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Travel Tuesday: Staycation!

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How do you write a post about the best weekend we’ve had in a while?! We love exploring and traveling and have been trying to consciously make a point to explore and discover what’s in our own backyard. A vacation doesn’t have to take you to another state!

We spent the weekend in Scottsdale, AZ and had the most amazing time! We already love Scottsdale for the food and shopping and my husband and I have had little getaways here and there, but we’ve never stayed with the boys. We chose to stay at Hyatt Regency Scottsdale Resort & Spa at Gainey Ranch. I never pay much attention to claims of “best resort for families, kids etc” because that can become such a common claim after a while. After this weekend though we give our “Best resort for families” award to the Hyatt Regency in Scottsdale! I’ll have to write more about the resort in another post because we had that much fun.

We got there just in time to see the Birds of Prey – these guys are rescues and are SO beautiful. The bald eagle was our favorite – his nest was attacked by bees and his sibling died. He bailed from his nest and broke his leg. Luckily the nests are always being watched so they were able to save him! (I say him but I can’t remember if it was male or female)

The resort is so fun to explore! We got to our rooms in time for the sunset.

We had dinner at Nourish in Old Town Scottsdale. The entire menu is gluten free so my boy was excited to not have any restrictions! Scottsdale has so many great dining options and is usually where we head on a date.

The next morning I woke up and headed down to Spa Avania at the resort and had THE most amazing Avania Swedish massage by Denny. Spa Avania is the only spa where every detail is choreographed to the time of day – the music, the infused water you’re drinking – everything. Can I just say that this was the perfect way to start a day with the family?! lol! The amenitites at the spa are perfect.

The boys wanted to try out the brand new water slide (just opened in January) as soon as they saw it so the plan was to head to the pool. Little did we know that’s what we would be doing most of the day!

That night we headed over to our favorite little Scottsdale spot in Old Town – AZ88 for dinner (the St. Petersburg potatoes to start for sure!) and a run around the grassy area!

Back to the resort we went for our last night but not without a gondola ride! We were even serenaded.

We watched a movie and the boys had to get into their robes again.

The next morning started off with espresso on the deck while the boys talked to the ducks and geese. They LOVED this part of their morning.

Brunch at the SWB was the best brunch I’ve had in the area. I LOVED this brunch buffet. At one point one of the boys had fruit loops, pineapple, and a steamed mussel on their plate – only my boys! My favorite was bananas foster!

We had a bit of time to explore our favorite parts of the resort one last time before checkout

I’ll definitely share more of why it’s so fun for kids (including how National Geographic is involved) next week! Can you tell we loved it?! Our next and last stop on our little Scottsdale, AZ staycation was…

Rawhide! I have a little cowboy on my hands but he isn’t the only one who loves this little town. Gunfights, gold panning, bull riding, jail time – what’s not to love? 😉

Do you see the cowboy in that one?

And that was only a small amount of the photos I took 😉 Isn’t Scottsdale gorgeous?!

If you were ever considering visiting Scottsdale and weren’t sure if you’d take the kids or not I say DO it! (or not) there is so much for everyone. I think we’ll definitely be planning a staycation again!

You can request a Scottsdale, AZ  complete visitor’s guide with lots of great info as well as on their site / Facebook / Twitter / YouTube

Have you been to Scottsdale before? What part do you think you or your kids would enjoy most?

(Disclosure: This post is part of a sponsered campaign by the Scottsdale Convention and Visitors Bureau. However, all choices, experiences, and opinions are entirely our own!)

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Allison Waken is a wife, mom of boys and Phoenix, AZ native. She has been creating inspiring content for All for the Boys since 2011. Allison loves travel, movies and spending as much time as possible with her family while she can!

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