In the picture, the people are (from left to right) Sienna, Christine, Story, Silas, Steele, and me.

One week ago, I went to Phoenix! It was really fun! We stayed at the Arizona Waldorf Astoria Biltmore Hotel (you can get water for the fabulous deal of only $5.50 a bottle). The flight was boring and long from JFK airport to Phoenix. Our Aunt Maggie picked us up in her Sprinter van. In the car were our cousins, Sienna, Silas, and Story! I was really hungry, so we stopped at a taco place real quick. We went over to our cousins’ house and goofed around for a bit with my cousin Steele. After, we went to our hotel and went to sleep, exhausted.

The next day, I woke up around 6:00 am. My dad went for a walk. Christine snoozed until 6:30 am and Dad got lost and came back around 7:00 am. He said he saw two coyotes that scared the living daylights out of him. We went to breakfast at the golf course, where I had two fried eggs, some bacon, and some potatoes. It was great! My dad got a burrito and my sister got pancakes. Then we went back to the room and did some math (groan). After, our cousins Steele and Sienna came over and we played at the pool for 5 hours. For dinner, we went to a mexican restuarant where I blew up my mouth with an enchilada. It was the spiciest thing I’d ever eaten! Then we went back to the hotel and went to bed.

The next morning we went for a walk. For breakfast, we ate leftover pancakes. Afterwards, we checked out and our Aunt Maggie picked us up in a Yukon and we went to their library for half an hour and checked out their new house which will be done in December. Then we went to… Flagstaff! The ride was okay, but when we got there it was raining! So we relaxed for a bit and went to dinner at some place called Oregano. The pizza was good, and I tried one of my dad’s spicy wings, and blew up my mouth again. It was even spicier then that enchilada! It was like death-on-a-wing! Then we went back to their house in Flagstaff and went to bed. Well, going to bed was a diffucult. I had to share a bed with Silas, who I wasn’t sure if he was potty-trained or not, and Steele. At first Silas scared me and Steele by saying, “I’m gonna pee on you.” Then he farted on us. I was directly in the blast zone. Then Silas read his book (Bear in Underwear) out loud. Finally, I went to sleep.

The next morning, I woke up and helped Steele build his LEGO Imperial Star Destroyer. After doing some work (groan) we had breakfast, played (where the Imperial Star Destroyer was destroyed by that rebel Silas) and went to the Country Club, where there was a pool. Then the grownups ditched us with a babysitter for the rest of the night.

The next day was basically a repeat of the last except we went to a community barbecue around dinner time and there was no babysitter. For desserts at the barbecue there was an ice cream truck, but Aunt Maggie didn’t want to pay for ice cream so Chrissy and Sienna ate some nasty-looking magic bars while Uncle Ryan took pity on me and Steele and gave us ten bucks. BUT when we got to the ice cream truck they told us it was free. Chrissy and Sienna were furious (they wanted ice cream too).

The next morning I felt sick and tossed my cookies. I had a plain pancake for breakfast, but an hour later, I upchucked that too. But we had to go back to Phoenix that day so we packed up. Then everybody else ate lunch except for me because I didn’t want to throw up anything else. Then we got our bags into the Sprinter van and started the ride back to Phoenix. It was 4-hours long. Most of the trip, I either felt cold, hungry, tired, or sore. The girls were in the back singing Miss Mary Black, Quackadilly Oso, and other stupid songs I don’t want to talk about. Also, the air conditioner was blasting and all I had was my dad’s jacket to keep me warm. All while “Miss Mary Quack” or whatever it is came from the girls, who had huge blankets. Also, Uncle Ryan played The Factor Game with Sienna and Steele, where they had to factor the numbers 1-50. That was painful. Also, Story the baby was screaming her head off. When we got back to their house in Phoenix, I dumped myself on the couch and didn’t get up until Dad got some tacos for me. Then I jumped into bed.

The next morning was great! I felt a lot better, although I woke up to “Did John puke again?” from Sienna. We ate some breakfast and played, because this was our last day. They had a math teacher who Christine was not fond of, because she thought he was “stealing our cousins”. We went to this place called Short Leash for lunch, and it was pretty good. Our cousins had a skateboarding lesson, so we sat through that. Afterwards, we hung out at their house until it was time to go to the airport. Finally, we took a plane home.