've liked to attend this weekend 

but had not found out about earlier.

Looking for a warm place to get in a nice outdoor ride, 

I perked right up. 

The Valley? This weekend? A hotel with a pool? 70 degrees?

Count us in!

Karl was rather surprised.

I am anything but spontaneous 

especially while training for a big race. 

But, as luck would have it, Friday was a recovery day. 

Thanks, Coach!

My conditions: 

Either all of us or none of us are going. 

The hotel needs to have a pool. 

I am swimming Friday night. 

Saturday afternoon is mine for a bike ride. 

Deal? 

Deal! 

So off we ventured into the big city on Friday morning. 

After dropping Karl off at his conference, 

we could not wait to get to the zoo. 

The boys' favorite animals: 

 

The African Wild Dogs

The Cheetahs 

We also found some appropriate food for Pandy:

We were having a blast for 4 hours straight. 

I had to drag these kids out of the zoo 

after it had already been officially closed for 25 minutes. 

A very successful day!

And, yes, believe it or not, I actually skipped my swim workout. 

Well, I postponed it until early the next morning. 

I did not even stress out about it!

It seemed like some family fun was just what the doctor had ordered. 

Saturday morning was all about swimming. 

After a very nice workout in the YMCA outdoor pool

we hit the hotel pool at 9am sharp. 

Again, we could not get enough and the noon check-out time came way too early. 

Noah insisted on jumping into the pool with the camera in hand

and take pictures of me underwater. He was not very successful 

but this camera was one of the best purchases we've ever made! 

My boys are quite the fish and it makes me happy. 

I only had to save both of them from drowning once. 

Unfortunately, it was at the same time in different places. 

I am happy to report that both survived and jumped right back in. 

Oh the freedom in pools with no lifeguards!