Spring Break

 So this post is about 2 months late in coming.  I'll blame it on Blogger's new look.  Darn Blogger.

Mike had a much needed Spring Break in March.  We were able to get a lot done (like finally getting our AZ drivers licenses and plates) and my family came down to visit for the last few days of it.

Literally 5 minutes before my parents pulled up to our apartment, Ellie dislocated her elbow while Mike was picking her up.  Poor thing was in a lot of pain!  So my parents walked in the door at the same time we were rushing out the door to take Ellie to Urgent Care.

They had to take x-rays and finally they just popped it back in.  As you can see, she was in a lot of pain.  But about 10 minutes after the fixed her up, she forgot the pain and was back to normal!

At the clinic.  Not even Dora & Boots could  cheer her up!

We drove over to Tempe to a Ramen Shop and had a delicious lunch!

And then we did a lot of tourist stuff, like the Superstition Mountain Museum & the Goldfield Ghost Town.

Riding the Train at the Ghost Town

 We also visited the Mystery Castle.  You can read it's Wikipedia article here, but the basics are it was built by a man dying of tuberculosis for his daughter that he abandoned after he found out his diagnosis.  He built it using whatever material he could find, and he was an eccentric man so you can imagine what the house is like.  

His daughter moved in a few years after he passed away, and lived there until 2010 when she died.  It's a pretty cool place to see!  Not only is it a house, it had a chapel, a guest house, and an underground bar.  

This is a little window he built to frame the city of Phoenix as it appeared back in the 40's.  

We also drove up South Mountain to Dobbins Point to get an incredible view of Phoenix.  You get a good idea of how huge Phoenix really is.  One thing I like about Phoenix is that it's the 6th largest city in the nation, but it's so spread out that it sure doesn't feel like a big city.  

And of course, since we're Higbees, we had to stop and get frozen yogurt.  It's no Menchies, but it comes pretty darn close!

No, that's not a drunk homeless man.  That's Jamie.  He hasn't shaved his beard since No-Shave November.

My Dad and Jamie drove out on Saturday morning, but my Mom stayed for an extra two days.  We visited the massive Asian market by our house.  

And we also visited the Japanese Friendship Gardens, built by Phoenix's sister city Himeji.  It's a beautiful, peaceful oasis in the middle of downtown.  Also, you can see that it was actually cloudy that day, a true rarity here!  So since it was a brisk 55 degrees, we were the only ones in the garden, making it even more peaceful.  

Feeding the Koi Fish

It was a short trip, and I wish they could've stayed longer, but we're grateful my family could make it down for a visit!