Oro Valley

As most people I have heard say this past weekend, I echo the same thing: I'm most grateful for my freedoms in this country and those who have and do serve for this great country. I know when something is deep down meaningful to me because I can not put into words my love, appreciation, and gratitude and this is one of those things.

This past weekend we stayed in Oro Valley. What you've never heard of it?! Neither had I but it's about 10 miles north of Tucson. Jeff's grandparents generously let us stay in their time share there. Now, most of our vacations seem to be very busy and exhausting and I expected the same this past weekend. However, it was very relaxing. We slept a lot, took family naps, and lounged around watching movies. Had we been home we never would have taken a nap on a Saturday, but when you're on vacation you can do whatever you want and not feel guilty because you don't have work that surrounding you. It was just what we needed apparently. We did manage to do a few cool things. We went on a hike, a hot air balloon glow festival, and went to Old Tucson Studios.

 Of course my kids have to rock climb and check everything out. Once the girls do it, then Levi thinks he can climb just as high.

 The 3 stooges--I mean the cutest kids around

 Found this cool hole in a dam for some photo ops. The temps were perfect for a hike mid 50's and sunny.

 Posers! It's our interpretation of posing like a cactus

See didn't I mention it was relaxing vacation? I even got some yoga time in.

That night we went to a hot air balloon glow festival. I had never been so close to a hot air balloon and I hope to one day post an actual riding of one, but we just looked. They didn't go in the air, just glow up at night. Now the temps were in the 40's so we were pretty cold towards the end. 

 Isn't so pretty. We stayed close by the balloons to get some warmth from the fire

 We drove to Tubac, AZ for this. It's on the way to Nogales, Mexico and for some reason on fwy 19 it changes to the metric system. Not sure why. So if you're ever on your way to Nogales just expect this.

They ran out of hot chocolate so we bought kettle corn to enjoy our time. We ended up trying to throw the popcorn in each other's mouths, mostly unsuccessful but lots of laughs.

Sydney woke up the next morning with a fever and had thrown up so she slept most of the morning. Once she had taken tylenol she was feeling like herself again so we thought we'd go to Old Tucson Studios. This was definitely our favorite.

 Yes, I think we'll keep these two cowgirls and their sidekick.

 America's Most Wanted.

 In this saloon we watched clips from all the John Wayne movies that were filmed here and some singers sang some of the most popular songs from these movies. Other movies that were shot here that people my age may have actually seen are Tombstone, Young Guns 2,  The 3 Amigos, and others.

 It was a cool place. We all loved seeing the old buildings and wagons and learning what schools and deputies/marshalls were like back then.

 The women of the time

 Yumminess!

 They also had some gun fight shows we watched. During the first one, Levi got all scared that they were going to shoot him. It was pretty cute and sad at the same time.

 Old buildings

Another great and short trip. I love exploring this country. As I've gotten older I appreciate and find interesting American history. I also enjoy the beauty of this land wether it's desert, frozen lakes, dust storms, or whatever. There is beauty all around us.