Arizona 2008- A Day with Uncle D and Aunt P

Saturday February 23
Continued…

***Warning: I changed ML's acronym to GM because I kept confusing myself between MC (my daughter) and ML (my husband)***

So then we call Aunt P and Uncle D. Our plan was to do as much with as we could with them before heading to Tucson in the evening to check into our hotel.

P and D wanted to meet us at “Tia Rosa’s” for lunch. We were so happy to oblige because we were starved and we’d heard good things about the place (from them). :) They beat us there by about a half an hour so we told them to go ahead and get started without us, unfortunately Tia Rosa doesn’t seat partial parties and didn’t even offer them chips and salsa at the bar, so they took a walk to get their mind off of hunger pangs. We happened to arrive while they were walking and so GM went to find them, or move the car or something, while MC and I went to the bathroom. Of course, P & D came back while we had all scattered. But at last, we all got together and were able to fill our tummies and discuss what to do next.


At the Zoo.


MC at the big tree house at the zoo.

We decided on the Phoenix Zoo and we had lots of fun there with P & D. The elephants were especially fun!! Well, not exactly the elephants…just as we got there, we got to see the hind ends of the elephants being ushered back into their cages behind the scenes. Then 2 guys came out and started sticking tree limbs into stumps to simulate a real tree and stashing carrots all over the place. The most curious hiding place for carrots being a large hanging barrel with small holes drilled all around it…and we were so excited to see how the elephants were going to extract the carrots from this hanging barrel. But here’s the thing: these guys took FOREVER with their carrot hiding and branch planting. We wanted to see the elephants come back and check out their new treats, so P started to chant, “Elephants, Elephants, Elephants, Elephants…” A few people joined in…namely GM and Uncle D…but to no avail…those darn carrot hiders were taking their own sweet time. So we got bored and left.

The animals that we did get to see, and all really liked, were the little monkeys (See: As Promised) and the little turtles (which were technically not even inside the zoo and we could have just watched them and left…but what fun would that have been??)


Our Navigator.


MC and Aunt P watching the flamingos.

After the zoo we wanted to go to an exhibit of photographs at the LDS visitors center but then we decided that we REALLY wanted to see where P & D live and see the famous fountain. We were very awed by the fountain!! It looks like Old Faithful except you don’t have to sit around for an hour waiting for it to go off…and apparently they die it green for St. Patty’s day…maybe we’ll have to go back!! ;) And we all liked hanging out with P & D at their house. We mooched food off of them…all their food! (Poor P & D probably had to go out to eat AND go grocery shopping after we left.) ;) MC and BR explored around P and D’s house a bit (inside and out), GM perused all of their DVD’s and talked Sc-Fi and politics with D (actually…I can’t remember everything they “talked”), MC tried to taunt Jet out from under the bed with his favorite feather toy, MC and P and I played a few games of UNO, and BR usurped Uncle D’s phone and played his only game till it was time to go.


MC and her daddy.

After bidding Adieu to Uncle D and Aunt P, GM called grandma and grandpa in Tucson and told them according to the gps we’d be there at 8:47. (They chuckled at the exact ETA we gave but it just so happened that we did arrive at 8:47…despite all odds! Way to go Tiggy!)

We visited for a while, but we were all pretty beat so after prying BR off the computer game (do we see a pattern??) ;) and sleeping MC out of my arms for daddy to carry her out to the car, we went and checked into the hotel and went to bed.