Mike and I recently started a PTO organization at the kids school. Our vision for the PTO was to get families together and get to know each other better. Our 2nd official outing was to SeaLife. One of Connor’s classmate’s mom works there and was willing to plan this event for us. There are many locations across the country, but the Arizona location is at Arizona Mills Mall.

We had not been to SeaLife before, but we Had gone to the Shedd Aquarium last summer so we were pretty much expecting something similar. SeaLife actually was much more interesting and more geared towards the kids. They had interactive exhibits such as touching Starfish. They also had a stingray exhibit that you could see from not only on ground level, but from below and above!

Throughout the aquarium they also had trivia questions that the kids could use a scratch off card to find out if they answered correctly. At end, Caden got a SeaLife sticker and tattoo, which every kid loves! Finally they had a play area for the kids to get all their energy out. Caden had a blast. Connor learned how to say “fish” or in his words “ish”.

While it is a little pricey, it is definitely worth it you want to do something inside for a couple of hours! This is definitely on my list of places I would recommend to visitors from out of town who do not have one near their house!

http://www.visitsealife.com/

Caden loved swimming in their pool and floating on their rafts. We ended the afternoon with opening gifts and Jaxon indulging in his own personal chocolate cake!

We have been to Organ Stop several times and Caden loves to go. He dances and loves pizza! The music tends to be loud so anytime we bring a baby to Organ Stop, their reaction usually goes one of 2 ways: screaming or fascination. I was so happy that Connor was in the fascination category. He loved watching the lights and listening to the music.

The food is only mediocre. Don’t expect great pizza! Also, leave your credit card and debit card at home. They’re still old school…cash and check only! But, we still love to go….so if you’re planning a night out with the kids, this is a great spot.

The we spent our evening with our friends the Gapasins.  We had an old fashioned BBQ complete with hamburgers, sausage and chicken (Fresh and Easy has the BEST Grill Pack that goes on sale for $5.99 quite often.). The main dishes were complemented with chips, fruit salad, pasta salad and of course grilled corn on the cob!

After dinner was over, we headed over to Big League Dreams where Gilbert was having their fireworks this year. We picked a spot of the Polo Ground field and laid out our blankets and lawn chairs and waited for it to get dark.

After much waiting and Caden asking “Is it dark yet?”, the time came for Fireworks to start. Caden was so excited. The show was just like every other fireworks show that everyone else saw that night. They did shoot off fireworks that spelled out “USA” which was pretty cool. Then the finale started. At first we thought it was pretty weak, but as with the rest of the economy, figured everyone (including the city) had to make cuts somewhere. Just when we thought it was over, a huge bright stream of fireworks were set off from a much closer distance. It was amazing, but scared all of us a bit when it started! It was probably the best ending to a fireworks scene I have ever seen. However, once it was over, we realized that there was bright red ash falling into the crowd! Once the lights came on we found the remnants of the fireworks scattered throughout the field. A little scary, but no one was hurt (to our knowledge) and our family was safe.

We hope everyone had a happy and safe 4th of July. We can’t wait until next year!