Mesa Vacay

Jared and I enjoyed a weekend in Mesa over the July 4th weekend. There had been talk of him deploying, but nothing was confirmed, so we lived it up just in case. Glad we did since he left on 24 July!We stayed at the Mesa Holiday Inn. Jared is often gone for work and stays at Holiday Inns and is thus, a "Preferred Customer". We enjoyed several perk assocuated with this during the trip, in, including a free upgrade to a suite (one was available), free bottles of water upon check-in (instead of $3 dollars a pop for the ones in the wet bar) and complimentary late check-out.The Mesa Holiday Inn boasts "the largest outdoor pool in Mesa!" I really enjoyed the waterfall and the fact that the deck was very open and sunny no matter where you sat. There were many pool chairs and a maid placed fresh towels on the deck every hour or so. We goofed off in the pool playing with "noodles" a little bit each day, and I didn't even get a sunburn! Jared was very vigilant in that department. ;)On Friday evening we enjoyed some subs and found a movie theater to escape to due to the heat. It had to be 110 degrees outside. I am surprised the station wagon didn't die on us. That car is giving us a lot of trouble lately! Anyways, we enjoyed TOY STORY III. I laughed outloud, as did Jared, most of the time. Our most favorite Friday activity was stumbling upon a pottery-making studio called "As You Wish". For about $30 and 2+ hours of entertainment, we were able to decorate/paint pottery. We were able to "rush" the kiln heating time and pick it up in 2 days instead of three days time (we were leaving on Monday morning, so I am glad we found the place on Friday night--we had just enough time to complete our art projects!). Our finished products have allowed for Jared to eat his night time bowl o' cereal in style and me to eat my Ben and Jerry's in coordinating dishware. I even figured out how to label my bowl so everyone knows not it is not theirs and not to eat any of it. I have to admit I am a terrible sharer. Maybe it comes from being one of seven kids?

On Saturday, we went to an arcade at Golf Land that had "Free Play" mode for the morning. What that meant was that we paid $10 per person to play video games without needing quarters for the next 4 hours. I got to level 9 in Pac Man (it finally got too fast for me) and Jared was able to kill lots of bad guys in various shoot-em-up games. Some 16ish looking blond boy challenged me to a game of dance dance revolution and totally smoked me. It was then that I realized I am getting old. That kid was a huge dork, by the way. Wish I snuck a picture of him.By the time Free Play ended, the DQ Blizzard Mobile had FINALLY showed up at Golf Land. Little did Jared know that I planned our entire weekend around the event. Hehehe. Below is a "happy Adri" picture with BOGO free Blizzard coupons.

It was nice to get away from the Vista and enjoy some vacation time together!

Aloha

Jared and I attended our ward Luau last weekend. He was a sport and dressed up with me. He received a lot of compliments on his outfit. Aloha!

Arizona, the Grand Canyon State

Jared's mom Judy joined us in Arizona last week. During her 10-day visit, we traveled up to the Grand Canyon. It was a 6(ish) hour drive from our home in Sierra Vista, but well worth the trip! The views were spectacular.

Apple Annie's Orchard

In July, Jared went to Norfolk, Virginia for three weeks of training. My girlfriend Cadence and her two sons helped me to pass the time by taking me to Apple Annie's Orchard.
We picked fresh tomatoes and purchased various fruit and veggies, to include canteloupe, green beans, yellow and green zucchini, and sweet corn. I also made off with some homemade apple butter, fudge and some peach flavored twizzler-like candies for Jared.


Before we headed for home, we took a fun tractor ride and saw the peach orchards.
Thanks for the great time Cadence!

Ramsey Vista Campground

Jared treated me to a camping trip this last weekend (I think he was feeling guilty since he knew he was leaving for three weeks of TDY in Norfolk, so he caved in to my request!).

We drove up Carr Canyon and hunkered down at the Ramsey Vista Campground. On the drive up, we could see rain clouds in the distance, but we were spared during our entire overnight visit, despite camping during the middle of "monsoon" season.

The roads were really rocky and bumpy...we were so glad we paid to have the wagon aligned LAST weekend...ha. We'lll take the F-150 up next time.



We both pitched in:

I did the loading, and unloading,

Jared set up the tent,

I started/stoked the fire,

Jared gathered firewood,

And we both enjoyed some beans, weanies and S'MORES thanks to our fire. It was somewhat therapeautic to stare into the flames while eating chocolate!!

In the morning we hiked.

Overall, I rate the trip a 9 outta 10; I only say that because I had a rough night sleep due to other (loud) campers and traffic... However, it was well worth the $10.00 we paid for one overnight. Don't forget to haul your own water up and to bring cash or check to self-pay!

If you need want more information about this campground, read HERE.

National Danish Performance Team

The National Danish Performance Team is on their 08-09 World Tour. In the past 3 months, they have been to Germany, Hong Kong, Japan, China, Mozambique, Australia (doesn't it sound exhausting?), and they are wrapping up in the U.S.A. Nearly 50 countries have invited the team to perform throughout the last 10 years.

We were privileged to see them perform last night on-post (for FREE)!


The team consists of 14 women and 14 men aged between 20–28 and they perform with a combination of modern dance, rythmic gymnastics and acrobatics. You can read more about them here: http://www.dgi.dk/OmDGI/verdensholdet/english.aspx

McWane Science Center

Last week, Jared and I spent some time with our neice, Kayleigh. She is 2 and a half, a chatter-box/parrot, and is super friendly--even with strangers. Since we are so close to Birmingham, we visited the McWane Science Center and the "Just Mice Size" exhibit--perfect for toddlers.

We played in sand, water, and even the sky! We had a great time!

http://www.mcwane.org/

Pachinko

Jared and I finally went to play Pachinko before leaving Japan! We decided to go to the parlor on the corner right outside of Kadena Gate 5. As you can see, they also have slot machines in this particular parlor.

We had heard there were non-smoking sections, so we arrived with the hope of leaving unscathed from cigarette smoke. What a joke! We were within 15 feet of the front door and the air already reaked! We did, however, sit in a non-smoking row so smoke wasn't blowing directly in our faces while we played. Look how many people there were!

We spent 1000 yen per person, and received 250 pachinko balls per 1000 yen. In the picture above, Jared is pointing to one person's extra backup container of Pachinko balls!! If you can see in the below picture, this man next to me must have had $200+ worth of metal balls!

Quite honestly, this Wiki page explains the "game" better than I ever could: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pachinko

What I do know is that when you are running low on balls in the top slot, you move them from the bottom slot to the top so they can continue to trickle down the machine. Since you are touching the metal balls the entire time, they have two sinks conveniently located inside of the entry/exit with soap and hand dryers. Use the sinks at the end, or bring hand sanitizer!

Jared and I were both out of balls in about 20 minutes. AND, we didn't win any prizes. Speaking of prizes, I tried to sneak a picture of them, but I wasn't able to because the Japanese attendant was making an "X" motion with his arms towards my direction when I pulled the camera out. Instead of a picture, I will describe the prizes: SPAM, Vienna Sausages, Cigarettes, light-up pens, candy, and other various junk. This attendant below is helping the gambler to check out and receive a coupon to cash in for prizes.

Glad to have done it for the experience, but this will be one of the rare times I will ever say this--live this one vicariously through us!! It is not worth your loss of money or your gain of stinky hair!