Drum Roll Please...

So a couple years ago I came up with what I believe to be a FANTASTIC idea and Mark has jumped all over it and I couldn't be more thrilled!  Don't ask me WHY I was thinking about this a couple of years ago, but I thought that someday with my own little family, that we could do something a little crazy for our family vacations.  I thought it would be a fun idea to put all of the states in a hat and pick one out and that would be where we go for our family vacation for that year.  Yes, I know your first thought is, well what if you pick out a really boring state?  Well, I think that every place has something fun to offer - granted you might have to dig a little bit more for activities - but I still think it would be fun to experience some places that you normally might not think of. 

ANYWAY, so I presented this idea to Mark a couple of weeks ago and he liked it.  In fact, he immediately agreed as long as we came up with some rules first.  I hope I remember all of them, if now, I am sure he will correct me :). 

RULE #1: Each member of the family gets to draw a state from the bag.  Then a final drawing is conducted from the states drawn. 

RULE #2:  Each member of the family is allowed one veto a year - which means if a member of the family is disgusted with the idea of the vacation spot for the year, another drawing is done, however that is that individual's only veto. 

RULE #3:  This process does not eliminate the possibilities for other "just for fun" family vacations to a state already gone to.  For example, California has an IMMENSE amount of possibilities for vacations: San Diego, Disneyland, Redwoods, etc. 

I think these were all of the ground rules, though I guess we can maybe add to them as needed. 

SO...all of that being said, we had our first drawing for our first Berning family vacation!  We did this a couple of weeks ago on our eleven hour drive home from Mesa with only a few minor adjustments.  We used our fast food paper bag for our "hat" and the back side of Mark's pharmacy interview itinerary for our paper.  But here was the outcome:

Mark----------------ARIZONA

Elise-----------------IOWA

Haha, it still makes me laugh at our first choices.  First of all, we were already IN the state of Arizona at the time of the drawing AND Iowa is probably one of those states you don't immediately think of vacationing in.  However, during our final drawing ARIZONA was picked! 

After making sure that Mark was aware that our current trip did NOT count for our family vacation, we started brainstorming ideas for places to go.  I have had so much fun researching about different things to do in Arizona but it was pretty easy for us to decide what our "main attraction" was going to be - THE GRAND CANYON!  I went to the Grand Canyon a couple of years ago with my family to Havasupai but Mark has never gone.

We decided to go the end of May before my crazy summer job starts (and before the EXTREME hot weather of Arizona hits).  We are going to an Arizona Diamondbacks game and then heading up to the Grand Canyon and will stay at the Bright Angel Cabins located on the rim of the Grand Canyon for a couple of days of hiking and just taking in the whole thing. 

I am SO excited - and it will be nice to get away without any interviews!