January and February are always rough months around our house because they are Stephen's busy season at work. He often gets home from work long after Rory and I have gone to bed and leaves before we are awake so we rarely get to see him. I called Kristy on one of those days when I just needed to speak to another adult and she suggested that maybe she could come down for a visit to keep me company. The next day I got an email with her flight confirmation because she is just the coolest. I mentioned her visit to Courtney and not wanting to miss out on the fun she decided that she would drive up with her kids for part of the time Kristy was here as well. I went about planning our agenda and counting down the days until we would be together!
*I can't remember when this picture of the kids in the tub was taken, but this is a post all about playing with cousins and this picture is too cute not to document. The water is pink on purpose, just FYI.
We started off the visit at the Legoland Discovery Center at Arizona Mills Mall. They have tons of Legos to play with, interactive movies, rides, playgrounds, and more. It was super awesome. Brad and Owen met us there and the kids had a blast. I spent the majority of my time trying to keep Rory from eating Legos, but it was still totally worth it.
On the way home we stopped at Hurts Donut Co. which I had heard great things about but had never tried. They were delicious, and we are all eager to go back and try more.
On Tuesday we went to Urban Jungle, an indoor jumping play place that is SERIOUSLY amazing. The kids had so much fun and they have the best toddler play area ever. We picked up some Thai food on the way home and put the kids down for a nap while we enjoyed our delicious food. After nap time we went shopping (we hit up A LOT of Old Navy clearance sections) and just happened to find our way to a Bahama Bucks. It was our first time trying Bahama Bucks and needless to say we were not disappointed! Rory continually crashed in the car because it is hard work hanging with the big kids all day!
Courtney drove in on Wednesday and we all met up at the train park (in Scottsdale, I think?) which was so fun. The kids played on the playground for a while before we made our way over to the train ride. They have a little train that rides all around the park and the little boys thought it was so cool, though the babies were obviously less impressed. They also had a carousel that we all got to ride on. There is another building in the park that is FILLED with model trains and it was super cool. Kristy pulled a dad and bought some ice cream cones to share for the group, quickly earning the status of coolest aunt.
On the way home from the train park we stopped at Defalco's, one of my all time favorite places in AZ. It is this tiny little Italian grocery store and restaurant that Emily and Cameron introduced us to after seeing it on Diners, Drive ins, and Dives. They have the yummiest marinara sauce I have ever tasted and their lemon cake tastes like clouds of heaven. We ordered way too much food and our kids were way too crazy for that small of a place, but we all left pretty dang happy.
I'm writing from memory (because I am way behind in keeping up with my blog) so without pictures it is hard to remember exactly what we did and when. But it should be documented that each day was well planned and way super fun. I do remember that we all got McDonalds for the kids and Kneaders for the adults and went to Freetsone Park to let the kids run free and everybody liked that. We did another day at Urban jungle because it was just way too fun the first time, and we also did a little more shopping because we are our mother's daughters after all.
One of the days Kristy and I went to Liberty Market in Downtown Gilbert. I had never been, but had heard good things and thought it would be a nice casual place to eat lunch one day. I was anticipating a Cafe Rio/ Zupas atmosphere, but boy was I way off. We stuck out like sore thumbs from the business casual- dressed lunch crowd with our rowdy kids and mom bags. The first time the waiter came up to our table I was fighting a cup away from Rory who wanted to play with the straw and water inside. He said, "Awww, she's so cute..." right as she bit me on my cheek. Kristy ordered Declan some Macaroni and cheese, and after he refused to eat it Rory happily stuffed noodles in her face for the rest of the meal. She was seriously downing them faster than I knew she was capable of moving. Just as the waiter approached our table again to say, "How is everything tasting?" Rory spit 75% of the noodles she had eaten into my hand in a large glob of chewed up mac and cheese and saliva. Needless to say, we will not be rushing back to eat there anytime soon.
Our more successful meals included Gecko Grill, Joe's Farm Grill (minus the part where Rory tried to run into the street as a car was passing by), and LoLo's Chicken and Waffles (the original plan was to eat at Snooze but the wait was too long, and LoLo's never disappoints!) As always, our desserts were even more successful than our meals. We had dipped cones at Creme & Chocolate, tried every cookie at Sweet Tooth Fairy, and even got some gormet smores at the Toasted Mallow.
We watched tons of good movies, let our kids run free, and chatted to our hearts content.
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