Phoenix - It's Hot! Realllllll Hot! Were you born on the sun?!?

My blogging has gotten away from me lately!  I know you all have been itching to know how life with bananas has been lately (or not) and I apologize for the delay.  The reason I have not been writing is mostly due to one of the following:

1. Heat.  When it is hot outside, all you want to do is lay around in the a/c and not move.  Once movement occurs, so does sweat.

2. Family!  My parents braved the AZ weather and joined us during our adventures over the 4th of July.  Having them in Arizona was wonderful and I wanted to spend all of my time with them rather than blogging.

Poolside drinks with the rents!

3. Laziness.  We were fortunate enough to have access to some beautiful pools at a resort in Arizona, so when we were not working we were typically poolside, moseying around the lazy river or sitting in the shade napping (why shade?  See number 1).

I could some up our time in Arizona in two words: hot and delightful.  This sounds a bit contradictory, but let me 'splain - no, too much, let me sum up (name that movie)!

Our stay in Arizona was delightful for three main reasons.

1. We were in a house, so we felt like we were leading a somewhat normal life (with the exception of boxes and dishes taking over the hallway).  We were able to cook, make decent coffee, relax on a couch, and go shopping for groceries in a normal fashion.  Not to mention my god parents house is GORGEOUS, it just made us feel at home.  We also just happened to have a pool in the backyard which proved to be quite enjoyable when coming home from a long day in the heat. Much thanks to the Bockraths!!
2. My parents came!  My mom spent five days with us and joined us at some of our banana events, and was super helpful in 1001 ways.  It was fun spending time with someone other than Lucas (I kid. I kid.) and who doesn't love having their Mom around?  We introduced her to life on the banana mobile and also spent some quality time together.  My Dad joined us for our last weekend in Arizona, which happened to be over one of our days off.  He was great per usual and convinced us to see Lone Ranger and then watch old Lone Ranger episodes on YouTube to compare and contrast the old show with the movie.  We also spent a day at the pool with my parents and ended their stay with a dinner celebrating their birthdays which we unfortunately will have to miss while we are on the road.  I would say their visit was the highlight of AZ and we are very fortunate that they were willing to fly into uncomfortable conditions to spend time with us!
3.  The Marriott.  My Godfather let us use his membership card to go to the Marriott down the street from the house.  Complete with 4 pools and a fitness center, this is all we needed to make the stay complete!  Being able to workout and then sit in the lazy river made it almost feel like we were crazy vacationers that chose to be in Arizona in July!  This was the cherry on top of a great place to stay!

Why Arizona was hot:
     Well, just look at the weather forecasts and then consider we were also there when they were breaking records.  Our days ranged from 109 - 119 and at one point the thermometer in our truck registered a little over 120 degrees.  Yikes!  At least it is a dry heat...

It truly was fun to be in Phoenix and we enjoyed experimenting with smoothie flavors at home, cooking meals rather than eating out, having a house to stay in and most importantly seeing my family!  With that said, I think this clip describes Phoenix better than anything else:

Peeling the Heat!