Part 2 of the Challis Christmas commenced in sunny Tucson, Arizona. We were all packed and ready to go on Christmas Day. The next morning, we were packed and in the car by 4:30AM to head to the airport. It was a sub-zero temperature morning, and we definitely could have used more sleep, but we were excited to get to our warm destination. As soon as we got to the airport, however, it all went downhill.

We were scheduled on a United Express flight, and as we were waiting in the already packed line to check our bags, I looked at the monitor and saw that our flight had been cancelled (without reason). We couldn’t even get a teller to help us, because they didn’t know why or what or anything (useless!), so we went through the checkin process and found our flight was cancelled and rescheduled for 2 days later! We never received any kind of message to let us know this, and we were pretty upset, naturally. So, instead of leaving, we tried to get on another flight, which proved to be difficult through United. So we checked other airlines, and found that Southwest had a few flights that we could potentially get on in the evening. We went over to the Southwest side of the airport, and they were very wonderful and helped us find a flight out to Phoenix, AZ that morning at 11AM. So we booked our flight and commenced through security (which was surprisingly fast).

Since we had about 4 hours to kill before our flight, we decided to hit up the USO, which is basically like the Admirals club for Military personnel. They generally only allow active military or retired military (not disabled vets) in when its crowded, but since it was pretty empty at the airport that morning, we were allowed in. It was really nice too! It had computer stations, video game stations, a HUGE TV with about 25 plush comforters, a food bar, a nap room and a few lounge / reading areas, also full of plush comfy chairs. We snacked a bit, read and relaxed. It didn’t even feel like we were at the airport! At about 930AM we were pretty STARVING since we hadn’t had much to eat so we decided to hit up the restaurant part of the terminal (which is on a different floor). We had tacos and beer and they were magnificent.All-in-all not a bad way to waste time before the flight.

Finally we went down to our gate and were 20 min early before boarding. It was pretty chaotic, but we managed to get seats on the plane and get to Phoenix without any issue. Dad picked us up at the airport at about 1pm, which is when we landed, and we had a nice casual drive back down to Tucson. Once we got home, it was pretty much chaos going forward. We were sharing the house with not only my parents, but my brother’s family and two kids. It was quite fun but also very exhausting! That day we had a family dinner with everyone and went to bed pretty early.

From there each day was filled with watching the kids, swimming, eating (and more eating), visiting with Aunt Pat and the Fletchers, and other fun activities of that nature. One day, Jake and I decided to go rock climbing to get out in nature, and get a little break from the family. It was super beautiful and fun (and really cold) climbing. We went back to Jailhouse Rock, where we climbed last month when we visited AZ. We tried some harder stuff and Jake even got on a 5.12B that some other people had setup, so that was really nice treat. Afterwards, we had to stop off and get Sonoran Hot dogs, which were GLORIOUS!

We celebrated our family X-mas which was really fun! We all got way too much and ate way too much, but it was really fun and memorable. Each night we cooked in and had a different family member cook the meal. Joe and Julie cooked rice and chicken for us one night, and Jake and I cooked German feast (part two) for everyone. It was actually really nice not going out to eat, which we normally do for just about every meal when we travel.

Another day, went to a bowling alley/arcade with The Fletchers and Joe and Julie (the young ins were sick and stayed home with Grandma and Grandpa). We played a few games, ate tons of pizza and Hooters hot wings, and then played a bunch of arcade games and air hockey (which I rocked at!). Most nights we had dinner at home, a few nights we went over to Aunt Pat’s house (which is only a few miles away) and hung out/ate there. It was really awesome to get to visit with everyone altogether, and one-on-one.

New Years Eve was really fun. We spent the night hanging out with family, drinking and eating a ton and then came up with fun games to keep us all entertained until midnight (since we are all old and can’t stay up late without motivation). So we created a scavenger hunt game, which was basically an excuse to drive around golf carts late at night (drunk). It was actually SUPER fun; We split up into 2 teams: boys vs. girls. There were 6 girls and 5 boys (since the kids were asleep they didn’t count). We had 2 golf carts which could fit approximately 3 people at a time (in some cases only 2). We created a giant list of about 50 things we had to try to find, and then take pics with phone camera to prove we saw them. We broke it up into 2 different “Sessions” of about 20 min. per session. So the first group of girls and boys would go out for 20 min, take pics, then come back and swap with the second group. It was HILLARIOUS and so much fun (and great bonding). The boys won, but they also cheated so it was to be expected! Then new years came round and very soon after we were all passed out asleep!

Our last day was a nice and relaxing one. Since it had been a whirlwind every day, Jake and I decided to take some time to ourselves and go for a hike at the state park. We took Will with us since he had nothing else to do, and we had a really great afternoon hiking around the desert. That night we had a low-key dinner and then packed to head back to chilly Colorado! Our flight back was uneventful but it was nice to get back to our normal daily life. It was sad that our Xmas break was coming to an end, but a really great one with tons of awesome memories to last a lifetime.