Easter in Phoenix, AZ
Seriously one of the best trips ever. :-) Bear with me, cause I'm recording it in here whether you want to read about it or not. ;-) Disclaimer: this is only the first two days and it's already REALLY LONG.
Wednesday, April 12
Everyone else had to go to classes on Thursday, but Matt and I were done on Wednesday because we drove up to Greensboro that night! :-) So that was fun. After some seriously last-minute packing and cd-making on my part, we finally got on the road at a little after 5:00. (I love car trips, by the way. I could totally be the kind of person who just hops in the car and drives all over the country, stopping where and when I feel like it... if I could afford that kind of vagabond lifestyle, anyway. Gypsy blood or something.) Got into Greensboro and went to Fuddrucker's with Dad and Michael -- that was fun. Every time I see my little brothers I am newly amazed at how old they're getting. I was really glad I got the chance to have dinner with Michael before we left since I wasn't going to see him again this break. Jack would've been there, but he was out of town, so it was just the four of us. But we had a good time.
Then Matt and I went back to Mom's and visited a little with her and Doc. We went out to Barnes & Noble to buy another copy of Forrest Gump, cause Matt couldn't find his copy before we left. While we were there we ended up getting other reading material too, of course. Cause that's what happens when Matt and I go to bookstores. :-) Then... oh yeah, I modeled some dresses for Matt to pick one for me to wear to Junior/Senior which is... next weekend I think? Fun times. :-) Then bed, because Thursday morning came really early....
Thursday, April 13
...6:15, to be exact. Phew. Early. But that's when Mom's alarm went off for her to get ready for work, and that's what woke me up, so I went ahead and showered and packed and stuff. We were on the road to the Raleigh/Durham airport at 8:00. More fun car trips. :-) We got to the parking garage at the airport and Matt was all excited because it has one of those swirly roads up to the different levels of the garage -- he says you only ever see those in the movies, so he thought it was very cool that we were driving up one. Haha, I love my boyfriend. We went and checked our bag (we just shared my huge suitcase cause it made more sense to do that) -- it was 49 pounds! *whistles* Very heavy. And just under the 50 lb limit, although we didn't really think about that until later... anyway. So then we had to go through the security stuff. I was telling Matt about how I've been stopped and felt up - I mean, searched - a couple times; seems to be just my bad luck. And then (surprise) it happened again. I went through the arch and it beeped, and I swear, they made me take everything off but my clothes and it still beeped at me. They probably thought I had drugs or something. I had to go get frisked while Matt watched me with a look that said he was torn between feeling bad for me and wanting to laugh at me. *sigh* Silly airport things. I wasn't even wearing anything metallic but the hooks on my brastrap (which were setting it off).
Anyway, then we just killed time until our plane left. And by "killed time" I mean I talked to my dad on the phone like 37 times about how our plane was on time, I'd call him in Dallas (where we had a 1.5 hour layover), etc. My poor dad. He gets so anal about stuff like that. Our plane left at a little after 11:00 and we had almost a three-hour flight to Dallas... uneventful, we just read and relaxed. I love flying. I love traveling. :-) So then, in Dallas, we grabbed some lunch and found our gate and just hung out and kept reading. We find out after a bit that our plane's thirty minutes delayed. (It was supposed to leave at 2:30 Dallas time, and had been postponed to 3:03.) So I call my dad (again) and let him know, and he says he'll call Mimi and Papa. Then the flight gets delayed again, till 3:30 this time. Well, we didn't start boarding until around 3:30, at which point the pilot tells us that the reason we were so late was because the plane had had maintenance work done earlier that day and had been playing "catch-up" since then. Well, fine, just get us in the air, already, right? Wrong... apparently the delay had resulted in a seriously undermanned gate because of timing, so after we'd sat on the plane for 20 minutes or so we heard that they hadn't even finished getting the last flight's luggage off of the plane, much less started loading ours. All told, we didn't get in the air until after 4:00, over an hour and a half after we were supposed to. Kind of annoying, really. :-/ But we got to Phoenix safely, which was the important thing, and we even got there in time to drop stuff off at the grandparents' house before going to their church's Maundy Thursday dinner/service with them. We met like the entire congregation, none of whom I really remembered, of course, but Mimi was thrilled to be able to introduce her oldest granddaughter and her boyfriend, so Matt and I didn't mind. Dinner was soup and bread - plain, but yummy. The service was nice, depressing, but nice. I mean, it was Holy Thursday. So what'd you expect. This random woman came and sat next