Yet again 0 photos
Maya and I took a road trip with Grama to Phoenix for Auntie Anda's graduation from Nursing School. Yes she rocks.
Maya did great on the drive out. We stopped a couple of times to stretch and run around and eat awful fast food. Mc Donalds fries are fantastic, Burger King's onion rings not so much. But their soft serve vanilla shake with fudge made up for it. And Taco Bell tostadas are #1 They are messy as heck but win out for best fast food for sure. Maya saw a lot of trucks, and listened to the acoustic Eddie Vedder CD nonstop both ways.
While in Phoenix we stayed with Aunite Anda and Uncle Ben in their beautiful home which they scrubbed from top to bottom for me so I didnt have an allergy attack from their 2 sweet dogs Cody and Charlie. Maya was scared of them at first but by the time we left, she was petting Cody, and still talks about them now.
The graduation was supposed to be from 10am-2pm, but it ended a bit early and there was an hour break between the ceremony and pinning.
Maya did as well as a 21 month old could, and passed out the second we left.
We ate SO well every day it was fantastic. Highlights include dinner at True Foods, graduation celebration dinner at Sapporo which was a Teppanyaki restaurant. Maya LOVED watching the chef cook right in front of her, but cried when he did something that released a TON of steam right in her face. It didnt burn her, it was just smokey and kinda scary for her. Thats where I discovered my love of Dark and Stormy cocktails thanks to Uncle Ben. And finally farewell brunch at The Wrigley Mansion. As in Wrigley Gum. Uncle Ben basically runs the place and totally hooked us up. It was SO delicious. After we ate he took us on a tour of the amazing and unique property. I cant believe that mansion was someones home. The Wrigley's built the luxurious Biltmore hotel right next door so their friends had somewhere to stay when they were in town. The Hormel family (as in Hormel chili and Dinty Moore beef stew) now owns the Mansion. See I was paying attention on Uncle Ben's tour!
After brunch it was time to drive home. Surprisingly Maya didnt fall asleep until we were 10 minutes from my moms house at 6pm. I tried to wake her up, but it didnt work, and she slept until 7am the next morning.
She talked our ears off the entire ride home about Cody and Charlie, and the garbage trucks which are her most favorite thing ever. And just so you know, Green bins are for compost, Black are for trash and Blue is for recycling. She said this over and over and over. She also asked me to play the Eddie CD over and over. And asked for a snack every 10 minutes.
We were sad to leave and miss everyone already but were THRILLED to share in Anda's special day.
