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One of my fave yoga teachers here in the Valley of the Sun, Anton, mentioned this annual magical journey Peru Retreat in class one day With it’s seven chakra gardens and sustainably built and maintained buildings that all pay homage to Pachamama [Mother Earth], I was blown away by the level of respect and gratitude of this place, right down to the very foundation of the culture it was built upon. The retreat part of our magical journey to Peru itself was a mix of two yoga sessions per day, guided meditations of various kinds, cocoa leaf readings, massages, solar baths, and excursions. From there, we took the train [which some friends of ours lovingly called the “Machu Picchu Choo Choo” from a children’s cartoon lol] to Aguas Calientes, which is a little town at the base of Machu Picchu.

I also found a ton of great serviceware, like these melamine bowls (they are the ones that look ceramic, but are actually pool safe because they won’t shatter!) and this great little double drink stand that I used for Fruit Punch and Margaritas. For the Desert and Cake Table, I found a great selection of cake stands in the home section at Tuesday Morning. I found these smaller gift bags with the gold foil dots in the gift wrap section for the kids to use to collect their goodies from the pinata, and added the “Taco Cave” (another reference to the book) printable to create the goodie bags for all the kids to take home. I’m so grateful to have had the opportunity to work with Tuesday Morning to make our Dragons Love Tacos Birthday Party come to life!

Continuing on the the diary of our summer of traveling fun: this past weekend we took a family trip to the Arizona White Mountains! But there is another great mountain treasure here in Arizona that boasts a few cute little towns including Pinetop-Lakeside and Show Low. I’ve heard great things about the Torreon Golf Club in Show Low, and we stayed within the White Mountains Country Club in Pinetop, which also has a full course. So instead we visited the White Mountains Nature Center and did a little nature walk with one of the local volunteers.

Last week, I ended up taking the kids on a last minute trip to California (my husband had to work), but I wasn’t alone! When I started to finalize our family’s summer plans this year, I realized we had a free week between when school got out and summer camp began. So I say, between the family vacations, couple vacations, and girl’s trips – add one more category (if you can) and plan a trip with family friends. Also, just a reminder that you don’t have to go far or spend a lot of money to make those memories with your friends and for your kids.