Birthday Lunch

Today, we decided to head into Scottsdale to have DH's birthday lunch at Tommy Bahama Restaurant located in Kierland Commons. When eating there, you have 3 options: 1-on the downstairs patio under the misters, 2-upstairs inside with A/C or 3-upstairs on the balconey. Since we enjoyed the upstairs balconey so much last time, the 3 of us grabbed 2 couches and ordered lunch. The overall feel of the place is complete relaxation! Their moto is "Relax. Life is one long weekend!" The wait staff is always wonderful and very attentive.
See the relaxed look of DH and DW! We love it here!!

We wanted to prove to everyone that we really do have a friend here in AZ! Here's the 3 of us after lunch.

After leaving the restaurant, we walked to the center of the shopping area, looking for the Coldstone Creamery for dessert. On the way, DW snapped this shot of shops/street.

If you click on the above image and look near the center, you can see the mist cloud under shop overhang. All of the shops and restaurants here have outdoor misters that spray and help cool the air on the sidewalks so you can be out there shopping in 110 degree heat but it feels much cooler under the misters! You know, you can't have all the trophy wives sweating when spending their sugar daddy's money!!
Within Kierland Commons, they have a really neat kid friendly area. There are many water jets that spray in different sequences and the kids are able to play in the water! All 3 of us were tempted to join the kids! But we didn't! Maybe next time!

Wine Bottle Holders

We've been shopping now at a local grocery store that has these cute wine bottle holders to display your bottles of wine. DH & DW were never big wine connoisseurs but after our last get together posted in an earlier blog, we went through every bottle of wine we had in the house. It was a GREAT evening with friends that we will not forget. We have walked past these for several weeks now and DH commented on we need to get that one, and "OH look at that one over there". Well we broke down and HAD to have these. One is a bear that reminds us of home, and the other is of Mexican or is that French decent that we had to have. The bears name is Bubba & the Sombrero wearing figurine's name is Frenchie. We tried to find "Frenchie" with a pink sombrero or at least a shirt, but to no avail. We've never seen anything like these in MN. One of the employee's at the grocery store had helped us find our missing "Frenchie" As we were in the store the previous night and had spotted him. Tonight however "Frenchie" was missing & the female employee knew EXACTLY who we were talking about. As she pointed out "Frenchie" and handed him to us she commented "HOW TACKY". Look at the following blog re: rocks on head! Guess that's why DH had to have these. Yep, we thought this one is tacky & after a short car ride, he made himself at home.

We're hoping after a short time, that he'll make us breakfast, vacuum, clean the windows and walk the dogs!
"Para nuestros amigos. Los echamos mucho de menos."

Our first palm tree EVER!

Well today was DH's B'day & we received some B'day cards in the mail and lots of cell phone well wishes. DH's mom made a personal "artistic" card with a photo of DH when he was just a child. WOW was that a long time ago! He was very happy with the fort he made until his father came home and made him remove the rocks and debris from the roof of the fort so he wouldn't get hurt. Little does DAD know that it actually DID fall on my head at one point and that's why I am the way I am today! "CHUCKLES"!

DH's mother in law also sent a funny card with flamingos on it. It was great! DH got a little spending cash in the cards and decided that we need our first palm tree to spruce up the all rock backyard. DH & DW headed to Home Depot to check out the garden center. We found a great starter tree and pot to put it in. We brought them home & transplanted the palm tree and it made a huge difference in the feel of the landscaping. The sun went down tonight and you could actually hear the russel in the palm fronds as the wind blew. Did we mention that we grilled burgers tonight at 9:00 p.m. and it was 90 degrees? "Evil laugh!" We hope all is well with each and everyone of you.

ARIZONA DIAMONDBACKS

Tonight we had a treat like no other here in the Desert. DW won tickets at work to a Diamondbacks game and we attended it this evening. They won 9-1 "WOOHOO" It was nice to attend a baseball game where the home team actually WON a game! Seems the last few times we attended a TWINS game in MN they always lost. Tonight was a superb game of baseball. The stadium where they play is AWESOME to say the least. We know why MN is trying so hard to get a new stadium. Once you've been in an updated stadium such as Chase Field, it's easy to see why.



Here is DW & DH enjoying the game. Do you see how BIG our smiles are? This was the right move for us!!

Did we tell you how up to date this stadium is? They actually have a pool and hot tub out in right field that you can rent and use while the game is being played! How cool is that to get a bunch of people together to sit in a hot tub and or pool on the baseball field and watch the game.

All around the stadium as your walking around they have these great murals painted everywhere. It is such a different feel from being in the Metrodome that it would be hard to explain. Also the stadium roof retracts when the weather cools down in about 45 days. We plan on attending one of those games as a memory from DH's past was attending a baseball game at the old met stadium in MN.

Here is an example of the murals that are everywhere around the stadium.

