Well, the dreaded April 16th, Exam Day, is behind me. I am feeling good about how I did and I just so hope that I can put this saga behind me and never have to take an exam again! Ever. The coming spring weather and the NCAA tournament helped break up my study routine at times but the last two weeks were really nose to the paper and there wasn’t a lot of room to break up the monotony of studying. I did feel a lot lighter as I walked home from the Seattle Center and the testing center, although I always expect to just feel bliss and instead it is a little more nuanced than that coming off of something that takes so much of my precious time and energy for awhile.
But, like I said, there were some things that broke up those last few days for me. First, Michigan won the whole tourney! This was an exciting Final Four to watch and despite not playing their best game for the final, they still came away with the victory over Connecticut. I very much valued the basketball tournament this year because it gave me specific breaks from studying. Also, Reese actually started watching the games and cheering for the team, so that was fun.
Reese’s soccer team played a very good team for their second match and their third match ended up being a scrimmage due to the lack of players but also, we were in Phoenix for that game.
Brooke dragged me out of the house one night to join her and Daddy for dinner at her favorite, Tutta Bella, after gymnastics one night. We celebrated Easter by having an Easter egg scavenger hunt at home, walking to church in the beautiful weather, and then having Lottie and Sarah over for a typical ham dinner. Girls had a few Easter egg hunts this year. In addition to ours, we checked out old Bellevue’s egg hunt at the businesses and then spent some time at their downtown park in the sunshine. They had an egg hunt at church. And then Lottie made them an egg hunt at our house when they came over.
One other outing we had was that we drove over to West Seattle High School as they were doing The Sound of Music for their spring musical and the girls have really gotten into that movie over the past year. The high school did a really good job with the production and the girl that played Maria was outstanding. Like the movie, the play was forever long though and so the 7 pm play didn’t end until about 10 pm which meant the girls weren’t really in bed and asleep until almost 11 pm on a school night!
Bryan also graciously took the girls for an afternoon outing to the Pacific Science Center the Saturday before my exam. We were lucky enough to get the tickets free from the Seattle Library’s Museum Pass and were able to take Ryuhei and his two kids as well. They were able to catch the KPop Demon Hunters laser light show that was very cool and then they all went out to dinner to Bryan’s new favorite sports bar, Tom’s Watch Bar next to Key Arena before heading back home.
But the real news, aside from my exam, was that we just got back from visitng Grandma and Papa in Arizona. With my exam at the tailend of Spring Break for the girls, I suggested Bryan take them down to Arizona a day or two earlier than me and then I join them there, so that is what we did. The girls had a sitter at home for Monday and Tuesday and then on Wednesday afternoon, I drove them all to the airport to head down to Phoenix. That way I got a good night of sleep before my exam, had the exam the whole next day, and then was able to pack Friday morning and head down to meet them there. While I was doing that, the girls were getting in some precious time with their grandparents and getting two swim sessions in before I arrived. They bunked with Lon and Trish those two nights and then when I arrived we rented a car and had an Airbnb about a 10-minute drive from their house. It all worked out really well I would say, although Bryan has been on dad duty a lot lately!
The weather we had in Phoenix was hot but perfect for pool days. Our Airbnb was quite nice and spacious and we had a hot tub too that, once the temperature was turned down, the girls really enjoyed. After I arrived on Friday, I got to see everyone at Lon and Trish’s then we checked in and headed to Si Senor for a Mexican dinner. Great margaritas and a quesadilla the size of Brooke for Brooke. The girls also really liked the sopapillas.
We headed back to our rental and had a hot tub session before going to bed. On Saturday morning, we set out for a place called Slick City, which is an indoor play center with a bunch of extreme slides. They have a 7 and under session on Saturdays at 8:30 am and thinking of how it is in Seattle, packed, at places like this, we thought getting there early and with younger kids would be a good idea. Little did we know that we would be the only guests there for the full 90 minutes we were there. Right as this session was ending some kids started to arrive but it was crazy having the place fully to ourselves. Reese was brave and went down a few of the bigger slides and even Brooke went down one I wouldn’t have thought she would. I think they would have done more if you didn’t have to go on your belly on mats face first. There was also some more gentle slides and a little kids area to play in that they enjoyed. Overall, they enjoyed their time there and we got a slushie as we were leaving.
