Temple construction visit

Ryan was the last one to come down with the fever on Sunday after Christmas. We had been planning on going up to see the temple lights in Mesa, but with everyone sick, we didn't make it. But a couple days before New Years everyone was finally fever free, so we took advantage and decided to get out of the house.
First we went to the church parking lot to ride bikes. Annie got a balance bike for Christmas that she had been riding up and down the sidewalk. After riding it a while at the church parking lot she was ready to try her regular bike with the training wheels off. Unfortunately we didn't bring the right tools to take them off (I thought we had), so she had to wait until we came back 2 days later. On her first try she was riding without any help on her regular two-wheeler. I knew it wouldn't be long after she got her balance bike before she would be a pro on her two-wheeler. Now Ryan and Megan can make use of the balance bike. In fact I think Ryan may be almost ready for taking his training wheels off, too.

Anyway, after riding bikes at the church parking lot we headed up to the Tucson temple site. If we weren't going to make it to the Mesa Temple lights at least we could check out the progress on construction of our temple.

 They have a viewing platform where we can watch all the construction workers doing their thing. It was cool to see all they've done in a short amount of time.

 They also have a trailer you can go in to see pictures of the progress and pictures of other temples, etc. A visitor's center for the duration of construction. It's run by a missionary couple that is overseeing construction, or something of the sort.

 The kids liked the trailers as much as they liked watching the construction workers.

Afterwards we headed to Chick Fil-A where Megan ate straight ketchup (and maybe some fries).

 We decided we'd make it a tradition that every couple months we'll head up and check out the progress on the temple, then head to Chick Fil-A. It makes for a great afternoon.

We're so excited to have a temple going up in our town. Even though it's still a 45 minute drive from our house, that's still better than 2 hours each way. And from my parents' house it's only 30 minutes, so after dropping the kids off, I'll be able to be there and back in 3 hours. Way better than the 6-7 hours a temple trip currently takes. :)