to Papa and Matt and me and when the pastor asked for prayer requests she kept raising her hand and asking for stuff. It was kind of sad, really... she seemed pretty bad off and actually asked for money, without really asking. One of those "I'm in need of money, so please pray that I get some" things. Papa gave her some after the service, which isn't necessarily something I would have done, but then, they have money to spare, so they can afford to be generous. When Mimi introduced us to her choir buddies, they came up with the idea that Matt and I should sing with them at the Easter Sunday service, which was kind of unexpected, but of course we were up for it, so Mimi brought the music home for us to look at. It was kind of cool just to be asked to sing with them like that. :-)
After the service we went to my cousins' house to say hi, and so Matt got to meet Kathy and the kids (Vince, Stephen, and Sarah). Stephen, Sarah, and Kathy all played the piano for us, which was cool. We didn't stay long cause the kids had school on Friday, but it was nice to see them. (Brian hadn't yet gotten back in town from one of his two-week business trips to Asia. Crazy.) Then we just went back to the grandparents' house. They have a pool in the back, with a view onto a really pretty golf course, and they're in the foothills of the small mountain range in Phoenix, so the vista is really gorgeous. We spent the evening out by the pool (we were both in suits, but I opted not to get in after Matt jumped in and, teeth chattering, tried to convince me that it wasn't cold), just talking and relaxing. Matt started reading Forrest Gump to me (we read to each other, it's just something we both enjoy) and was reading in a voice pretty similar to the Tom Hanks version, and my Papa stood at the door and watched for a little bit, looking really confused. It was very funny to me -- very embarrassing for poor Matt when I told him later, haha. :-) But such a great beginning to the weekend. Wow. Arizona = beautiful. My family = absolutely great. Matt = amazing. Kira = happy girl. :-)
More to come later....
ps. props to Karen for having FOUR SOLOS in her Chamber Singers concert this Friday night! Sorry I can't be there, Karen...
pps. FUtones/Improv show this Friday at 5:00 in Burgess. :-) In Greenville? Come on by!
Wednesday, April 12
Everyone else had to go to classes on Thursday, but Matt and I were done on Wednesday because we drove up to Greensboro that night! :-) So that was fun. After some seriously last-minute packing and cd-making on my part, we finally got on the road at a little after 5:00. (I love car trips, by the way. I could totally be the kind of person who just hops in the car and drives all over the country, stopping where and when I feel like it... if I could afford that kind of vagabond lifestyle, anyway. Gypsy blood or something.) Got into Greensboro and went to Fuddrucker's with Dad and Michael -- that was fun. Every time I see my little brothers I am newly amazed at how old they're getting. I was really glad I got the chance to have dinner with Michael before we left since I wasn't going to see him again this break. Jack would've been there, but he was out of town, so it was just the four of us. But we had a good time.
Then Matt and I went back to Mom's and visited a little with her and Doc. We went out to Barnes & Noble to buy another copy of Forrest Gump, cause Matt couldn't find his copy before we left. While we were there we ended up getting other reading material too, of course. Cause that's what happens when Matt and I go to bookstores. :-) Then... oh yeah, I modeled some dresses for Matt to pick one for me to wear to Junior/Senior which is... next weekend I think? Fun times. :-) Then bed, because Thursday morning came really early....
Thursday, April 13
...6:15, to be exact. Phew. Early. But that's when Mom's alarm went off for her to get ready for work, and that's what woke me up, so I went ahead and showered and packed and stuff. We were on the road to the Raleigh/Durham airport at 8:00. More fun car trips. :-) We got to the parking garage at the airport and Matt was all excited because it has one of those swirly roads up to the different levels of the garage -- he says you only ever see those in the movies, so he thought it was very cool that we were driving up one. Haha, I love my boyfriend. We went and checked our bag (we just shared my huge suitcase cause it made more sense to do that) -- it was 49 pounds! *whistles* Very heavy. And just under the 50 lb limit, although we didn't really think about that until later... anyway. So then we had to go through the security stuff. I was telling Matt about how I've been stopped and felt up - I mean, searched - a couple times; seems to be just my bad luck. And then (surprise) it happened again. I went through the arch and it beeped, and I swear, they made me take everything off but my clothes and it still beeped at me. They probably thought I had drugs or something. I had to go get frisked while Matt watched me with a look that said he was torn between feeling bad for me and wanting to laugh at me. *sigh* Silly airport things. I wasn't even wearing anything metallic but the hooks on my brastrap (which were setting it off).
