AZ Trip -- Part 4

Wednesday, Jan. 1 (New Year's Day)

After our late night, we didn't get home and to bed until almost 1:00am (even the kids). You'd think the kids would want to sleep in. Nope. They were up and ready to go on the next adventure by 8am. First off -- had a visit to Pump It Up on the agenda. We were not originally planning on this little excursion, but the kids gave Grannie their sob stories and puppy dog eyes and she caved. This is one of their favorite Tucson memories.

Pump It Up is a warehouse full of inflatables (jumping castles, slides, and obstacle courses). The cool part though was that they were doing Glow Jump. It was in the semi-darkness with black lights, fun music,  and laser lights. The kids all wore glow necklaces. It was actually pretty neat.

 They all had a really great time...even Mason, who I thought might be too old or too cool for it. By the time we were done they were all sweaty and had some vicious rug burns but they still love their "Pump-a-Dump" (that is what Sadie called it when she was little and it stuck!)

When the kids got sick of wearing their glow necklaces....
Grannie and I did the honors. Good times.

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Up next was a family party with Eric's relatives. Eric's Aunt Peggy and Uncle Doug bought a home in Tucson just blocks away from my parents. We gathered there for an afternoon of chatting, doing puzzles, eating, singing, and relaxing. Cousin Allie was recently married so this was our first time meeting her husband. We really liked him. Mark and his boys came down for the day as well, but they were gone by the time we took this picture. It was a lovely and peaceful afternoon and evening. Especially after the break-neck pace we had been setting. Thanks!

Thursday, Jan. 2
The headline for this day was SHOP 'til you DROP. Our tiny little town of Rexburg is lacking in shopping venues. We have a Walmart and a Kmart...that's about it. Yes, we have a large town 30 minutes away with lots of shopping options, but we just don't seem to make the trip down there very often...and when we do it is usually just to grab the necessities like toilet paper and chicken . So having every store imaginable within 5 miles of my mom's house made us giddy with the possibilities. We made a list of the greatest needs and attacked them strategically. Mason has grown so much in the past 6 months that none of his pants fit. Eric got attacked by a dog and his suit (which was older than old to begin with) had some major tears in the leg. And I just hadn't been clothes shopping in over a year. We did a whirlwind shopping trip and then enjoyed a nice lunch (real Mexican food...again!) Meanwhile Renae was having a playdate with Camilla and Grannie was watching Colby & Sadie.

The late afternoon found me visiting with yet another group of friends -- The Bus Stop Moms. This was the group of ladies that used to meet every morning at the bus stop while we waited for our kids to head off to school. We would often linger for hours afterwards and just chat. Our friendship grew over the 10 years that we lived in our home and it is still so great to see them and to catch up on what they are all doing. I can't believe how quickly kids grow up and lives change. Sadly, I didn't snap a picture.