Wild Kindness Family: June 2023

Tucson, part 3

The hike to Tanque Verde Falls was beautiful. Some of us didn’t go all the way to the falls but we are learning that sometimes we all enjoy ourselves more when we split up.

We had the opportunity to attend church on Sunday and then walk around the Tucson temple. It was built right after Margot was born so we hadn’t seen it in person yet, and it did not disappoint. The palo verde trees were so pretty everywhere. We are excited to have this be our new temple.

In the end we felt like it was a really good thing that we brought the kids. Not only was their enthusiasm for Tucson contagious, but I don’t think me and Dave would have felt as confident deciding which school to pick. We figured out what part of town we want to live in and got a good feel for the city, which is what we were hoping for. We are excited to have more experiences in our new city this fall.

Tucson, part 2

All three days that we were in Tucson were jam packed with mostly not-so-fun stuff like touring schools, looking at homes, and driving around lots and lots of neighborhoods. But we also got to go on some beautiful hikes, see the desert in bloom, and eat some yummy food.

Bear Canyon

Admiring this gigantic creosote’s amazing smell.

Catching tadpoles

In-N-Out

Climbing trees during one of the school tours

Getting a gorgeous view in the amazing backyard of a home we couldn’t afford

Eating barrel cactus fruit while on a walk

And check out how tall this yucca(?) is! The camera angle is weird because it was too tall to fit in the frame but it is truly much taller than the house.

Tucson! Tucson? Tucson!

When we left Prescott Valley last September we didn’t have an ending date or destination in mind; we just figured we would travel until it felt like it was time to stop. If I’m being completely honest, we’ve had plenty of moments where we wanted to stop (I’m looking at you, Universal Studios - haha) but ever since Atlanta it became clear that we needed to wrap it up in time for the kids to enroll in school this fall. Tucson was one of the places we had been considering, but aside from several short trips many years ago, we didn’t feel familiar enough with it to make a decision.

Dave and I decided to take a weekend trip to Tucson to check it out while we left our kids at their grandparent’s house. However, as we got closer to the designated weekend it started to feel like our kids needed to be part of such a big decision that would affect them so deeply. Knowing that the most difficult thing about leaving Prescott was leaving their friends and school behind, it seemed that each of them needed to have a say in the city and school we would choose to settle in. So I cancelled our plane tickets and we left St. Louis a few days early, bound for Tucson. For the record, if you do the entire drive straight through and only stop for necessities, it takes about 23 hours.

We got to stop at the one and only alien themed McDonald’s in Roswell, NM.

We really wanted to play for a few minutes at White Sands but we just didn’t have time.

We arrived in Tucson at about 3am St. Louis time and were awoken a few hours later by the Arizona sunshine and kids squealing outside by the pool, and it felt like home. We immediately took a hike in the desert. It felt so good! I knew I had missed the desert but I was pleased to discover that my kids had as well. They were so very complimentary of every single desert thing they could comment on, it made my heart happy. I should have recorded them - it was adorable. The saguaros were blooming, it wasn’t too hot, and the familiarity of the desert felt oh so good.