Here is a view from our seats before the game started. We had a couple fly balls head our direction but we were about 14 seats away from the closest one. Oh well, "hit or miss".

Here is the Panda Express mascot throwing the opening pitch out to the Diamondbacks mascot Baxter. Steeeeeeerike!!

Medical Attention!

Both of our dogs, Phoebe and Muncie, have adjusted amazingly well to Arizona! They travelled here for 3 1/2 days like champs, basically only waking up for fuel/bathroom breaks! DH and DW couldn't have been happier!
Last week, we decided to take Phoebe to the vet because she'd had a spot under her left chin that had been irritated and she started scratching it so it swelled up. DW called several vet offices in the area and was told they were basically booked through September! She managed to find one that had an opening at 6:00 p.m., 1 hour from when she called.
So we grabbed her little muzzle and went to the vet. They were so awesome with her and with us. And she didn't bite anyone even after receiving 3 shots! We've found our new vet!
Turns out the vet moved here from Florida and currently owns an unoccupied house about 2 blocks away from us!
Phoebe got her medicine and we decided instead of a cone to prevent scratching, we would buy her a ring for around her neck to keep her from scratching.

Have you ever seen anything more pathetic!!
She's doing much better and the medicine is working well.
Soon she'll be back to her ornery self!

Home sweet Home!

Well today we took the time to walk down & take a photo of an accident scene that happened last evening. We're not sure what caused a car to careen off the road and strike a power transformer, but that's exactly what happened. It took the power out to the whole neighborhood. It did however (unfortunately) give a great opportunity for DH & DW to meet some neighbors. We met a couple that lives across the street from us. Actually when we moved in at one point we came home to cookies & a nice card that stated "welcome to the neighborhood" It was from them & they were so happy we were from the Midwest as they were from the Kansas City, KS. area and have been here less than a month. We walked with them to the accident scene & chatted about what we thought could have caused this. We came up with some educated guesses but we really don't know what happened. Our understanding is the victim was thrown from the vehicle & had to have CPR administered. The victim was hauled away by ambulance & we haven't heard anything since. Our prayers are with him/her. The impact was severe as it ripped the transformer from the concrete.

Amazingly, power was restored to the whole area within 47 minutes of the accident! The power company bypassed the transformer that was hit & was able to route it through another. We thought the 97 degree heat at that time of night would be a killer for everyone. Not the case.....

As we walked back to the house we thought this would be a great time to snap some photos of where we live. Here is a photo of the development we are living in. We actually love the location as it's 20 minutes from everything.

The neighborhood has it's own parks for the kids to play in & this one is actually just around the corner from us.

Here is a photo of the front of our house. It's awesome & we couldn't be happier living here. The only thing we are missing is a pool. Our next door neighbors have one, unfortunately we haven't met them yet, but we know we will soon. Perhaps they'll let us come over for a quick dip? A couple times we have thought Hmmmmm could we jump the block wall? We have been taught very well by our parents & we know that is NOT the correct way to make friends......

Hope all is well........ We miss you guys! TnA

Island Fever! AZ style.....

We trekked out on another adventure today to a little shopping area called Desert Ridge. We met up with our friend Tony last night & his girlfriend Debbie for a couple of drinks. We went to a place called Rock Bottom Brewery. It was a delightful place & the ambiance was incredible. This morning when we awoke we decided to head back and check it out in the day light. It is a great place about 12 minutes from the house heading East on the 101 & from a valley point of view about 20 minutes. Seems anywhere you want to go here in the Phoenix area worth heading to you, your average travel time is about 20 minutes. We walked around the strip mall & decided we were both hungry. We passed a nice looking place called "ISLANDS" & we decided this looked like a nice place to have lunch.

We had a great lunch & noticed they had a great menu for EXOTIC drinks. We thought when people come to visit that this would be a great place for us to take friends.

We finished eating & ventured out to see everything we missed last night in the darkness. DH was impressed that they have a "GREEN" vehicle you can purchase to drive around. It's called a TOMCAR. YEP you read it right. a "TOMCAR"

It looks like an over sized 4-wheeler, but It was awesome!

We walked around some more & they actually have a place for familys to stop & let the kids play in the water to cool off. We have seen this in numerous other places exploring. When it's hot your children have a safe place to cool off & enjoy the water. Anyone else who feels the need to get wet and cool off are welcome as well. "SHERI" lets make it clear right now that this a child friendly place. LOL!
DW decided that she was a little warm & needed to cool off her feet, Here is a photo of DW being a little kid.

It was so cute!!! We are surviving well here in the Valley of the sun & can't wait for our first visitors. We have soooo many places to take each and everyone of you that it will boggle your mind! We have noticed that the usual places to hang out in Slow-ah-Ton-ah have NOTHING to offer like Phoenix does. We are so glad we have decided to broaden our horizons! We both believe you're here only once & we will make the most of it.