The day started the usual way with Roy going for his early morning exercise walk. Elaine, however, needed a walk too to stretch her legs, so when Roy returned, he accompanied her, but not before a few phone calls were made to Ireland to sort out our car hire, which had developed a complication we could have done without.
Then, while Brooke headed out to the store, Elaine made breakfast for the fathers, since the grandsons had had their breakfast earlier. Afterwards, while Elaine returned to bed to relax, she was visited by each of the twins on separate occasions for a snuggle and to have a story read to them; just the cutest.
By then it was mid-morning, Gunner had been registered as a Service Dog and it was time to open cards from the (grand)children and Keenan’s gift for Father’s Day from Brooke.
Next up was a team effort by Brooke and Roy to make the cheesecakes requested by both fathers as their Father’s Day treat. However, that was only part of their treat; dinner included delicious wagyu streaks cooked to perfection on the grill and accompanied by a fabulous bottle of Buena Vista Cabinet Sauvignon, but not before the adults had whiled away the afternoon playing cards games accompanied by a large dollop of laughter.
It was a perfect day of celebrations with loved ones.
However, at this point, Elaine is handing the blog over to her able helper, William, who chose the title and typed this in his own words to describe our fabulous day:
“We are heading to Saguaro Lake today for a fun trip. Dad and Grandpa got the boat and Mom got the food. Then we set off to the lake.
Then we found a beach that all of the kids can play on. Then Dad and Grandpa laid out a big yellow and blue floaty that all the kids also can play on. After getting all the beach toys out to play with, Dad cooked us some brats on the barbecue. Then we all had a good time jumping in the water and trying to catch the fish.
Before we came home, we got to do fun dips and then we set off to go to the dock. Then we got off the boat and then got in the truck and car. Then we were heading home to take a shower to clean ourselves. And we did all that with the dog named Gunner. The end.”
Not much more to add! Thank you William for helping Grandma with her blog.
First up was to load up the truck with all the floaties and our picnic lunch and head off to the community pool, something the grandsons had wanted since our arrival. Needless to say, they were delighted at the prospect.
After a morning of fun in the water and our picnic lunch, we returned home for some quiet time, while Grandpa went to the grocery store for their next surprise; ice-cream decorated with gummie bears. Once that was enjoyed over lots of chatter, it was time to build a fort and what a cool fort it was. However, William was the only one who actually slept in it overnight, given that the twins fell asleep during the movie after their bath and eating all the popcorn Grandpa had made for them. Dinner, however, was the special treat William had chosen for everyone; Panda Express and, with that, we had assumed a very busy day had come to a close. It was not to be, however; William couldn’t sleep. So, snuggled up in Grandma and Grandpa’s bed, Grandma had the perfect solution; a bedtime story, which did the trick. But, there was still no sleep for Grandma and Grandpa until we’d moved the dog bed into our bedroom and got Gunner comfortably settled on it. With both cats on our bed too by now, we actually didn’t care what happened next; we were both fast asleep within a few minutes.
Today, after Grandma had catered to each of the very specific requests from the grandsons for breakfast, it was “pay day”; they were all getting their pocket money for the chores they’d done over the past week. With money in hand, we set off to “wally world” for another lesson or two, but with strict instructions that no one was to run off on their own; we all had to stay together in the store.
After a large dollop of patience on our part and a lot of deliberation on the twins’ part, toys were chosen. It was, however, William, who had only managed to settle on one toy he really wanted. Then the outing took a turn in the wrong direction; William disappeared.
In a panic, Grandpa went one way and Grandma and the twins went the other way, calling for William and getting more frantic as time passed and each isle was checked. Eventually Elaine heard a little voice calling in the distance: “Graaandmaaa”. To say Elaine was relieved was an understatement; she was close to hysterical by that stage then fury set in once he was in her arms crying and apologising profusely. Grandpa was even more furious, though, bringing William’s shopping expedition to an abrupt end and grounding him for the rest of the day. He realised he had given us both a terrible fright and had given himself a terrible fright too, since he’d got disoriented in the store and couldn’t find his way back to us. Regardless, there was no excuse; he had disobeyed our instructions.
