In the previous blogs [like a TV synopsis], we had decided to road trip while we were homeless and had made it through Albuquerque and the Petrified forest. This means we were only a few hours from making it to Phoenix!
It was so awesome visiting with my sister and getting all the cousins together. It's the first time all 5 had been together, and ages since the older cousins had seen eachother. They had a blast playing together, but poor Emma needed a girl cousin to play with. Aunt Laura tried to give her some girl time :) We played, crafted, shopped and just had a great visit. And I've found that most the times I'm visiting family I don't take many pictures. Valerie remembered to snap a few the day we left so that the grandparents had pictures of all their grandkids together.
Also in the Phoenix area is Dan's niece Natasha and her awesome family. They have two boys and they all played really well together. We hung out, went to a splash pad, the boys biked, and then we hiked up Hole in the Rock, or something like that. It was an easy hike and had a great view. Thankfully we remembered to have someone get a picture.
After about 4 days in Phoenix we made our way to Parker, AZ where Dan's sister Marsi lives. They have 3 girls, 2 of which are almost exact in age to our boys. She also recently had a baby and it was so great to see the newest addition to the McBride clan. No pictures were taken, but we had a great time with them. They live right by the Colorado River so we spent some time in the water and just hanging out.
When we chose our route through the southwest, we didn't realize we were going to be seeing all the families that had similar aged cousins for our kids. It was just awesome letting them all play and get to know each other. After being out of the country so long, we were loving the opportunity to see so much family. After all the visits we decided to take a few extra days on the route home and stop at the Grand Canyon. That interesting adventure will be blogged next, and who knows how long it will take me to get to it again!
Great to see a post!
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