On the 2nd, Jay and I flew down to AZ, where his brother Bob's oldest grand daughter was getting married. Back when the date was first set, I thought going to the desert right after the Holidays sounded perfect! I didn't think that through. Who thinks it's a good idea to go to shorts and swimsuit land after spending the previous 3 months stuffing my face??
Oh, sure; I could have reined myself in and NOT eaten everything in sight but...have we met?
I was relieved that a massive arctic front rolled down the nation just as we headed south. The whole time we would be in AZ, the highs would only reach the mid 60s. At night, it dipped into the 30s. No shorts and swimsuits for me! In fact, the morning we left town, I bought myself a new coat to wear down there. I hadn't planned on it, it was serendipitous. I was at Target, buying soap and toothpaste and was passing the clearance rack when I saw a knee length, bright fuchsia wool coat. It wasn't as heavy as any of my winter coats, it was perfect for 40s! It was also marked down to $30, so I bought it. As soon as I got it home, I took off the belt (I haven't worn a belt since 1993), cut off the loops and replaced the brown plastic buttons (yuck) with some fun rhinestone buttons I had laying around.
Whenever I'm out and I see cool buttons, I buy them for moments like this.
Ten minutes of work and I had a one of a kind, perfect cool weather coat.
The only problem after that was what to wear...I have nice summer clothes and nice winter clothes but I had no idea what to wear to a winter wedding in Arizona. I decided on layers. It worked. I was warm enough and looked fine...not that anyone was looking. Rumor has it, women my age are invisible and I'm okay with that.
We had a blast in AZ! We got to touch base with an enormous branch of the family who have lived down there for the last 20-25 years. One of the parties we were invited to had a note: everyone bring a dozen cookies! I had seen that, so I tossed a tin of sugar cookies into our suitcase. That came back to haunt me.
In addition to a big family party to celebrate, we were included in the bridal dinner and of course the wedding but Jay and I were in town long enough to go out to dinner and lunch a few times. We met some friends for lunch, who live down there and of course, we saw some of the relatives in smaller settings than the wedding related events, all of which included 50+ guests. The hotel we were in was very nice and comfortable and within walking distance of several very nice establishments that Jay and I visited a few times while we were there.
The wedding was celebrated at the Newman Center at ASU. The church on campus was recently painted in the Iconic style and it was breath taking!
The wedding reception was at a nearby community center and it was beautiful and the food was terrific. There was dancing afterward and this crowd danced like it was the last party on earth. It was a blast!
Once we got back home again, Jay said "I haven't seen any of our grand kids since Christmas, lets have everyone over for dinner." So we invited the whole crew for spaghetti on Sunday. Everyone was able to make it, even though Megan and Xena were between basketball games and a baby sitting clinic at church. All six of the kids were here at the same time and they always have so much fun together! For about 4 hours, our house was packed to the rafters. At one point, Katie, Josie, Nick and I were at the kitchen table when #6 came running in from the living room, clutching the cookie tin I'd taken to AZ with us.
After the party, I'd kept the tin. It was cute and very handy, as those tins make the perfect receptacle for things like buttons I've bought just in case I have something that needs better buttons.
"Oh, what's this?" Nick asked, as #6 handed him the tin. Before I could think, he opened it up and drew out a huge pair of my undies.
When I'd packed up to come home, I'd stuffed whatever would fit into the tin, so as to not have empty space in the suitcase. I'd unpacked everything else but forgot to empty the tin. I suppose #6 had found it on my dresser.
Not what I'd like to have waved about at the dinner table but it was so funny I can't really regret it.
The next day was MLK day so BoopityBoop didn't have school. Their parents had to work so Katie dropped the girls with me. Oh, did we have a good day! We played Yahtzee, drew pictures, read some books and did some science. They wanted to see if food coloring would dye eggs so Jay hard boiled a half dozen and the girls dyed them gorgeous colors. We then whipped up a batch of chocolate chip cookies and they wanted to see what would happen if we dyed the dough. I told them they had to agree on a color. They chose neon purple and each of them put several drops into the dough. They didn't really turn neon purple, just sort of a purplish brown. They tasted marvelous.
After the cookies, we played the game of Life. I have a game but the directions are gone, so we kind of made it up as we went. They both picked up the knack very quickly: make money and build a life. The first time we played, I missed some important instructions, so we didn't stop when we were supposed to, to get married, buy a house etc. At the end of the game, Boop was distraught.
"Look at me, all alone in my car!"she cried in disgust. " I never got married, I didn't have any kids! I never even bought a house! Who cares about all this stupid money??"
Meanwhile, her sister, Boopity, had not only made even more money than she did, she had a house, a husband, a mountain cabin and 7 kids. SEVEN. I think she cheated to make sure she'd land on all the baby spaces. She had twins, she had single kids and she adopted twins. She won the game.
"Nana, can I pick a house card to see what kind of a house I would have got if I'd bought one?" Boop asked. I fanned out the cards and she picked one, which she then showed to me. She picked the motor home. I laughed until I cried.
We played again and all they cared about was amassing the biggest family possible.
I'd say both girls have a pretty good handle on how to win the Game of Life.