Day 4 & 5

Bright and early on Monday morning Ella and I went to the pool. Cirdan brought his golf clubs with him to Arizona so that he could play a round of golf. Ella and I had fun and she slept for a bit so that gave me a chance to lay in the sun.

Cirdan getting back from playing golf. He said that he played his best that he has played in a long time. Probably cause the heat. Just one more reason to move to Arizona...

Cirdan didn't want to sit by the pool when he got home so Ella and I showered and we all went to Scottsdale Fashion Square Mall. This mall is HUGE and they are even adding on! I bought some really cute Steve Madden shoes and Cirdan also got some things.

We then wanted to find a park to let Ella get out and run. We went to a park that I went to a couple times when I lived in Arizona. Ella loved running down the hills. She even liked when she would fall 2/3rds on the way down and roll a few times. This girl has no fear.

I couldn't decide which pictures to include so I am posting a lot!

That night we went to Abuelo's for dinner. I wish we had not gone here. It was American Mexican food and it was icky. We ended up ordering way to much food (as usual) and a lot of it went to waste.

Tuesday morning we woke up and packed our stuff. Kaiya's dad brought Kaiya back to our hotel...it was really good to see her and hear about the fun that she had. Here are some pictures of our hotel. It was a very different hotel and I have never stayed in anything like it. The name was the Mondrian Hotel and it is more fitted for young people who like to party. Not a good hotel for families but the bars and the pool parties weren't overwhelming and didn't bug us.

This sliding door is to get into the bathroom...not good when you have a 1 year old who tried to lift open the door every time it is shut. There was no privacy.

When we were all packed I wanted to take pictures of the family on the hotel grounds.

One of the pictures is the party pool. No one under 21 was allowed into the gate. On Saturday and Sunday they had at least 300 plus people in there with loud music. The pool that we played at was called the Serenity Pool and we pretty much had it all to ourselves the whole vacation.

We (or I should say Cirdan) loaded up the car and we went to eat breakfast at this little restaurant called The Breakfast Club. It was DELICIOUS!! I got a waffle which was one of the best I have ever had and Cirdan got his favorite Eggs Benedict which he loved.

Did I forget to mention that we stayed in Old Town Scottsdale?

Here is a picture I took of Ella and Cirdan in the plane on the way home. Ella did really well and slept most of the time!

We had a blast in Arizona and can't wait to go back!

Mother's Day - Day 3

I had the nicest Mother's Day. The only bad thing was that Kaiya was with her Dad but I was happy where she was. We woke up and Cirdan and Ella took me to breakfast. It was hard to decide on a place to eat but we finally ended up at the Cheesecake Factory. We were pleasantly surprised! The breakfast was yummy!

We then drove to the Mesa/Gilbert area so that I could show Cirdan all the places where I lived in Arizona. It felt nice to show him that part of my life that he hadn't seen. We stopped at Sonic and got a couple slushy drinks...my favorite!
We then went to the Mesa Temple and walked around. That temple has always been my favorite since I was a little girl. I love the palm trees and the way it looks.

On our way back to the hotel we stopped at Filiberto's. I absolutely love this place. I wish there were some in Washington.

We then drove through Tempe where Arizona State University is.

We got back to the hotel and went right to the pool.

This is my kind of Mother's Day!!! Laying by the pool...in the sun....nice.

After we laid out for a couple hours Cirdan wanted to drive to Phoenix to find a place to eat. I had told him that downtown Phoenix was not like Seattle. No one hardly goes Downtown. He didn't believe me until he saw it with his own eyes. The streets were bare and there was hardly any traffic. It was really strange to see. We drove past the US Airways Center where the Phoenix Suns play and then the Diamondbacks Stadium.

We ended up next to our hotel and ate at Olive Garden. The day was nice, relaxing and I was able to see a bunch of places that I have missed these last few years. A very nice Mother's Day.

Arizona Day 1 & 2

We were so excited to get out of the rainy state of Washington and into the heat of Arizona. We arrived on Friday afternoon and relaxed a bit before heading off to meet Brad and Britany at Macayos Mexican Restaurant. Brad (my 2nd cousin) has been helping Cirdan with his company website. We thought it was be nice to see them and take them out to dinner.

We stopped off the freeway to take a look at the Arizona Cardinals football stadium. The location that the stadium sits is really nice. Plenty of things to do-restaurants, a theater, hotels and shopping.

The next morning we skipped breakfast and went directly to the pool. Kaiya's dad flew in to Arizona that morning. He picked up Kaiya so she could spend time with his side of the family over the weekend. She was so excited to see all of her cousins, aunts and uncles and grandparents! She enjoyed the vacation and the time she spent with them.

I tried to take some pictures of Kaiya before she left since I wouldn't be seeing her until the day we were flying out.

We played in the pool and layed in the sun for a few hours. It was absolutely wonderful.

Saturday night we went over to my friend Eric's house. I worked with him when I lived in Arizona and we have stayed good friends since then. They had us over for a BBQ and some games, it was nice for our families to meet.

We played a game called Curses!