Camping in Flagstaff

We took a leap of faith this past weekend and decided to go tent camping as a family. We took Addison camping last September but stayed in a cabin so we were a little spoiled! We were planning to do the cabin thing again but decided to try something different. We went and bought a family size tent, camping pots and pans, lantern, chairs and other fun stuff. Alex already had a lot of gear collected over the years from his days as a Boy Scout and Eagle Scout...I know I'm laughing too.
We got up early Saturday morning and were on the road by 10am. Packing up all our stuff and making our last minute stops brought back great memories of family vacations we took as a kid. We arrived in Flagstaff around 1pm, checked in and set up camp. Alex is amazingly handy and organized so it only took us about an hour until we were relaxing in our camp chairs! There was a playground on the grounds and within clear view of our site so every other second Addison was asking "slide? slide? wee? wee?" We spent the rest of Saturday checking out the grounds and planning the weekends activities. We laid Addison down around 7, in about 10 layers of clothes as it was, dare I say it, FREEZING! The huge wind gusts did not help the situation either. Alex and I didnt really think to bring any sort of padding or air mattress with us so we slept on the ground the first night, WHAT A MISTAKE THAT WAS!

Big mistake to give my little monster licorice on the way up...not only was she messy but she was SO hyper!

KOA Kamping!

The park with dolly

Watching daddy set up shop!

The Grieger family palace!

Addison thought it was great fun running from one end of the tent to the other!


Daddy taking a break from setting up camp

Loved the cherub fountain!

What a goof! She now wears her sunglasses on her head just like mommy!

Just the girls, hanging out!
Addison woke us up bright and early at 5:30am, darn early sunrise! Her little hands were like icicles so we all snuggled under the blankets for a while trying to warm up. Finally Addison and I loaded into the truck, blasted the heat and watched an episode of Elmo until we thawed out. It was about 40 when we woke up but quickly climbed to a more comfortable 60 or so once the sun was in full effect. We made a big breakfast and then headed out onto the trails in the woods behind the grounds, it reminded me so much of the midwest, I kept forgetting that we were still in fact in Arizona. After our trail walk we decided to check out downtown Flagstaff. SO our kind of place! We visited the Sunday morning farmers market which had some really neat stuff, walked around and looked in the various shops around town and then had a nice lunch at a little pizzeria. By this time it was only 11:30 but we felt like we had been up for days. Between sleeping on the ground and Addison's early morning wake up, we were ready to crash but still had much more to check out. There is an indoor aquaplex about 3 miles from the campground and we thought it would be a great way for Addison to burn off some energy and for all of us to warm up a little bit. The aquaplex had a zero depth pool, lazy river, hot tub and water slides, it was really a pretty neat place. Unfortunately Addison had an Academy Award winning meltdown after about an hour so we packed up and went back to camp. We spent the rest of the day relaxing, playing at the playground and doing some more walking and exploring. Oh and I also made Alex run to the nearest Walmart and pick us up an air mattress.

Exploring

Hiking!

"When you see only the dark know the light will soon return" A beautiful mural painted on the wall on a shop in Flag

Big girl swing

Addison and baby going "wee! wee!" on the swings

Big slide...I made daddy take her down this time as the time before, Addison and I went flying off the end!

Playing with her daddy

Nature walk

Addison checking out the tepees on site

I'm getting sleepy mama!


Monday morning we all "slept in" until about 6:30 and let me tell you the air mattress was SO worth it! We had a leisurely morning of coffee drinking and eating and then packed up camp to head back to Phoenix. Alex had seen that Snowbowl (the ski resort in Flag) has a summer chairlift ride to the top of the mountain and he wanted to check it out. I was a tad bit (A LOT) nervous about taking Addison on the chairlift as she is a squirmy worm and doesnt really listen to anything we say...ever. We finally decided that it would be a shame not to experience it so we headed to the mountain. We were the first ones up to the top of Mount Humphreys after a 30 minute ride and Addison actually did a great job on the chairlift, she was fascinated looking around at all the trees and rock and even SNOW that was still on the ground! We explored the paths at the top of the mountain, took pictures and even let Addison play in a pile of snow! We made it back down safely and headed home after a fun and memorable weekend. We will definitely be heading up to Flag sometime again soon!

Morning time!

Mount Humphreys!

Chairlift ride up, Addison was not happy about having her picture taken

Two peas in a pod

What is this stuff mom??

Even Dashy made it to the top with us <3

Family picture

Hi Daddy!

Too close to the edge

Poser

And DONE...such a tired girl on the way home!