Relieved to be holding William’s crying little body in our arms again, though, once everyone had recovered, we still gave each grandson the opportunity to pay for their toys at the self-checkout, placing their money into the relevant slots, bagging their toys and getting their change and receipts. It was having to pay “Uncle Sam” that didn’t go down very well, though, and, of course, they definitely wanted to know who this person was. That took some explaining to two 5 year olds and a 7 year old in such a way they could somewhat understand the concept. Either way, they still weren’t very pleased.
When we got home, Brooke and Keenan had arrived home too, to the obvious delight of the boys and even more delight when they each received a little gift from their parents; a mug each with their names on it and a sweet treat for whoever had listened the most. It was too cute when William piped up and said: “that’s not me!” With Carter also admitting to having had “cloth ears” from time to time, it was Brayden who won the price. All things considered, though, although Grandma was “man down” by then and had to spend the rest of the day in bed, pain and fatigue borne out of fun, laughter, relief and sheer joy was worth it!
When Elaine eventually surfaced, the pontoon boat had been collected from Brooke’s parents, the garden furniture had been rearranged in the back garden, the grandsons had been fed and were heading to bed for an early night, after all the excitement of the past two days, and the barbecue dinner, complements of Roy, was ready.
Given the beautiful warm evening, the adults sat outside and enjoyed quiet conversation over a delicious meal. It was a perfect ending to a fun-filled weekend and our first opportunity to just sit and chat to Brooke and Keenan, everyone fully aware that our time in Arizona was drawing to a close.
After Grandpa returned from his early morning walk, he cooked breakfast for the grandsons, while Grandma enjoyed a video call from Justine and Brooke and Keenan popped out to the grocery store. The reason for the latter was to get all the ingredients needed for the adult’s breakfast, Eggs Benedict and for dinner, an Italian feast.
Having Elaine and Keenan cook breakfast, though, was definitely a leap of faith on Roy and Brooke’s part, but we did really well actually; evident by the empty plates afterwards.
Dinner, on the other hand, was definitely a team effort, given that we’d all spent the afternoon in the swimming pool where a considerable amount of alcohol had been consumed, excluding Elaine of course, but leaving her to cook dinner was not advisable. Instead, everyone chipped in, and all things considered, a delicious meal eventually made its way to the table; tomato, mozzarella and fresh basil salad, drizzled with homemade balsamic vinaigrette purchased in Sonoma, Italian sausage and peppers and a mushroom and spinach pasta dish. Delicious!
After dinner we were treated to a lovely surprise; Capri popped home to collect a few parcels that had arrived at the house for her holiday with her Dad. It was lovely to see her again, given that we’d said our goodbyes earlier in the week.
Another “Happy Family Movie Night” was scheduled to take place, although it was touch and go as to whether or not this would happen. We’re definitely at the point where our bets would be safe on who would make it through the entire movie without falling asleep; Roy certainly tried desperately as he nodded on and off, but Keenan and the grandsons gave up the ghost within the first few minutes!
It was well after 1500 before the girls removed themselves from the sofa and the boys completed their activities, but not before we were all fuelled on caffeine (aka coffee) and sugar (aka doughnuts).
With temperatures back up to 38C today, dinner was centred around the back garden, swimming pool and barbecue; just too hot for anything else!
A “Happy Family Movie Night” sealed off the day, but four sleeping babes (Keenan and the grandsons) never made it past the first hour of the movie!
On Monday we met Lisa snd Joe in downtown Gilbert, where we enjoyed lunch at Zinburger and whiled away the afternoon catching up. Yesterday Roy dropped Elaine at Tempe Marketplace to meet her friend, Karen, for lunch at the Thirsty Lion and, again, it was lovely to see her and catch up after so many years. Roy took this opportunity to drive up to Scottsdale to meet his friend, Gert, whom he hadn’t seen since we became full-time cruisers in 2014. It was hard to comprehend that 8 years had passed.
