shop til you drop

isn't that what you're supposed to do the day after thanksgiving?

we stayed in phoenix with ryan's parents thanksgiving night.  we stayed in a hotel directly across the street from cabela's.  it was like ryan's dad's greatest dream come true.  ryan and his dad went over at 5 a.m. to check out the deals. ryan's mom and i slept in and had a leisurely morning in our hotel room while they were fighting the hordes.

that was pretty much the extend of our black friday shopping.  we headed from there to the phoenix children's museum.  ryan b and aubrey met us there with owen and ryan's mom.  this museum is pretty much the coolest kid-friendly museum ever.

every room had a baby area for littler kids, so cody had plenty of places to practice his crawling action (he still hadn't quite coordinated it at this point)

and of course who doesn't love a few mirrors here and there

there was plenty of stroller parking

and places to stash your shoes

or try on shoes.

cody and owen had lots of fun wandering through the pool noodle forest

this gadget was ryan's favorite.  there were stuffed birds and lizards that would velcro onto a conveyor belt.  when you turned a crank, they would move up to the top where a fan would send them flying across the room.  he couldn't stop laughing.

owen's definition of heaven?

a whole room all full of balls of all sizes

we took some time to play the drums 

slide

and take a spin in a pickle car 

(or maybe take a bite)

from the children's museum, we parted ways with ryan's family.  we met up with annie for dinner and some games at my uncle steve's where we stayed the night.  then saturday, cody and i went shopping with annie and my mom while the boys (ryan and my dad) went to the temple.  after lunch at pioneer park, we headed back home to california.  we thought maybe we'd avoid post-thanksgiving traffic if we left on saturday instead of sunday, but it still took us an extra 2 or 3 hours to get home.  at least it wasn't more, but i think next year we'll stay closer to home and avoid it all together!