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!
