Diamondbacks Lose!

Our neighbor gave us tickets to Friday's Diamondbacks game! We hadn't been yet this year, so we were glad for the chance to go.

Watching the roof open

The seats were upstairs, where it wasn't too crowded, so we had plenty of room to spread out. Rob and I both signed up as designated drivers, so we each got a free soda.

We lost pretty badly to the Giants, but we stayed for the whole game because they do fireworks on Friday nights. Robbie felt the need to cover his ears during the whole fireworks show, and Erin was really excited about the finale. The next day, she wrote a thank-you note and brought it over to the neighbors.

It was a lot of fun!

And here are a couple of Diamondbacks-related deals for my Phoenix friends. When we score at least 6 runs in a game (even if we lose) Taco Bell will give you 3 free tacos the following day if you buy a large drink. You don't have a to show a ticket stub or anything; just tell them at the register. We've done this plenty of times already!

The one I learned about on Friday is a free drink from Circle K. When we get 7 strikeouts in a game (I think 7 is the magic number, anyway) you can go to Circle K's web site and print out a coupon for a free drink. But it expires 24 hours after the game, so you have to do it right away. I didn't try it soon enough last time, so too bad for me. But here's the link if anyone wants to try it next time!

Speaking of free stuff, there are a few good deals this week! Check out my "free/cheap" list over there ----->

Downtown

The kids and I spent the day downtown.

We went to the Children's Museum of Phoenix for free, thanks to the Culture Pass at the library. It's a pretty neat place! And it's cool that it's housed in the old Monroe School building.

What a place for kids to keep busy! We did a lot of stuff...

Drove through the car wash...

Painted a house...

Made caterpillars...

Ran through the noodle forest...

Tried on Size 18 shoes...

Cooked fabric pizza in the brick oven...

Went to the grocery store...

(I really liked this little store - very cute!)

Weighed split peas...

Worked at the loading dock in the back of the store...

Sat on an orange motorcycle...

And allowed Mom to take a bunch of pictures.

(Those are thousands of kid-decorated CD's hanging on the back wall)

We had a lot of fun!

After that, we drove through downtown and parked outside the Hyatt so we could ride the elevator inside. It's a fast one, and you can look out over the city on your way up. There's a revolving restaurant on top, but that sort of dining wasn't in the budget today!

Jack-in-the-Box was in the budget. We watched the cool cars coming to and going from a classic car show across the street while we ate.

Then on to Encanto Park. We didn't go to the little amusement park there, but we walked around the lake and the kids played on the equipment for a while. We watched the geese & ducks, and the kids liked spotting fish in the water. I liked looking at the nice old houses in that neighborhood.

I meant to go to the Whoopee Daze parade in Tolleson, but we didn't get out of the house in time. In eight years of living in this house, I've never been to it! One weekend every April, we see the signs when we drive through Tolleson on our way to church, only to realize it's over and we missed it. Every single year we forget. Oh well, maybe next year!

The kids are watching Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, and I'm taking a breather. Later I think we'll go out for some ice cream. It's been a good day!

PS - I heard on the radio today that Streets of New York will give kids a free pizza & soda if they bring in their straight-A report cards! FYI - Here's the link. Pretty good pizza, too, if you haven't tried it. It's probably our second favorite after Vito's.

Who forgets to get the camera out on Easter?!

Me. But I brought it with me on Saturday!

We went to Rob's sister Stephanie's house for a day-before-Easter get together. Rob's parents weren't feeling well, so they didn't come. And Rob's older sister Brigette's kids were visiting their dad, so it was just a few of us this time! But we had a good time.

Of course we ate ham and potatoes, and we had some yummy Jello cake. Rob's mom sent over some Easter baskets for the kids, which they really liked!

It sprinkled a little, but the grass was still dry enough to play outside. The weather was actually really good. I spent some quality time in the hammock.

Rob and Scott played horseshoes for a while. Robbie kept wanting to go get the horseshoes for them, though... yikes...

They had the kids sit on the pit until they were done throwing, and then they would take off for the other pit to go check out the horseshoes.

Erin had a nice time playing with her youngest cousin, Sydnie. Here they are with Brigette:

And we all had fun playing with Smokey. Smokey is deaf, but he knows quite a bit of sign language. I'm always impressed with how much he knows and how well he "listens"! He's a good dog. Scott taught Erin a few signs so she could talk to him. Robbie LOVES animals, and he especially enjoyed getting all Smokey's dog toys out.

Easter was nice. The Easter bunny came, of course, and the kids found all the eggs pretty fast. Erin gave a talk in Primary, and my parents came over to see it. They stayed for the last hour of church, and then we had roast/potatoes/carrots at our house for dinner. We were glad they came over! I told them they could peek in on Robbie's nursery class if they wanted to kind of spy on him and see him in action. When they did, he just happened to be facing right at the window, and they could hear him announce, "That's my Grandpa!!" Oops. He was a happy boy.

As my parents were leaving, my dad had an experience with a "friendly lizard" as Robbie calls it. This crazy lizard lept off the wall, ran across Rob's bare toes, and up my dad's pants leg (on the outside, thank goodness). Then it disappeared for a while! It was nicely camoflauged with his gray pants. Rob found it hiding under Dad's belt loop and then it moved down by his back pocket. When it was in um, a better location, I caught the thing and the kids had fun holding him. He was definitely friendly.

I was glad Erin was assigned a talk, because preparing it gave me a little extra time to think about what Easter is really about. Her topic was "I can live with Heavenly Father and Jesus again". So I got to think about the Atonement and Resurrection in very simple terms. And that's really what it comes down to! Jesus made it possible for us to overcome obstacles that we can't overcome on our own. I'm thankful for the gospel and for this time of year that we really focus on it.