Anyway, then we just killed time until our plane left. And by "killed time" I mean I talked to my dad on the phone like 37 times about how our plane was on time, I'd call him in Dallas (where we had a 1.5 hour layover), etc. My poor dad. He gets so anal about stuff like that. Our plane left at a little after 11:00 and we had almost a three-hour flight to Dallas... uneventful, we just read and relaxed. I love flying. I love traveling. :-) So then, in Dallas, we grabbed some lunch and found our gate and just hung out and kept reading. We find out after a bit that our plane's thirty minutes delayed. (It was supposed to leave at 2:30 Dallas time, and had been postponed to 3:03.) So I call my dad (again) and let him know, and he says he'll call Mimi and Papa. Then the flight gets delayed again, till 3:30 this time. Well, we didn't start boarding until around 3:30, at which point the pilot tells us that the reason we were so late was because the plane had had maintenance work done earlier that day and had been playing "catch-up" since then. Well, fine, just get us in the air, already, right? Wrong... apparently the delay had resulted in a seriously undermanned gate because of timing, so after we'd sat on the plane for 20 minutes or so we heard that they hadn't even finished getting the last flight's luggage off of the plane, much less started loading ours. All told, we didn't get in the air until after 4:00, over an hour and a half after we were supposed to. Kind of annoying, really. :-/ But we got to Phoenix safely, which was the important thing, and we even got there in time to drop stuff off at the grandparents' house before going to their church's Maundy Thursday dinner/service with them. We met like the entire congregation, none of whom I really remembered, of course, but Mimi was thrilled to be able to introduce her oldest granddaughter and her boyfriend, so Matt and I didn't mind. Dinner was soup and bread - plain, but yummy. The service was nice, depressing, but nice. I mean, it was Holy Thursday. So what'd you expect. This random woman came and sat next to Papa and Matt and me and when the pastor asked for prayer requests she kept raising her hand and asking for stuff. It was kind of sad, really... she seemed pretty bad off and actually asked for money, without really asking. One of those "I'm in need of money, so please pray that I get some" things. Papa gave her some after the service, which isn't necessarily something I would have done, but then, they have money to spare, so they can afford to be generous. When Mimi introduced us to her choir buddies, they came up with the idea that Matt and I should sing with them at the Easter Sunday service, which was kind of unexpected, but of course we were up for it, so Mimi brought the music home for us to look at. It was kind of cool just to be asked to sing with them like that. :-)
After the service we went to my cousins' house to say hi, and so Matt got to meet Kathy and the kids (Vince, Stephen, and Sarah). Stephen, Sarah, and Kathy all played the piano for us, which was cool. We didn't stay long cause the kids had school on Friday, but it was nice to see them. (Brian hadn't yet gotten back in town from one of his two-week business trips to Asia. Crazy.) Then we just went back to the grandparents' house. They have a pool in the back, with a view onto a really pretty golf course, and they're in the foothills of the small mountain range in Phoenix, so the vista is really gorgeous. We spent the evening out by the pool (we were both in suits, but I opted not to get in after Matt jumped in and, teeth chattering, tried to convince me that it wasn't cold), just talking and relaxing. Matt started reading Forrest Gump to me (we read to each other, it's just something we both enjoy) and was reading in a voice pretty similar to the Tom Hanks version, and my Papa stood at the door and watched for a little bit, looking really confused. It was very funny to me -- very embarrassing for poor Matt when I told him later, haha. :-) But such a great beginning to the weekend. Wow. Arizona = beautiful. My family = absolutely great. Matt = amazing. Kira = happy girl. :-)
More to come later....
ps. props to Karen for having FOUR SOLOS in her Chamber Singers concert this Friday night! Sorry I can't be there, Karen...
pps. FUtones/Improv show this Friday at 5:00 in Burgess. :-) In Greenville? Come on by!
posted by Kira at 12:22 PM
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