Sunny Days, Chasing the Snow Away

Kiki's Play List Heads West

We escaped the arctic freeze and headed west to the sunny warmth of Arizona. It was a series of adventures and misadventures. And I'm fairly certain Clark Griswold has nothing on us; although no dogs or maiden aunts were injured along the way.

But I'll just stick to our adventures as we had a great time checking out some local places.

Children's Museum of Phoenix

YAY! YAY! YAY! YAY!

The museum was much larger than I expected, and we actually only made it through the 3rd floor in our two hours. We raced cars, cooked in the restaurant/ kitchen, road motorcycles, ran through a car wash, played in the supermarket, and enjoyed the toddler/crawler section. I was so happy to find the toddler/crawler area because it had a lot to hold my toddler's interest while allowing me to sit and feed the baby. Plus, it was completely fenced in so I could rest assured my son wouldn't dart off at any moment.

It was very clean & the staff was extremely helpful and friendly. I just wish we had budgeted our time better so that we could have seen the entire museum.

Fashion Square Mall

YAY!

This mall has every store under the sun, and every high-end store you can imagine. I assume they have to compete with Las Vegas for tourist dollars and so have created the ultimate mall. It was actually a little overwhelming, but certainly a great workout. We were all exhausted by lunchtime!

While some of the stores are on the pricey side, I was able to find cold weather clothes at a discount. Surprisingly enough, heavy wool sweaters are not in high demand when it's 74 degrees outside!

But if you go, dress well. I did not, and I got some nasty looks from older patrons. I wanted to say, "hey, you're lucky I showered!" But that's probably not modeling very good behavior.

Hall of Flame Firefighters Museum

YAY! YAY! YAY!

A treat for parents and kids. This museum has original firetrucks from the 19th - 21st centuries. It was really quite interesting to learn about the evolution of the fire truck and firefighting, not something I had really thought about before having two boys.

The building itself was so unassuming that I was afraid we were in for a dud. But the museum is really quite amazing, featuring hundreds of perfectly preserved and restored firetrucks. I was blown away by the elaborate and beautifully hand painted early 19th century firetrucks. And surprised to learn that some were actually pulled by men instead of horses.

It's also interactive. They have a fire truck kids can board and drive. And then a good sized play area where they can dress up, play in a fire station, drive a firetruck (one motorized and one pulled by horses), & slide down a fire pole.

And at the end of the tour is a moving tribute to the firefighters who died on 9/11.

McCormick Stillman Railroad Park

YAY! YAY! YAY! YAY!

We actually spent two days at this park because it was too much fun & had to much to see and do. The park features the original Paradise Valley train station as well as the original train and train cars. They have did a phenomenal job mixing the history with playtime fun.

Kids can take a tour through the original train cars which carried four presidents. They can see model trains whiz past them and watch them being constructed. They can take their own tour of the park on a kiddie train complete with a conductor and crossing guards. Or hop on a vintage carousel. And if that's not enough there are three jungle gyms and a wild wild west playground. You can see why it took us two days!

The carousel and kiddie train ride cost $2 for kids over 3 years of age and adults.

Sugar Bowl

I don't usually recommend restaurants, but hey we're on vacation! This is an institution so if you're in old town don't miss it. It's been around since 1958, and I swear they haven't changed a thing in 53 years. It's fun, family friendly, and the ice cream is amazing!

Overall, Phoenix was a very family-friendly town, including all the restaurants we visited. There was almost too much to do.

We couldn't see everything. So here's a list of what we missed this trip, but hope to see next:

• Arizona Science Center (across the street from the Children's Museum)
• Phoenix Zoo (near the Hall of Flame Museum)
• Tempe Center for the Arts (I was very disappointed to have missed the theatrical production of "Go! Dogs! Go!")