This past week was a blast, but it sure feels good to be back at home in our own bed...
Here's a synopsis:
Saturday the 7th we hit the airport around 9am. It wasn't too early so I was feeling good, but not good enough to put up with the airport crap we ran into. We did the usual curbside check-in, because, let's face it, I am the first to admit I'll PAY for convenience. Thank goodness Southwest offers 2 free bags per passenger now, because that means a hearty tip for the checker and no penalties for my 4 checked bags! We also took Maddie's carseat onboard this time so she couldn't wiggle out of her seat or unbuckle her seatbelt. Of course going on vacation merited an unplanned trip to Best Buy to purchase a new portable DVD player and "Horton Hears a Who." This helped the trip go a lot quicker, though. Anyway, back to BEFORE the flight... So Southwest has a new boarding plan. No longer can parents with small children board the plane first, OH NO, they have to wait for "family boarding." So, unbeknownst to me, I went up to the attendant to acknowledge the fact that she FORGOT to give us a "preboarding" card. Quickly, she snapped back at me telling me that "It's now called FAMILY BOARDING;" and we will board the plane when the other families do also. Tsk, Tsk; I should have known! At this time they had boarded 60 passengers and were about to call the last 60 onboard... So, waiting to hear "family boarding" called, a fellow passenger approached us and told us how she vouched for the entire plane and we should just cut in front of everyone and invite ourselves on the plane. I hoisted together all of my guts and we walked toward the front of the line. We got to the attendant and he took one look at our boarding passes. "Um, you have family boarding... And I have yet to call that. Please step away from the platform and I will be calling family boarding shortly... (pause) Don't go too far..." IMMEDIATELY as we turned our backs, the very-lovely-and-wonderful attendant picked up his microphone and on the loud speaker said "We will NOW be taking FAMILY BOARDING." ARE YOU KIDDING ME?! What the heck is wrong with you people?!
...And then we flew to Arizona
Sunday, March 8th
The four of us went to church in the small town of Pine at 9am after a long and rough night's sleep on an air-mattress, which (for some unknown reason) MAKES ME SWEAT LIKE CRAZY! We were late, naturally, and sat in the last row of the middle section, just in case Max needed me to take him out. Well, it was nice but once we got to Sunday School I was ready to KILL all these country-folk... one guy was clipping his nails in the chapel. GROSS. It probably would have been a-[very]-little-more-acceptable if I didn't see his nails flying across the room! I was thankful that I wasn't the woman in front of him getting his nasty flakes in my hair.
Oh and due to the fact that Pine is mostly a retirement-type community, Maddie was one of two children in the nursery! ...Alright for doubling the quota!
Is he NOT the most beautiful baby you've ever seen?!We spent the remainder of the day taking a walk around the area and watching Maddie be silly and bark back at all the dogs that barked at us passing by...and play kick the pinecone. Good games never go out of style! Maddie was so tired of walking that she even side-stepped a majority of the way and made Grandma carry her!
Monday the 9th
Drove to Tempe Marketplace where a mirage of stores is clumped together in an outdoor strip-mall style. I wanted to hit Target and get the kids some clothes because I have never been disappointed by their prices or styles before. Well, there's a first time for everything... I walked out with a pair of shorts for myself instead. They had a central location with lots of stores and restaurants that also had a water area for Maddie to play in... SHE LOVED IT!
Oh and I swear there's something fishy going on lately.... My shorts were marked 14.99, right? Well, they rang up for 19.99... Sounds like a nice new way to cheat the consumer if you ask me... Just give the right price when they catch the "mistake," otherwise you've made a few extra bucks in this economic crisis. Good thing Lars caught it, or I would have paid 5 extra bucks!
Lars found a pair of pants at Gap for $8! What a steal... And we got a 30% off coupon for Thursday-Sunday at any affiliated store. What an awesome birthday present!
Tuesday and Wednesday
These two days we shopped at Walmart... LAME, I know, but in the Payson Walmart Lars and I seem to always find an abundance of sale items and things we never knew Walmart even carried. I guess this is due to the fact that there are like 3 children in the entire valley and a population that is "all country" and hardly every buys out the nice stuff. We spent Tuesday at the park playing and feeding the ducks.
We also took Mom out to lunch on Tues and by night she was deathly sick... I think Chili's gave her food poisoning, so we steered clear of her on Wed, and that's why we went back to Walmart....
However, we did find some killer deals; movies for $4, shirt and tie sets for 5, tons of shirts for me at $2, and a bunch of other stuff we prob would have been fine without, BUT it was so cheap we couldn't pass it up!!
Thursday THE 12TH, aka MY BIRTHDAY
Woke up to Pancakes with fruit and CoolWhip, my favorite breakfast EVER.
Drove in to PHX and went to the Chandler Mall, which is definitely the largest mall I have ever been in... Had that coupon for Gap stores and I was dying to get a pair of Trouser jeans... So I wanted to check out Banana Republic, which I could never afford without a coupon. Lucky me, today was already 30% off all jeans, so I found a SWEEEEEET pair of jeans that retailed for 90 bucks, used my coupon, and ended up paying only $43 for them! Which is only about 8 bucks more than I usually pay for jeans! I'm so excited! ...And Mom had a $50 giftcard for Macy's so we headed over there and found a killer wrap dress that I would never consider buying unless it was free money, which it was.... So I bought it! Of course I don't have that killer body, but there's the dress....
After all the Hoopla, we ate at PF CHENGS and I got a massive headache and the rest of the day STUNK!
Friday
We went to the coolest Children's Museum EVER in Phoenix with Shannin, Justin and Kyler. This place was all hands-on for the kids and was SO much fun! You walk on to a HUGE warehouse that has big tents and tunnels for the kids to play in... Then there's funky cars to drive, balls to bounce, and an entire wall of plastic tubing with air flowing through it that you could shoot balls and scarves to the ceiling in. There were musical toys and a ball room, tunnels and even a playhouse to paint... A forest of foam pool noodles, ballet bars, a tub full of dried beans, tons of themed playrooms and pretend markets... Everything was geared toward the children and playing. It was SO worth every penny to get in ($9/person really isn't bad for ALL DAY FUN)...
Sat we ate out at Red Lobster and I realized Crab is SO much better than Lobster. Then we ate at a Mexican place at night and I could barely eat because I was so stuffed from lunch.
Then Sunday we flew home....
3 comments:
Maddie is such a beautiful little girl--I especially love the picture of her at the top of the slide. And Max is a very cute baby--almost as cute as my nephew, Henry. I just love little boys! :)
well, we saw you today, but we were blabbing so much we didn't even talk about your trip. Ha. thank goodness for your blog, I didn't miss a thing!! Sounds like you had a blast, and you may have to help me out with the bargain shopping coming up here pretty soon. I can do okay for myself sometimes, but others I struggle. Although, you, my friend, seem to have mastered the skill. Way to go!! oh, and last but not least, easy on the country folk comments, some of us hold the so called "country folk" dear to our hearts, and my grandpa was probably the one clipping his nails in church. HAHA, just kidding, but pretty funny stuff, and the nails are gross :) Love ya, thanks again for letting us stop in and say hi today, you guys are great!!
Happy late Birthday! Sounds like you had an awesome trip. I'm jealous of all the major shopping you got to do. I can't believe how long your hair it. You look beautiful. I don't know what you are talking about that you don't have the bod that the women has wearing your new dress. Yours is better!!!
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