For the first time in 5 years, we spent Thanksgiving week with Eve's family in Mesa, Arizona (her parents, Heber, Ruth, Heather, Gloria, and Raul). Although in recent years I've dreaded making the 12 hour drive there, we decided to drive it in one day to go there (last Monday) and again to come back (on Saturday). And the drive wasn't as bad as I feared, as long as I kept myself awake (eating, listening to music, getting mad at other drivers, etc.) and the kids stayed occupied (watching movies, playing games on smart phones, sleeping, etc.).
Of the four days we stayed at the house in Mesa where Eve's parents live, Eve and I spent the first two painting the front bathroom. It was a gross purple color with chipping paint and caulking everywhere, so we prepped and sanded it the first day, and painted a layer of primer and two coats of white (swiss coffee) the second day. It's amazing how paint can transform a room! The pictures don't quite do justice to how much a difference it made to the look and feel of the bathroom. And we also took the opportunity to make a few other touch-ups, like taking the paint off the metal window frame, replacing the old painted toilet paper holder with a new chrome one, and adding a towel rack over the toilet. It was a fun little project for Eve and I to tag team together.
On Thursday while we waited to have a big dinner with all of Eve's extended relatives in the area over at the nearby cultural hall, my family, Ruth, Gloria, and Raul played a round of miniature golf at Golfland. It had been quite awhile since I'd played a good 18 holes on a decent mini-golf course, and it brought back memories of playing mini-golf with my family growing up in Michigan over at the Cascades and Ella Sharp courses in Jackson.
After doing a little Black Friday shopping Thursday evening and Friday morning, we had a particularly special experience Friday afternoon. We headed over to the Chandler mall and had our kids visit a very special Santa (Uncle Johnny). After years of hearing of Johnny's Christmas alter ego, it was really neat to finally see him as Santa in person. Soon after we met Johnny and Linda for dinner at a nearby Chile's. As soon as we saw them at the restaurant, Landon blurted out "He's Santa!". Us adults had a good laugh and quickly changed the subject. Cameron and Haylee seemed to think it was funny that Landon thought of Santa when seeing Johnny, though it's still unclear to me whether they actually made the connection. None of the kids have said anything about it since, so I think the magic and spirit of Santa have still been preserved for our kids, at least for now.
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