Lazy Liver

We Ingersolls love a good lazy river.

(Jason's dad loves the one at Schlitterbahn so much he says he wants to build one in his backyard.)

We spent a good portion of our time in our Phoenix hotel's lazy river, which Reed kept calling the 'lazy liver'.

It had everything we needed:

Water depth low enough to walk

but high enough to get comfy.

It had pretty scenery.

And "fun" scenery

The boys wanted to pose in front of the jail since my amazing parenting techniques include telling them the police are going to "come arrest them and put them in Baby Jail if they take off their seat belts."

They're always asking where Baby Jail is.

(And in an effort to try and redeem myself, I didn't start out with the Baby Jail seat belt story.  It's just the only one that worked!)

 

We could watch the mini golfers while tube-side.

 

And the best part...big hats allowed!

Party of 14

This is what a heard of Texans living in Colorado who invade Phoenix for a long weekend look like.

And if you're thinking, "That looks like a bunch of kids."

Look again.

There's only ONE girl in the whole bunch!

Who in the World are The Ingys Hanging with?

We run with a pretty elite crowd.

How in the World do The Ingys Spend Their 9th Anniversary?

Is there anything more romantic than watching your kids ride Foghorn Leghorn's Barnyard Railway at Fiesta Texas? Didn't think so.

Where in the World are The Ingys? #6

I'm at Mecca. AKA: The Schlitterbahn Christmas store. Is that the Hallelujah Chorus I hear singing?

What in the World are The Ingys Doing? #2

10:00 AM and one water slide under our belt.

Where in the World are The Ingys? #5

We're at Schlitterbahn!

Where in the World are The Ingys? #4

Gruene (pronounced 'green'), Texas, Baby! Home of the oldest dance hall in Texas. That's me with Anita and Deyon some of my besties from our Beijing days. Woohoo!

Where in the World are The Ingys? # 3

Modeling beaver nuggets at the Bucees near Luling, TX. And what's a beaver nugget, you non Texans might ask. Well, certainly nothing any self respecting-organic loving-Coloradan would put near their lips (basically, fried puffy balls of sugar).

Where in the World are the Ingys? # 2

LuLu's Bakery and Cafe. Home of the giant cinnamon rolls featured on Man vs Food! Yummers!

Where in the World are the Ingys?

The Rio Salado Sand Dunes rest stop on I-25 in New Mexico.

Cloudy with a Chance of Marshmallow Gusts

We're back in Durango from our mini vacay to Albuquerque. Although the staying in the hotel portion was fabulous, the shopping (I came home empty handed) and the warming up (I was freezing the whole time) was a disappointment.
How cold was it?
Well, one of our favorite things about staying in Hyatt resorts is the evening s'mores. Usually I have no problem knocking my way to the front of the s'more line, but not this time. I was shivering so bad it didn't even seem worth trying to make one of my own. My mom and I scooped Kyle and Reed up after a s'more each and made a mad dash back inside. (My mom and dad met us there and followed us back to Durango.) But not to worry, our loss was JR's gain. He was able to gulp down 4 of them before the marshmallows blew away in the giant gale force winds.

Hangin' with the Upper Crust

You know us Ingersolls, only the best.

So, naturally, a huge celebrity was also vacationing at our resort in Phoenix.

And really, I don't think my kids could have been more excited. I am not a Sponge Bob fan. In fact, I've just now started letting JR watch him every so often. And just as my mom didn't let me watch Facts of Life, (nobody in the universe could have been cooler to me than Blair, Jo, Natalie, and Tootie) not letting my kids watch Sponge Bob has, of course, made Sponge Bob the biggest superstar walking the face of the earth. The babies even know him (how, I have no idea) and as soon as they saw him started screaming ,"Bob-Bob! Bob-Bob!" Much to the kids' delight we saw a lot of Sponge Bob this trip. He was a bit like the Pied Piper of the water park, and had a huge following everywhere he went (glad mine aren't the only ones obsessed). Yep, hanging with celebrities. Just another day.

This next picture just cracks me up. Check out how seriously the "Fun Director" (AKA: Sponge Bob's security detail) is taking his job.

And We're Home

Now I Have the Sad Face

Leaving the perfect, beautiful weather behind and headed back to the snow. (Weather Channel is predicting 6 inches by tomorrow morning.) Some of us (Reed) are just closing our eyes to that bit of news. Others don't ever close their eyes in the car, right Kyle?

Sad Face Happy Face

These little pitiful faces may not be wanting to get out of the water, but my happy face is heading to the spa! Woohoo!

Shady Characters

I've come out from hiding-literally. Jason looked at me with a towel draped over my head and shoulders and another covering my legs and recommended we move to the shade. Thankfully, Crazy Towel Lady goes away in the shade.

Is Vacation Code for NOT Sleeping In

I guess 6:30 is an improvement over 5:45. And as you can see, only 2/3 of the Ingy kids are awake. JR is in the stage of sleep commonly referred to as 'swimming for 8 hours straight will wear you out'.

And one for Jason

Jason was upset he wasn't in the last picture, so here you go. And yes, I've upgraded to a more serious sun hat. If it looks small it's because it's JR's. He's way too cool to wear it.

Surely You Didn't Think...

that I'd actually expose my milk toast skin to the sunshine. Believe me, I can rock the long sleeve cover-up!