Shields Date Garden - Date Taste Test - 6 different varieties

Just a couple days ago we were at the Shields Date Garden in Palm Springs, learning all about how dates are grown and harvested. And who knew how many different varieties of dates existed! 

We've done Apple Taste Tests a few different times, and Orange Taste Tests, but today we're going to be trying 6 different types of Dates! Halawi, Honey, Zahidi, Blonde, Royal Medjools, and Deglet Noors.  

The Flowers Explore - Palm Springs Aerial Tramway and Mount San Jacinto State Park

Another fun thing to do in Palm Springs is the Aerial Tramway! This sky bucket tramway takes us from the steamy hot Coachella Valley all the way up to the cool and comfortable San Jacinto Peak! Let's go!

Happy Birthday to me! - Going on a whale watching adventure!

Happy Birthday to me! Jumping forward a bit from the posts I have done lately, we're in Washington! Megan is in town and highly recommended we all go on a whale watching tour and that sounded like a fantastic idea! So today, as a special treat for my birthday, we are going on a whale watching tour with Island Adventures Whale Watching!

The Flowers Explore - Shields Date Garden

We're in Palm Springs, which is the Date Capital of the United States! The hot Coachella valley is perfect for growing dates! Let's go visit Shields Date Garden where they have been growing dates since the 1950s!

Palm Springs Power Baseball Opening Day - 2022/06/03

Take us out to the ballgame! We're visiting Palm Springs and there's lots of things to do! We don't have too much planned and were pretty open for pretty anything. 

The day before, while we were visiting the Palm Springs street fair and Ian won a stack of tickets to the opening day! 

The Flowers Explore - Palm Springs California - Pt 2 2022/05/31-06/08

Our first couple days and getting into Palm Springs was a little difficult, but can it get better? Yes it can! Why? Because Palm Springs is home to our very good friend Jacob! And we're lucky enough that even though he's a big traveler himself that he's home for the whole week that we're here! Let's go out to dinner together! There's a Peruvian place in Palm Springs that we all wanted to try, hoping it would be like the place we all loved back in the South Bay called El Pollo Inka. 

The Flowers Explore - Palm Springs California - Pt 1 2022/05/31-06/08

Arizona, it's been fun, but it's time to us to head back to where it all started (for the kids at least). California! I enjoyed the drive through the large cactus fields. 

This stop on our travels will almost get us from one coast to the other. That's a lot of driving though!

AriZona Tea Taste Test - Trying 12 different flavors!

Today we are in Arizona, so what better place to do a taste test for AriZona drinks!
And taste tests are always more fun when you do it with friends, so I was thrilled that Amy, Charlotte, Victoria, and Katherine were all able to join us for it!

So I know that it says AriZona right on the can, but the company is and always has been a New York based company. The founders wanted to name it after some place that evoked heat, and the pastel colors of Arizona would look good on the cans too. They saw the success of Snapple, and in 1992 started the AriZona beverages company. 

The Flowers Explore - Phoenix and Hilton's River Ranch Water Park Pt 2 - 2022/05/27-30

Let's wrap up this visit to Phoenix and the River Ranch water park. 

At night, we are watching less TV and playing more games. Like Skip-Bo! The kids are pretty clever at it, though they aren't cut-throat. 

Visiting Amy and the girls in Phoenix Arizona

We are visiting Phoenix Arizona and lucky for us we've got even more friends who live here! Today we get to meet up with Amy and her three girls and at the local bowling alley! 

Visiting with Kelly, Sean, and the girls at Rustler's Rooste Arizona

We're in Phoenix and lucky us, we've got friends who live here! I've known Kelly for years now through the Micechat forums. I loved meeting up with Sean, Kelly, and the girls at Disneyland. I'm excited that we get to hang out together again!

My latest Micechat article is live - Design your own Disney Passport!

My latest Micechat article is live! I made my own Disney Passport for visiting all the Disney parks in the world! Plus at the end you can design your own personalized Disney passport for yourself!

I even figured out the dynamic coding to make your own! That was more of a challenge than making the stamps, but it was fun to figure out! Design YOUR Disney passport here!

The Flowers Explore - Phoenix and Hilton's River Ranch Water Park Pt 1 - 2022/05/27-30

It's a lot of fun to hang out at the RV parks, but every once in a while, we like to take a break and visit some place different. A couple years ago we had a lot of fun visiting a hotel/water park in Phoenix. Let's do it again! 

Verde Valley RV Resort Pt 2 - Arizona - 2022/05/18-31

Continuing our stay at the Verde Valley Resort in Arizona. We were fortunate to be able to meet up with some old Disney friends! I met Armand and Robbin years ago as we both shared a love for Disney's Candlelight Processional.

The Flowers Explore - Grand Canyon National Park - 2022/05/25

Arizona's nickname is The Grand Canyon State and since we're here and since the kids are collecting Junior Ranger badges, we have to go, right? 

Ian loses his 8th tooth - 2022/05/21

Ian was excited to show me that he's got another loose tooth! 
We've been documenting these pretty well so far. His first tooth was lost in Michigan. His second in Colorado. The third was lost in California on National Tooth Fairy Day. The fourth was in our new house. The fifth was on Christmas Eve, earning a visit from Santa and the Tooth Fairy in one night. Number six was also in California, and tooth seven came out in Florida! This one will make number 8 and it's coming out in Arizona!

The Flowers Explore - Montezuma Castle and Montezuma Well - 2022/05/20

Today we're going out exploring and collecting a few Junior Ranger badges along the way! We're in Arizona and near two different National Monuments. Montezuma Castle and Montezuma Well. 

Verde Valley RV Resort Pt 1 - Arizona - 2022/05/18-31

We're moving on to the next RV campsite, still in Arizona, in a place called Verde Valley. It's a little north of Phoenix, and it'll be a good center point for a few different adventures. 

From the Petrified Forest Gift Shop where we spent the night, it's just 3 hours away. 

Pizza at Home - 4th of July Pizza

Happy Fourth of July! Let's make a special 4th of July Pizza and also celebrate the day! 

The campsite we're at has a patriotic bike parade!

Petrified Forest National Park Pt 3 - Arizona 2022/05/17

 Let's wrap up our time here at the Petrified Forest National Park!

Petrified Forest National Park Pt 2 - Arizona 2022/05/17

We're visiting Petrified Forest National Park! We've already explored the visitor's center and a small trail behind it. Now let's go check out a bit more of the park!