Phoenix

Casey and I spent just got back Monday night from spending the weekend in Phoenix with John and Alison! We had so much fun but are still trying to catch up with life now that we’re back. We flew out Friday around noon and grabbed lunch at In ‘N Out before heading back to the house. We hung out for awhile and let the food settle before going to happy hour at the Yard House which has hands down the best happy hour. Ever. They also have 100 beers on tap, no joke. We were originally going to go bowling on base after dinner but because we went to happy hour league play was still in session so we debated to see ‘The Kingdom’ but ended up deciding against that too since it would have most likely put us all to sleep. In the end, we went back to the house and played Guitar Hero on Xbox and Trivial Pursuit, before watching ‘The Big Lebowski’.

Saturday we went to lunch at Paradise Bakery and it was so yummy. I ordered a full Greek salad and it was the size of a bowl of salad adequate enough to feed 4. They weren’t joking about the size of it.   When we came back to the house after lunch, the boys played more Xbox and Alison and I went to the BX.  While we were there there was a huge ordeal where I bought a Yankee candle and that particular flavor (Casey’s favorite, pumpkin pie) was supposed to be 25% and that being the sole reason I would go on vacation and buy a candle I could otherwise buy at home.  Well as were walkign back to the car I noticed they didn’t give us the discount so we went back inside and on the way to customer service I grabbed the sign saying the discounted price.  There was no one waiting in front of us, although all of the cashiers appeared to be busy, we still ended up waiting about 5 minutes.  When they finally called our number, Alison was in the middle of explaining the situation when this chick walked up and was like I was 51 (the number before ours).  We’re like well they called the number and you didn’t come up here and she’s like I was trying to get up here (she was walking around outside the waiting area apparently) and just stood there until we let her get her spot back in line.  Ugh, then she was only making a credit card payment which I don’t understand why she couldn’t just (a) make it online or (b) mail it like a normal person.  So when we get up there again, the cashier was like oh this is the price from September its not good anymore and I told her it was on a sign, there was more than one of them and that I wanted it for this price because that’s what it said.  Alison suggested she take down the signs to avoid this situation again since she seemed so beside herself over the pricing error.  And of course, the cashier would be training someone else so it took even longer.  Then after being up there for 15 minutes to get a simple refund back they start asking for all of Alison’s personal information (since it was her ID and credit cards) from SSN to phone number.  Totally more information than they should have and then were like ok first we refund and then we sell it back again at the discounted price.  Seeing that this was going to be a mess and that Alison and I had just discussed earlier in the day about how annoying it was to make returns and how they make sure they get their money right away when we buy something but then they take forever to give us our money back when we return something, I was just fed up and said forget it I don’t even want the candle anymore.  So then they say its going to take a void (most likely meaning waiting for a manager) so we were just frustrated and ready to go and it seemed easier to buy the candle anyway.  Ugh such a mess, totally not a fun part of the trip.  When we got back (while the boys were still playing Xbox) we planned where to eat at in Tempe where we would be for the night. We ate at My Big Fat Greek Restaurant and the food here was just so good we ordered two appetizers (one of them being a brick of feta with ouzo poured over it and set on fire – flaming feta!) and then two HUGE sampler meal plates. The weather was just ideal while we were down there and didn’t get above 90 so we ended up sitting outside to eat dinner and then at Starbucks too before waiting for the Big Bang to open. The Big Bang is a dueling piano bar where the crowd sings along to the music. When we first tried to go in we were the only people there yet (thus the coffee) but as it got later the place got so packed it was standing room only. Casey and I are piano bar virgins and had so much fun we would definitely go again!

Sunday we went shopping in Chandler (another Phoenix suburb)! We had lunch at Rubio’s when we got to the mall – can you tell that Casey and I miss L.A. eateries?! I managed to find quite a bit of cute stuff for fall and winter at The Gap. Now that my buyers remorse has subsided I can begin to enjoy my purchases! We spent a few hours at the mall before getting a Boba Tea for the drive home. When we got back to the house, the boys again sat and played Xbox while Alison and I played Trivial Pursuit. At about 7 we headed out to the Tokoyo Room for some tasty sushi. It was so good! There was so much good and spicy sushi on the menu we were in heaven! We all even ended up trying sea urchin which I do not recommend. It tasted like sea water and had the consistency of runny cream cheese. Not something I’ll ever try again! After dinner we watched Planet Earth in HD while playing Taboo before heading off to bed.

Monday before we left for the airport we went to the Maui Grille for breakfast. Obviously by the name the place has Hawaiian flare and even serves spam – ick. Although none of us ordered the spam or Macadamia nut pancakes (although they sounded quite tasty) it was all really good and very filling. The perfect thing to hold us over through our flight home. Our flight was supposed to depart at 2:45 but we didn’t even start boarding until after 3 because one of the crew members was late and had a 45 minute window to get there. I would think that would be a pretty serious infraction for someone on a flight that would have the schedules of a whole plane depending on him. As with most flights today, they ended up asking for volunteers to take a later flight and receive a free ticket anywhere they flew. Now when we first heard this we seriously started considering voluntarily bumping ourselves because a round trip ticket to Europe would have been worth the two extra hours in the airport. Unfortunately when they made the announcement again they stressed it was only CONUS so there was no way we were volunteering – we had babies to get back to! We had such a great time in Phoenix and hope we’ll be able to go back again while John and Alison are still living down there!

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