We went to Lexington to celebrate Pappa D’s birthday. It was a really fun event and I may have had one more glass of wine than I should have. Skylar enjoyed seeing her cousins, and Parker got the privilege of being adopted by Ryland for a night!
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We visited Frank Lloyd Wright’s Taliesin West ranch. While FLW may have been a genius architect and his buildings are definitely creative and beautiful, the actual implementation was, well, not that great.
We only made it to a couple of buildings before we were asked to leave because Skylar’s squeaky shoes were bothering the crabby tour guide.
Taliesin was created to give his students a school where they could work and train during the winter months. FLW both lived and worked at the premises.
Scottsdale food and service was phenomenal. We couldn’t quite figure out why the wait staff was so much more professional than what we encounter in D.C.
Susan thinks it’s because low wage workers in Scottsdale get more for their money than low wager workers in D.C., therefore you get higher quality people. I think it was because Scottsdale is an affluent suburb, therefore the part time workers are all from wealthy families and tend to be higher quality workers.
We ate at RA Sushi, which is a regional chain with 10 locations. I had what they call yellowtail tapas, which was raw yellowtail with a garlic tangy sauce. Susan had what was essentially a California roll with eel sauce.
Tex-mex is a midwest thing, so we had to try that as well. The Spotted Donkey Cantina came as highly recommended on Yelp. We had their tacos, Susan had shredded beef and I had pork. Both had been marinated in a tangy spicey sauce, and came with a side of shredded pickled carrots and smoked black beans.
On our last morning we had breakfast at the Bristle Brush Bar and Grill, the golf course restaurant at the hotel. I had conrbread waffles with fresh whipped cream and strawberry sauce, while Susan got the lobster mac & cheese. We also delighted in the best cappuccino I think I’ve ever had. I can’t quite pinpoint what made it so good, but it had a nutty, smooth, creamy flavor.
Like everything else in Scottsdale, their children’s park had that fresh new car scent. It came with a functioning train, carousel, kid size Alamo, and park with some sort of rubber padding that gave you an extra spring in your step, even under the sandy parts.
Skylar and I had fun splashing it up at the hotel pool on Friday enjoying a balmy December 68 degrees. The heated pool kept us warm, but it was chilly when you got out. I was surprised that Skylar never complained – she’s still a low maintenance baby, although more vocal than 6 months ago.
The grounds at the hotel were perfectly sculpted with shrubs, aloe plants, cacti, built in fireplaces, hammocks, multiple hot tubs, a water slide, and a Skylar sized chess board (the pieces were about her height).
We stayed in Scottsdale at the Westin Kierland Resort. The resort was posh, right on a golf course, with lake, and lots of birds, quail, rabbits, and other wildlife.
Everything in Scottsdale is brand new including old town. It seemed like the town was built starting in 2000. Nothing was more than 10 years old.
The landscaping, including the areas maintained by the state, were perfectly manicured.
I think we tied our record from last year with the number of Thanksgiving dinners at 5, but I’m hoping we’ll break it in the future :). We went to Uncle Thom’s house Sat. for dinner, and despite Terri not being there everything was delicious as expected. Skylar did really well, but I wasn’t able to squeeze a group photo in before we had to skedaddle home for nap time.
Skylar starting sucking her thumb and even closed her eyes while in Susan’s lap on the way home – a first for us considering she is all party all the time whenever we have tried to co-sleep.
It was great to see all the family despite a few absences. After Skylar’s afternoon nap we spent the remaining daylight taking shots for our Christmas cards. The last pic is a preview…
Our next stop was the Toronto Zoo. Thinking back about this trip, I must have lost about 10 pounds, because again, we found ourselves walking for about 4 hours nonstop trying to see all the sights. Susan commented approximately 20 minutes prior to leaving the zoo on the way out that we should have purchased tram tickets.
And yet she calls me stupid for wanting these shoes:
Anyone who wants to get these for me for xmas – they are called Heely’s and yes they come in adult sizes.
One of the most interesting parts of the zoo was the butterfly exhibit. The butterflies were all around you and they could go in and out of the exhibit as people entered and left. I’m still perplexed as to how they kept the butterflies there.
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Susan had an ABA conference in Toronto so we packed our packs and headed North to hang out with those crazy Canucks. Our first stop was the Toronto Island Park. We covered about 70% of the park that day and walked at least 10-15 miles.
After making it to the North side of the park, we had to decide whether to go back the way we came or explore more of the island and pick up our ferry from one of the other two locations. Looking at the map it seemed like it wouldn’t be that far, so we headed to the Eastern pickup.
We walked for roughly an hour and were totally exhausted when we came across a restaurant that had not only delicious food, but also libations by the pitcher full. After dinner we walked for what seemed another eternity and made it off the island on the last scheduled ferry for the day. Whew!
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This year was chill. We walked down the road to a neighborhood get together. Skylar is a bit young to participate at some of our neighborhood gatherings. Most of the kids are toddlers to 7 years old.
I was trying to remember what we did last year. We went to National Harbor and dog sat for a friend. It was a fun and free weekend getaway right before welcoming Skylar to the world. Our “babymoon” if you will. Below are some pics of our holiday from the Harbor.
