Did you hear my girls singing the "Hallelujah" chorus?
We left St. George after breakfast on Tuesday morning for Las Vegas and then off to Arizona. Chris had to work for the rest of the week and needed to be in Phoenix for part of the time. We were just lucky to tag along. We dropped the van off at the rental car return in Vegas, hopped the bus to the airport, and made our way to our gate after checking in. Kristen was slowed down a little as she tried to take in all of the limos at the airport pick up area. I had to scoot her along. Our flight was rather short and after another bus ride to the rental car center to pick up a Rav 4, we were on our way.
Misha at the airport in Vegas.
Our first stop after leaving the airport was Arizona Mills mall for lunch at the Rainforest Cafe with Grandpa and Grandma Kline. It was a rather noisy place, I don't think I would opt to visit again. We enjoyed a quick lunch with the grands and tried on some crazy head wear.
After lunch, we were on our way to the hotel. We were staying in the North Phoenix area close to Chris' work and checked in at the Pointe Hilton Tapatio Cliffs Resort. Such a lovely place completely built in to the side of the mountain. Chris checked us in while the girls and I waited and then we made our way to our room. The roads throughout the resort were curvy and up hill and down hill and narrow. We finally found our building with a parking spot right out front.
For the first time on this vacation, Chris and I were not sharing the same room with our daughters. Misha said, "You have such a lovely room, I wonder where we are going to sleep?" Luckily they had a pull out couch in the living area and we used cushions to make Kristen her own sleeping area in the dining room.
Chris worked for part of the afternoon while Misha vegged on the couch watching "How to Train Your Dragon". Amy and Kristen checked out the grounds, and I unpacked. I would have really loved to have a washer and dryer in our room, but no such luck. The dirty laundry was multiplying like rabbits. It was nice just to have a little quiet time though. After Chris finished working, we headed down to the swimming area for a little refreshment. The temperature was in the 80s.
Kristen hadn't swam much since last summer and was a little tentative in her swimming, but she was excited to jump in and get moving. She quickly improved. Amy and Misha took off to explore the pool, testing the slide along the way. We all ended up in the hot tub. Ahhhhhhhhh! Delightful.
Again, the girls were happy to veg at the hotel. Chris and I went off in search of a Little Caesar's Pizza and returned with their dinner. Amy was kind enough to babysit while Chris and I headed for a Tuesday-night date. We went to his new favorite restaurant in Phoenix and now one of my favorites--Pita Jungle. I ordered a chicken wrap made on Lavosh bread. It was huge. I ate half of it plus some hummus and pita and was completely stuffed. Loved the food, hated that feeling.
We returned to our hotel to find Misha zonked in her bed (good thing we made the pull out bed before we left) and Kristen pretending to be asleep in our bed. One great thing to wearing your kids out on vacation is that there are no complaints when we say that it is bed time. We had to call down for extra blankets, which seemed to take forever to arrive. Once they were dropped off, we made up Kristen's bed and turned the lights out.