AZ Centennial Celebration Begins with Way Out West & Wacky!

I do believe that you all know just how much I love the desert, right?

Until I find somewhere that has nicer weather, I’m not leaving.

And I haven’t heard of anywhere with nicer weather yet.

Our local FOX news station has been counting down the days until the Arizona centennial since 2009. I kid you not. They started when there was 1,000 days until the centennial.

Don’t ask me why, because I’m not sure of the answer. Maybe they are excited?

There are 31 days left until Feburary 14th, the date Arizona became a state. (There are also 31 days until Kelly’s birthday – I wonder if she knows that Fox News has been counting down to her birthday for the past 3 years…)

The state is planning several events in many cities to celebrate, but we will be staying home celebrating in our own way.

Which, actually, we have been doing for several weeks.

We received a copy of Arizona Way Out West & Wacky recently have have been having a blast reading through it and doing some of the activities.

We have learned interesting things like…

*The deepest point of the Grand Canyon is 6,000 feet. That’s as tall as 1,125 average (5ft 4in) female teachers standing on each other’s shoulders!

*Arizona is part of the Four Corners – a place where New Mexico, Colorado, Utah, and Arizona all meet. You can stand with a hand and a foot in 4 different states at one time! I knew this already because in elementary school, I made a game about the four corners with my fancy schmancy wood carving tool.

*Arizona is home to 13 different types of rattlesnakes. Thankfully, we have only found a few of them in our backyard.

*That thing that we affectionately call a centipede/millipede is actually a Giant Desert Centipede. It can grow up to a foot long, and can have up to 346 legs. The first pair of legs is like fangs, which we have seen when Steve tried to pull one out of Jack’s pocket (his shorts were on the floor and one crawled in) with pliers. It latched on HARD. *gag*

*Arizona has 21 federally recognized Native American tribes. One of the most famous Native American, Geronimo, was from Arizona.

Arizona Way Out West & Wacky has some great recipes (enchiladas, anyone?), crafts (cornhusk dolls!), critter facts, and lots of crossword puzzles and word search games. My boys LOVED learning about all of our critters that we have nicknamed. The book is geared towards elementary school-aged kids, but kids (and adults) of all ages will love it as well!

Arizona Way Out West & Wacky can be purchased online through Amazon.com!

I received a copy of Arizona Way Out West & Wacky to review, and LOVED it! I would never recommend something to you that I didn’t love myself :) Also, there are affiliate links in this post.