Back to our place, we relaxed for a bit and had lunch and then checked out our complex’s pool. Only ones at the pool but it was frigid! They said that it would be heated through the winter and spring but it was definitey not heated. Despite this, we swam for a while and then warmed up in the sun and then the hot tub before reuniting with Lon and Trish for dinner. We all headed to a place called Rustler’s Roost and this was a very cool place for dinner. There was a longhorn outside, the views from the restaurant are really beautiful as you are set up on a hill, and there is a metal slide inside the restaurant that the girls could go do laps on when they wanted a break from their dinner. We got there at 5 pm and it wasn’t very busy but by the time we were leaving it was packed. Dinner was good and we all had a good time.
On Sunday we started the day by the girls joining Grandma at the nail salon to get our nails done while Bryan and his dad went out for brunch. The girls were so good in the salon and both got a different color for every nail.
After this, we headed to Target and picked out some new shoes and sandals for Reese because she definitely needed some. We reunited with the boys and then our family headed over to Mesquite Grove Aquatic Center for the afternoon to swim. We did the lazy river and the slides a few times with Reese and then mainly just chilled in the shallow pools. This place reminded me so much of the East Lansing Aquatic Center that I worked at. Even got to see them do a few drills. We went back home, girls warmed up in the hot tub and Bryan and I showered and got ready to go out for a date night. Lon and Trish came over and we got them a pizza while they watched the girls for the night. Bryan and I didn’t have any concrete plans but we knew we were going to go to downtown Chandler. We walked around for a bit to see all that was there and then settled on a place that came highly rated on Google called the Hidden House. We were seated in their back patio and got some great drinks and a few delicious small plates to share. The food was very good and interesting. After some time there, we went over to a speakeasy in the basement of a restaurant called the Ostrich Bar. We got two drinks here and just enjoyed some conversation. After this, we enjoyed the slightly cooler air and walked around some more before heading home and putting the girls to bed. It was an enjoyable night out.
For our last full day, I had to take a call at 11 am for work so Bryan took the girls back over to Grandma and Papa’s pool where the water is warmer. They swam there for a while until they headed back to shower (or the girls hot tubbed and bathed) and had lunch. After lunch, Bryan and Reese were heading to Pecan Lake Entertainment as they had the day pass to try a bunch of different activities. Brooke was a little too little for pretty much everything, so after dropping them off I took her to a place called Kiddie Academy that was an indoor playground and had some arcade games and ride-on cars that she could do. We had fun here, and since she didn’t have her typical buddy and leader, I told her I would follow her anywhere she wanted to go. We spent a few hours there and then drove back to the other two.
They were in the middle of the high ropes course and zipline so we got to see them do the last little bit of that. They had already done the arcade, the go karts and mini golf. We then got to watch them do a funny thing called Dark Zone and then play each other in laser tag. We got a giant red cream soda to quench the thirst and the girls then pretended to play all of the arcade games while we were accompanied by Lon and Trish and ordered their Family of Four BBQ platter next door. The BBQ was very good, although Brooke did not like the hatch chilies in the mac and cheese, and we enjoyed the perfect temperature once the sun went down. We headed back to our place and said our goodbyes to Lon and Trish.
The rest of the night we had to do some laundry and pack our bags as we had to leave our place at 6 am to get to the airport for our 8 am flight. We had plenty of time in the morning and our flight left without any issue. We were back in Seattle with our bags and got back home just after noon. The girls had a really good time in Arizona and loved all of the pool time and fun things they got to do for several days. They weren’t the least bit interested in going back to school or their daily routine. I guess that is a sign of a good vacation for them!
Chelsea