In between these visits, though, Roy still enjoyed his early morning walks and we’ve squeezed in time with Brooke and the grandchildren.
On Monday Grandma repaired a few broken items, like Carter’s Spurtle that keeps loosing its tail, a strap on one of Brayden’s shoes and a pocket on William’s dressing gown. It was the perfect opportunity to teach William to sew, who was very eager to learn and delighted at the results, so much so that he walked around in his dressing gown all day and couldn’t wait to tell his Mom and Dad.
Being Memorial Day, Brooke also showed Elaine how to make bean dip, using her family recipe which has been handed down through the generations and which made it into the Banner Hospital’s Healthy Recipe Cookbook after winning a competition arranged by the hospital. That was an addition to the party that materialised in the back garden while we were out.
It was late afternoon before we returned home, to find Brooke and the children having a fabulous time. When Grandma happened to ask if they’d enjoyed having “fun in the sun”, William stated, in no uncertain terms: “It wasn’t fun Grandma, it was awesome!” Guess that summed up their Memorial Day!
After another delicious barbecue for dinner, everyone settled for an early night, given that we were all exhausted, to the point that Capri and Brayden were falling asleep at the dinner table.
Yesterday we woke to Brooke making pancakes for breakfast and it was another delicious treat, never mind the perfect stack we found, after we were all summoned to the kitchen, with each pancake the exact same size. It was a day tainted with sadness, though, since we had to say goodbye to Capri, who was joining her Dad for a summer getaway and we wouldn’t see her again before our departure. The mood had clearly permeated through the home, because we returned to find a very quiet household. So, after dinner and after all the grandsons were tucked into bed, we retired to our bedroom to make some changes to our itinerary for Ireland, adding a few more areas we want to explore.
This morning Elaine’s alarm woke her up just as Roy was returning from his walk; we were collecting Keenan from the airport, which definitely lightened yesterday’s mood. He was coming home, at last, but not quite from the destination he was supposed to arrive from; last night he was forced to divert after a tornado developed in their flightpath, which resulted in him spending the night in Atlanta, but at least him, the crew and all the passengers were safe. Not quite the kind of news you want to hear when you son is thousands of feet above the earth!
We’d barely got home, though, when it was time to get a quick lunch at Mod Pizza, before heading to the movie theatre, our first since Australia in 2019, but it was just as memorable; a family outing to see Top Gun Maverick and what a great movie it was!
To keep the heat at bay when we got home, but to still hangout with Dad, who was upgrading his transmission system on his truck on the driveway, some improvisation by Brooke ensured the grandsons could still splash around and, clearly, they loved it.
Our day ended similarly to the last two night; dinner and bed! Some recharging had clearly become mandatory, for the adults at least; we were all in bed before the children!
Being a cooler day, we were also able to go to the park much later than usual and the plan had been to enjoy the Splash Pad again. Disappointingly, though, it wasn’t operating, so we returned to the back garden for fun in the swimming pool instead. However, we had another unusual event; Brayden didn’t join in either activity as he’d fallen asleep and enjoyed an afternoon nap instead; another first since we’ve been here. As much as the grandchildren are wearing us out, we may well be wearing them out too.
As a result, a day of rest was perfectly timed and with it the excitement was starting to mount at the prospect of Dad / Keenan coming home soon.
While everyone more or less scattered to enjoy their respective “me time” activities, we continued our preparations for our first week in Ireland, specifically our location / house-hunting activities, but we are also looking forward to spending some more time with Keenan when he returns home and before our departure; time is passing far too quickly!
In lieu of photographs of our activities today, since these were basically nonexistent, we’ve added a few more of Lisa and Pieter’s Wedding Day.
