An Arizona Adventure

I bypassed my typical weekend of sewing and relaxing this week to visit my sister and her family in Arizona. My niece ,Charlie, just turned 1 this month and since I was unable to make it out for her birthday party, I decided to spend my weekend out visiting with all of them.  This was the first time I had flown out there.  I usually drive but I only had 3 days off for this visit and, following suggestions from a friend and a pretty great ticket price, I settled on flying.  I'm pretty sure I will have a tough time convincing myself to drive out there in the future since flying was, A-relatively painless with smaller crowds on a weekday, B-its a short flight, and C-I took an early flight out and a late flight back home and therefore got to spend the better part of the entire 3 days with my sister's family.

My niece hasn't seen me since early December and she had just woken up when they picked me up so I got this look for about the first 10 minutes.

 

Once she woke up a bit more, it was all smiles!

 

We stopped at the mall on the way home so I could use a gift card for a clothing store that had recently closed in California. Charlie was a big hit with every stranger. She waved and flashed her adorable smile at every passerby and they adored her! I think she enjoys the attention.

 My sister wanted to stop by the Lego store while we were there.  Apparently, after watching the Lego movie, my sister and her husband learned of the phenomenon of Lego mini figures mystery packs.  For those of you who had also never heard of these, basically Lego puts out a series of Lego people (called mini figures) each with 16 different ones to collect.  They release them in pouches that you can't see through so you  never know which one you are going to get.  Well, my brother in law thought this was SO cool and has been on the hunt for a few in the Lego movie series, which is out now.  She wanted to try to find some of the ones he was looking for.  I'll admit that I thought she was crazy at first, feeling her way around tiny plastic bags trying to figure out my touch alone which one was which....That is until I decided to help her out and OH MY GOSH! We totally NERDED OUT in the Lego store, feeling our way through about 15 little packs of Lego people! We found a few that we were 90% sure we had correct. It was actually really fun! We took them home and let my brother in law open them and we were right on all of them! My brother in law even tracked more down at a nearby ToysRus and we swung by and did the same thing to find a couple more he wanted. TOTALLY nerdy, but so much fun!!

When we got home, we had present time!  We didn't get to see each other for Christmas and also I had birthday presents for my niece and brother in law.  Charlie LOVED her Christmas present! She likes the playskool Little People and my sister and Mom have been finding old ones at their awesome thrift and antique stores and cleaning them up.  She has some pretty cool pieces so far.  When I saw that they make a Disney's Cinderella Little people, I knew that she had to have it.

My sister is a huge fan of Cinderella and did my nieces nursery in Cinderella.  Charlie apparently is just like Mommy because she Loved it! It opens and closes and makes noises when it rolls along AND lights up! Everything she loves. This kid could not get enough of this toy and would laugh and smile every time she played with it. What a hit!

Charlie, like her cousin Audrey, also got a set of my fabric letter and numbers for her birthday.  She still has a bit to go before she really comprehends letters, but she enjoyed pulling them all out of the bag and putting them all back in.

 

The bright colors were very intriguing to her as well and she seemed to enjoy the cuddly-ness of the letters.  I'm sure ,being such a lover of books and all, that she will be as into them as her cousin in no time.  I'm so excited that they have gone over so well thus far!

For my sister, I made her a custom tote bag with Cinderella fabric.  She liked it a lot and ended up carrying her stuff in it the rest of my visit and mentioned that it was the perfect size.

 

 

My brother in law got handmade star trek pajama pants. (which he specifically requested) They gave me this absolutely adorable Tinker Bell mug, which i can't wait to use! It will be perfect for tea!

 

 

 

The next morning we had Cinderella waffles (noticing a pattern yet? haha) and then Charlie had to show me her new sandbox she got for her birthday from Mommy and Daddy.

 





Later that day (and an outfit change later) Charlie wanted to play outside again and showed me her preferred method of entry/exit to the house....

 

Heck, the dogs do it, why shouldn't she? :) I made my famous tacos that night and taught my sister to make french macarons, YUM!

My last day visiting, I took my sister to breakfast at her favorite place nearby, Wildflower bread company.  Its similar to Panera bread, but I think its better, and I enjoy Panera.  I don't know if its a chain out there or anything but its DE-LISH! We got our usual and split a short stack of the Lemon-ricotta pancakes and the ham and brie fritatta with country potatoes. SOOO good!!

We spent the rest of the day shopping and relaxing until it was time to head back to the airport.  We picked up my brother in law and headed for a quick dinner.  My brother in law wanted me to try this place called  "The Duce" in Phoenix.  It was super cool! Its part indoor seating with places to do corn hole throwing and ping pong. There's a seating are to watch old Elvis movies on the big screen.  The other part is an opened outdoor patio seating area.  At night, the lights are turned on and you can see the stars and watch the planes go overhead.  The kitchen for the restaurant is in on e of those old silver streamliners.  They serve all kinds of food but their main thing is sliders.  They have cheeseburger sliders, chicken sausage sliders, corned beef and cabbage sliders and the list goes on! I ordered the cheeseburger sliders which has Gruyere cheese, organic butter lettuce, grilled onions and garlic aioli...YUM!!! 

 

I also ordered a lemonade which they make fresh and sweeten with honey and garnish with blueberries. It was quite possibly the best lemonade I have ever had! I finished off dinner by feeding Charlie pieces of blueberry so that Mommy and Daddy could enjoy their food.

 

 

It was a great atmosphere and a delicious meal! With that, we headed to the airport.  Charlie was so sweet and gave me a hug and a kiss.  When I started to walk away, she reached out her hands like she wanted me to come back, so I blew her a kiss.  She smiled and blew me a kiss back!  It was the sweetest thing!! Even sweeter was that my sister and brother in law said she's never done that before. What a sweet farewell gift for Auntie! I had such a nice time chatting and visiting with my sister and her husband! I miss them so much, but I am glad I get the opportunity to visit fairly often.  I just love quality time with family!