Christmas Vacation Arizona Trip 2015

One of the things we make a priority in our family is traveling and seeing more of God's creations and spending quality time together with our family!  We especially love to go to National Parks or National Monuments. This Christmas break, we headed to Arizona for a short pre-Christmas adventure (note to self: Don't go on vacation the day school gets out and week before Christmas again!  A bit much for planning!).  We didn't want to drive too far and had a free 2 day lodging for us, so we went to Arizona to stay in Phoenix area, Sedona and Flagstaff.  It was a wonderful trip but we just needed more time in each place!

Road trip time! 

In Phoenix we found an outdoor ice rink with real ice this time! It was fun and Mitchell did sooo much better than last time and last year! 

We also went to the Children's Museum in Phoenix and enjoyed walking around and popped into the Wells Fargo museum too for fun! Then we headed to Mesa to see the wonderful Mesa Temple Christmas display!  They had a beautiful presentation and a display of nativities from around the world.  In a parking lot across the street from the Temple they had food trucks so we had dinner there!  It was a perfect night and a wonderful way to get in the Christmas spirit!

The Mesa Temple is beautiful and holds a special place in our lives to as my parents were married there!

While looking at things to do in the area I discovered the Out of Africa Wildlife park which is a small safari like type park on the way to Sedona! I did not know it existed but it is very cool! It was really neat and the kids got to feed Tigers and take a safari and be in the midst of giraffes, camels, zebras and many other animals!

The three felines...

See Giraffe in background?

We got to feed the giraffes!

This guy kept stocking his head in our caravan for more!

Our next stop was Montezumas Castle - a national monument. 

And then Tuzigoot National Monument

The kids earned Junior Ranger badges at each place to add to their collection!

Then the next day we were in Sedona!  I was hoping to see a sunset or sunrise as that is one of the most popular, most gorgeous things to see in Sedona, but it was very cool, cloudy and drizzly the whole time so not a lot of views, but it was still beautiful and we did get to enjoy some beautiful outdoor time and hiking!  The kids loved scrambling on the rocks at the Red Rock hike!

The last day we had a short half day at Flagstaff and got to explore town a a bit and have a bit of snow play! We definitely need more time in Flagstaff  and Sedona and hope to come back soon!

The we headed home back to celebrate Christmas with family! It was a great trip! Here are some more photos of the whole trip: