Misha rocks a towel and a bird!
After church, we had a light lunch of crackers, cheese, fruit and popsicles. I busied myself packing the girls' suitcases and gathering all of their stuff back in one spot. Kristen and Misha helped Grandma deflate all of the air mattresses and deconstruct their makeshift bedroom.
Grandpa Kline has been volunteering recently with the Arizona Wing of the Commemorative Air Force. He actually was scheduled to fly a B-25 on Monday (after we left) on its scheduled tour. We were able to tour the museum in Mesa; I couldn't tell you much about airplanes and their history, but Chris and his dad could. Larry knows the history behind many of the planes and gave a great private tour.
Chris' grandmother now lives in Mesa, AZ at a senior living center called The Citadel. She has a one-bedroom apartment that is just perfect for her needs. Her health has been a challenge for her in the past couple of years, and having her close to where staff can check on her has been such a blessing. We visited her after leaving the musuem and received a short tour of her apartment and the amenities of The Citadel. It was nice to get a visual picture of where she lives to better imagine her day to day life. We were also able to join her for dinner and meet some of the great staff that care for her.
We sang Happy Birthday after dinner to Christine who would be celebrating a milestone birthday a couple days later.
After dinner, we visited the social hall. A microphone was set up on the small stage and the girls had some fun telling jokes, singing and making crazy noises. The favorite joke of the night: What is black and white and black and white and black and white? Two nuns rolling down a hill. What is black and white and says, "Ha ha"? The nun that pushed them. Apparently that was a favorite of Grandma Andrews when she first heard it. My girls need to work a little more on their delivery.
We drove back to Grandma and Grandpa's to drop them off and pick up our luggage. We were heading out to Flagstaff in order to have more time on Monday to spend at Grand Canyon. As the girls played on iPods and iPads, Chris and I enjoyed the peace and quiet as well as a beautiful sunset. We traveled from 102* weather to a balmy 60 something in Flagstaff. We only had a studio room, so we put the girls to bed for the night and went for a walk to give them a chance to go to sleep. The pull-out couch configuration was nice with a chaise on the left side giving Kristen a cozy little spot to sleep. Since we had been wearing them out so handily during the day, it didn't take much time for the deep-breathing to take over.
We loved the cool night air of Flagstaff and all of the lodge pole pines--so different from the cacti and landscaping of Phoenix. We were happy to spend some quiet time together and began making plans for our next trip.