Kyle asked Alan and I if we could go to AZ to watch Milo and Clara for a week while he was in TX for the eclipse and then in FL for a Conference. We were happy to help out. Little did we know that we would both get sick a couple of days prior to flying there. Fortunately, we felt well enough to travel and hoped that we wouldn't pass the illness on to other passengers.
When we got to the airport in Provo, we were pleasantly surprised to see Ann and Emily there at our gate. They were there for the same flight as we were. What a treat.
After caring for Cheryl's three young children, we found it so easy to watch after Kyle's kids who are older. They are very self-sufficient. They made their own school lunches before school, took their own showers, and entertained themselves. We just had to get them to and from school for three days, clean up now and then, cook meals, and make sure they got up on time in the morning and to bed on time at night.
On Saturday, we took them to a place called Pecan Lake in Queen Creek. Jared went with us. We ate lunch at Caldwell BBQ there. Delicious food to celebrate my birthday.
They have a place called Sky Time that's like a ropes course and has zip lines. This is the first time they had been there. They enjoyed it a lot for about an hour.
Here's a picture of them dressed in the harness ready to get hooked up to the cord allowing them to safely traverse the courses.
After finishing the ropes course, we grabbed some ice cream - a welcome treat on a hot day. Interestingly, Jared knew some of the young people working there that day - former or current students. One student, who's dad is a co-owner or connected somehow, bought our ice cream for us. Nice of him to do that!
We left when it started to get too hot to want to continue.
On the morning of my birthday, I went outside on the patio to accept a birthday call from my friend Vicki. My back was facing the apartment as I sat to chat with her. When I went back inside, the family room was decked very nicely with flowers and balloons. What a surprise from Jared. Here is a pic of the flowers (from the back - oops!) Four helium balloons are flying high above the flowers. Milo and Clara enjoyed playing with all the balloons.
After we returned home, we got a very warm welcome from Kessler, Wesley and Lainey. We made it home just before their bedtime. They missed us and we missed them. We were so excited to see each other again. Dog pile on Grandma!
