Spring Break

Erin's spring break is this week. We didn't really plan anything to do, so most of the fun happened Wednesday and Thursday.

My parents came over Wednesday and brought us lunch. They stayed for a little bit, and then Erin went home with them to stay the night. Erin had a great time, and I'm sure my parents won't need to be inside another mall anytime soon.

They were going to take her to Chili's for lunch, but the one they went to was closed - like out of business - when they got there! So they decided to go to Red Robin across the street. On the way to Red Robin, Erin spotted a Taco Bell and decided she wanted that instead! Now, I do like Taco Bell, but who chooses that over Red Robin?! She's nuts.

Mom and Dad brought her back home yesterday, and we had lunch with them again. After they left, when we were coming back in from saying goodbye, we found a huge lizard on the sidewalk by the front door. My lizard-hunting instincts kicked in and I decided to capture the beast. I was good, too. I got closer and closer and the thing didn't get spooked. Because of my stealthy hunting prowess? NO - when I got real close, I realized this lizard was bleeding out of his eyeball and not breathing too well. My next move? "Erin, go get the camera."

OK, he's not huge, but pretty big. Since he was so lethargic, the kids got to check out his claws and his scales really close. I pointed out how you can see their little sides move when they breathe, but, uh... Hmm. His sides weren't moving anymore. Poor lizard. We relocated him to the grass (what was I supposed to do, throw him away?) and that was that for poor Mr. Lizard. We went inside to wash our hands of whatever he was carrying that caused him such ill fate. (although my guess is cat)

Then we went to this Spring Break Family Day at Westgate in Glendale (where the Coyotes arena & Cardinals stadium are). I thought it would pretty much just be a free movie with tons of wild kids everywhere. But it was great! There really weren't that many people, and it seemed well organized. We didn't play in the little fountain because nobody needs to be soaking wet in a movie theater.

When we picked up our movie tickets, they gave us a paper good for $10 at most of the businesses at Westgate. There wasn't really anything for the kids to spend $10 on, so we went into The Body Shop and got a $10 body butter. Erin loves it, and Robbie liked smelling everything in there. My total was $0.81 after tax.

Then they brought out free ice cream! It was little cups of chocolate or vanilla from Cold Stone! Mmmm. While we were eating, I found a dime in the grass, so my total amount spent went down to $0.71. After the ice cream, we watched "Race to Witch Mountain". I don't watch movies often enough to review them, so I'll rate it with one shrug. Meaning: It's a movie; it's entertaining. The kids liked it & had fun going to the theater.

On our way out, Robbie really wanted to go on the escalator. Erin was amused that there was an escalator outside. So I sent them on one ride up and then back down.

We watched the big fountain for a while (like the Bellagio's step-child) and then discovered they were serving free nachos! FREE + NACHOS = DINNER. A place called Moe's was doing it, and they had black beans and a white nacho cheese sauce that was pretty good. Robbie mostly ate olives. And they gave us bottled water. So we ate nachos by the fountain and listened to a some music. They had a couple of guys set up on a little stage with guitars and they were covering songs from groups like The Eagles and Jack Johnson - good stuff.

And Robbie liked that they were showing basketball on the giant TV.

Then we came home. That was 71 cents well spent!

The kids ran to check out the dead lizard again (Yep, still dead) and we went inside to relax. Well, I relaxed anyway. The kids had their second wind. I'm not completely sure I even had my first wind today! Whatever that means.

Tomorrow we're going to this.