Spring Break Trip - Phoenix to Sedona to Grand Canyon to Scottsdale INPUT please :)

We have a not long enough Spring Break trip planned due to DH's work :(

Kids will be 6 and 9 so plan some things knowing their stamina will dictate what we can reasonably do.

I have Sedona/Grand Canyon and Scottsdale (relaxing water park!) all planned and reserved. Will plan a couple of hikes, a Pink Jeep tour, and a day at the Grand Canyon. Would love to spend the night there but can't fit into our plans.

We arrive in Phoenix at night so will spend the night near the airport after picking up the rental car. What I need help in figuring out is what "fun" or interesting things we can do on the drive from Phoenix to Sedona?

We will leave reasonably early after breakfast to make the 2+ hour drive. I see Montezuma's Castle recommended. Any other kid friendly stops on the way? For the trip back down to Scottsdale, would you divert over to Jerome? Or would this not be interesting for the kids?

Ooh, we did a similar trip in summer '18! We love that area! We did the pink jeep tour in Sedona, I forget what the specific tour was called but it was awesome.
We really enjoyed Montezuma's castle. My DS2 did the junior ranger badge there too. Also along that route and worth the stop (if your not already going to these places while in Sedona) are the Chapel of the Holy Cross and airport mesa. A little north of Sedona is the must-see slide rock state park. We took a picnic lunch and spent several hours there.
Not specifically on that route, but south of grand canyon in Williams is one of our favorite places- Bearizona. We've been twice, we enjoyed it so much. If you are animal people, it is such a cool place. I believe there is another wildlife park near camp verde (closer to Sedona) but we didn't go there.
If I think of anything else I'll post again.

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We did the wildlife park in Camp Verde — it’s about a 90 minute activity and was enjoyable. I think the petrified forest is somewhere along that route as well.

My kids loved the animal park by camp verde. The tiger/wild cat show was crazy! Like how you get a cat to pounce when dragging string, but with a tiger [emoji79]