It's Officially Summer Break!

We are finishing up Cliff's first week of a well earned summer break.  We decided to start the summer off right, with a little canyoneering and a family vacation.

School ended just in time for Memorial day weekend, so not only did the teachers have off, but our other friends with, shall we say, less noble professions were off too.  This made Monday the perfect day for a canyon.  We decided to do Christopher Creek again, it's close to Grandma and Grandpa's house for Paul to stay the day, and is a great canyon with lots of bang for your buck.  We headed up to Grandma and Grandpa's house Sunday after church and stayed the night, along with Sarah and Jeff, and Dustin and Chanel met us at the trail head.

Christopher Creek is such a fun canyon with lots of swimming, jumping, rappelling, and natural slides.  We even learned about a slide we had rappelled last time that had a crazy drop off at the bottom and was so fun.  It is also so pretty and reminds you that Arizona isn't all just dirt, rocks, and spines.

Then we headed back to Grandma and Grandpa's house for a nice bbq dinner.  Paul had a great time with his great grandparents, too.  They took him out shopping, for a walk to the neighbors, and I am sure chased him around trying to keep him out of all Grandma's awesome treasures.

On Tuesday morning, we left for our family trip to San Diego.  Cliff got us free passes to Seaworld for being a teacher, so we wanted to take advantage of the chance to take Paul.  On Wednesday, we spent the whole day at the park.  It was a chilly 70 degrees and overcast (personally, I was wishing I had a sweater).  We looked at all the sea creatures, went on a couple of rides (not Paul's favorite), and saw the shows.  Paul's very favorite was the sea lion show.  He was clapping along with the music and had a grand time.  It was so neat to see all the sea creatures close up and learn more about them.

At the end of the day, we headed to a delicious Korean restaurant and then to take a look at the San Diego temple.

Then on Thursday, we headed to the beach to play before heading back to Phoenix.  Paul enjoyed playing with his toys in the sand but still hates the ocean.  He got real mad when I stuck his feet in the water and when the waves knocked him on his bum.

As you can see, Paul also snacked on the sand throughout our time at the beach.

I would say we had a great kick off week of summer break.  Now we are back in Phoenix, and its 110° F (117 tomorrow).  So I think it is safe to say, we need another trip.