Phoenix: Day 1

For those who don’t know, Bob and I are spending Christmas and the following week in Phoenix. It will be a week of sleeping, basking in the sun, eating, family fun, dominoes, sightseeing and shopping. What more can you ask for? Our day began at 4:45 AM, the time that the alarm clock decided to wake us up. (Did I tell you that we didn’t go to sleep until 2:00 in the morning because we were still packing? Oops!) We then dropped our “child” off at the grandparents and it was off to the airport at 5:45 AM. We wanted to get there early due to the fact that Christmas Eve is one of the busiest travel days of the year. Our flight was very entertaining, with the flight attendants cracking jokes throughout the 3 hour flight. It was great! I don’t think I had ever enjoyed myself that much during the safety speech before the flight. Kate and I cheered and applauded after her speech and then the other flight attendant ribbed us, saying “There are two girls sitting over the wings making too much noise.” At first, we thought he was talking about his co-workers and then it sunk in that he was talking about us. Thank you to the crew of Southwest Flight 605 from St. Louis to Phoenix for making our flight so much fun! Once we arrived, Bill and Carol picked us up and we went back to their place to relax and played some fierce dominoes. Bob and I have gotten everyone obsessed with this game. Now, I’m getting ready for Christmas Eve dinner, Southwestern style. I can’t wait.

Dinner was wonderful. We had enchiladas, mexican rice and individual pastries. We were joined by Jane, Edward, Kristen and Kendall, friends of Bill and Carol’s. Very nice people. Bill’s special family recipe margaritas were enjoyed by all. I even had a couple of sippies and it was yummy. After dinner, we all sat outside, around a gas fire pit. How cool! It was amazing, just sitting there, in front of the fire, looking up at the stars above. It felt like we were out there by ourselves. I’m definitely going to be doing that every night. Just sitting there, in the dark with the fire going, was so relaxing, it’s how a vacation should be.