Building Roots, Growing Shoots: Out of Africa Wildlife Park and other AZ Adventures

After the Christmas rush of activities, we had a little time to relax and just enjoy the rest of our stay in AZ. We took a day to visit the Out of Africa Wildlife Park with my cousin Roslyn and her family. We took a safari tour, walked through the big cats section, visited a petting area, and got up close and personal with a couple of unique animals. Samuel was frightened by the animals at first, which on the safari ride can come right up to the bus (mostly because you're encouraged to feed carrots to the giraffes and camels, so they stick their heads right into the bus). Roslyn's little boy, Zane, on the other hand, loved having the animals so close. Samuel warmed up by the time we reached the petting area and enjoyed being so close to the deer. After the Wildlife Park, we enjoyed a quick stop off at Montezuma Castle, a neat cliff dwelling near the Wildlife Park. Then we took a two hour round-trip drive to Flagstaff so the boys could sleep in the car...boy were they exhausted! We really enjoyed the visit with Roslyn's family, who we don't get to see very often.

Though you can't see it well, there is a serious look of concern on Samuel's face...

Compare to the sheer joy on Zane's face...

Cute cousins!

Two exhausted little boys :)

The next day, we got to spend some family time with my brother Andy's family. We also don't get to see them as often as we'd like since they live halfway across the country. We loved seeing Samuel play with his cousins at the wonderful park at the resort. They all got along so well and it was nice to spend time with my nieces who are growing up so quickly!

Our last day in Arizona, we drove down to Phoenix during Samuel's naptime for our early flight home the next day. We got into the city before dinner and decided to find an outing for the evening. Turns out that in December, the Phoenix Zoo has Zoolights, a light display at the zoo. While we didn't see many animals, we saw awesome holiday lights. It was a fun way to end a really special trip.