Last weekend, we drove down to Tucson, Arizona for the weekend. Tucson is only 1 1/2 hours south from Scottsdale, so it is an easy drive. It is also about five degrees cooler, which makes all the difference in the world!

The trip was through Scottsdale Moms Blog, so I’ll let you read my review of the Hilton Tucson El Conquistador over there. I think what I’ll remember about this trip is just being “us”.

We could have run around and seen museums and tried to fit in one million things, but for us, that usually ends up in cranky exhaustion.

Instead, we took our time. We ate a slow breakfast. We went to four different thrift stores. We splurged on drinks AND treats at Starbucks. We taught the kids how to play Gin Rummy. And we swam for hours.

Being “us” isn’t glamourous, but it sure is perfect. I wandered the grounds with Julia and listened to how excited she is about school starting and seeing her friends again. I laughed with Nate as he learned to play cards and kept accidentally showing them to us. I cuddled with Riley and wrapped him in the biggest towel known to mankind. I watched a storm roll in with Brian. We sat on the balcony and listened to the wind bend the palm trees in half.

Goodbye summer of 2014. You were a great one. You’ll be missed.