Call it what you will

I shouldn't be doing this. I have a million things to do. I'm already hours into it so here goes it :)

we went on vacation.


Well not really, but thats what we're calling it incase thats all we get this summer.

We took off Sunday having no plan other than to get the heck out of town. Headed north on I-17.

Not a big surprise we ended up in Flagstaff. We discovered their cool little downtown area. I've driven by it on my way up to Humphrey's Peak (a.k.a. snowbowl)


i had this unusual craving for chinese food on the way there. I almost never crave chinese ever since I puked it up. One of the worst puke flavors ever imo.

But we found this little thai place, it was really tasty! I can't remember the name, but it was hooked to this hotel...


Which we ended up staying at. The service was a little slow so while Chad was waiting for the check, I went to get a room. The hotel looked old so I had to ask...

"Is this hotel haunted?"

Of course it was. i am awesome at being in haunted places these days, I told the front desk lady of my fear of ghosts. She promised me a super un-haunted room. I was still a little leery.

I mean look at this place...


We were in room 302. The Jack Daniels room. it was actually supposed to be a two bedroom suite. It was more like a one bedroom suite with a wall in between the beds.

When we got home Chad looked it up on the internet. Yep. Haunted. he tells me that in room 306 (just two doors down) two hookers were murdered and thrown out the window. According to the source, males that stay in that room report feeling a hand cover their mouth and nose as to suffocate, which wake them up but then they can't sleep because they feel *watched*

I'd like to say that i also couldn't sleep. Not because of the ghosts but mostly because of the train that comes through town at 15 minute intervals all night long! So loud it was like I was sleeping on the tracks. It didn't help that it was blazin hot and the ac didn't work worth a darn so we had the window open as wide as possible. had I know about the hookers before this I would have sweated it out. or not stayed there at all is more like it.

note to self: earplugs & Air conditioner... bring em :)


This is me trying to be cool like Kelly. It didn't go so well.

Kelly... i feel a little bad coming to your neighborhood and not visiting. The problem is that at the same moment I thought to myself, "we should go see Kell" I also realized I don't have your phone #!! What's up with that!


So now that I've told you about the haunted hotel in which you shouldn't stay (but do go to the Thai restaurant... it was really good) I think I will let you just check out the photo's with out too much interruption. Mostly because I have about a zillion things I should be doing instead of this :)





We met a dog named Teddy. He was super cute. and super big. My kids are now saving for a goldendoodle of their own. So far they've raised $1.

That's $1 down $1499 to go :)













I hate that i chopped her hand off in this photo. I suck.




















we had fun taking jumping pictures. This next one makes me laugh :)





ok... last picture I promise!


melts my heart.

You know it's hot when I abandon my camera for months! Point being... the weight of my camera around my neck felt oh so good!

i love you photography <3

Summer Sky

just look at that beautiful sky...

go ahead, stare for hours :)

all is well!

the limit is the sky

I came home to this today...



and what was inside all those boxes you ask...

...

prettier boxes!



I got the organization bug a few days ago. I'm over it now.

The boxes are still here though...

{ I'm in trouble with Chad aren't I? }

I've been having trouble sleeping at night because of this. It's true.

Been to Miami Arizona lately?

no? Not even for Burger House?

Guess what's for sale in Miami Arizona.


haha the music gave it away didn't it!

It's the YMCA

My dear silly husband wants to buy it. All for very boyish reasons.

1. indoor pool

2. indoor basketball court

Did I tell you or what? He's such a boy.

Have you even seen the inside of the YMCA in Miami Arizona?


Well i have.

We did infact make an appt. to go look at this very old { 1917 } very large { 26,000 sqft. } very spooky building... in Miami Arizona.


Yes I did say spooky. You see the day before we walked through the YMCA (like were really going to buy the YMCA?) anyways... the day before we walked through the YMCA I called the owner to let her know we were going to be there. i asked a few questions. The last on being, "Is it haunted?" To which she answered...

YES!

oh wow. My jaw dropped.

Ok I'm not gonna lie. I'm scared of haunted houses. Also haunted YMCA's. Actually haunted anythings. I'm not a big fan of creepy. Which brings me to these next pictures...


She went on to tell me that they did have the ghost people through and they told her the pool area was haunted. This scared me and I immediately declared myself as not going. Chad said I was going, so I said fine but me and the kids are not going in the pool area. Unfortunately for me the lady showing us the building wanted the girl with the camera {me} to go first.

Ummmmmmm. I guess she didn't pick up on the pure terror in my eyes as she nudged me into the dark (i know it doesnt look dark but trust me it was, i used flash and photoshop to lighten this up!!)and spooky pool area. You can kinda see from the photo that i was pretty much all by myself on that narrow pathway. Or was I? As you can see there was a really weird mural on the wall. I'd like to take a moment to point out some of the creepy weirdness of this mural...


the hoopty-wagon with the "Jesus is my homeboy" liscence plate...


Now theres a few thing that bug me about this one.

first, creepy wall people standing at the foot of a blood covered snowy knoll in their swimsuits.

also, they look like they've just seen a ghost.

that lady only has one boob and is it just me or does the man look like he actually standing on the diving board??

K I didn't stick around long enough to see if their eyes followed me everywhere i went. I have my suspicions.


Kryptonite meteor hurling down the bloody snow covered knoll...


and apparently houses stacked on houses and also on stilts. nice.

I have to say I was pretty certain that i was going to come home and pull these photos up on my computer and find all kinds of unexplained weirdness.

That didn't really happen. Well except for this...


yeah i know. It's kassidy but it's not. She's obviously posessed. I hope she doesnt read this far into the post because I don't want to scare her. because really that is super scary don't you think? And in my opinion she's standing way too close to the creepy wall man.

Please note: before we arrived I instructed the children not to enter the pool area. They did not listen. They entered at their own risk. I may have forgotten to mention that is was haunted.

If you ask me. I'd say the whole darn place is haunted. No amount of shiny mini coopers could make me spend a single night there ever in my life. In fact had there not been a whole crew with me I wouldn't have stepped foot in that place in the light of day!

Did I say I was afraid of ghosts? I am. Alot!


Also, Miami has ALOT of antique shops. There was this one though that had extra special stuff. Like these old school bottles of medicine. Looks like stuff right out of the Pearl Harbor movie. They still had stuff in them. It was really weird.


I asked the owner if this is something you take camping with you. He was very serious. That wasn't funny because actually this is a potty for some of the more well off people of yesteryear. You can see how it's extra nice. He was very excited about finding the authentic bucket that catches it all. Good find i tell ya!


I actually thought this little crib was so cute. I loved it. I've been looking for an iron bed for kassidy. Perhaps she wouldn't mind going back to a crib?


oh and this was great. The cadaver transport. Who doesn't want one of those. The owner said he laid in it once. All I'm sayin is theres some creepy things in Miami. And maybe some creepy people. Wall people too.

But there was this one other thing worth mentioning. My kids loved these!



There were the curious little cat paintings all over the town. The kids liked looking for them. The town was deserted. Cept the cats.

So next time you drive all the way out to Burger House, don't forget to stop and see all the other fun stuff that Miami has to offer you!

There is a good chance we aren't going on vacation this summer. I may have to convince the kids we already went on vacation to beautiful Miami!! Think they buy it? I just hate it when they're introducing themselves to their new class in the fall and when asked what they did over the summer all they can think of is "mom made us clean"

makes me look bad.