Brady's 1st Audition for Sports Broadcasting

Tempe, AZ Trip

June 24-26, 2009

I had some extra time for my vacation days since the Girls Trip was shortened from 2 weeks to 4 days, and I realized that I would be missing a couple of drum corps shows due to the Girls Trip. I saw that there would be a drum corps show in Glendale, AZ where I would be able to see Vanguard, so I asked the Bro to hook me up with a ticket, and I'd be there.

I know what you're thinking. It's HOT there in June, right? Well, yeah. Bro said that it would be in the 100s. But I had the time, and drum corps shows aren't until the evening, so it should be OK. Well, you know what? It's still hot in the evening over there, but at least the sun isn't blazing on your body during that time. It was actually fine. (Drum Corps show report to be posted at a later date).

It turns out that my trip happened to be during the last week that Bro and family would be living in their apartment, as they were scheduled to close escrow by the end of the month. I missed having my own room by *that* much. Oh, well.

On the first day, Bro was working, so V and I hung out. She picked me up at the airport, and asked if I wanted to go to Cracker Barrel. Um, YEAH!!! She said that Bro had been raving about the pancakes ever since I took him there, so she needed to try them for herself. You know me, always willing to oblige and eat the wonderful pancakes of CB. V ordered those for herself and I ordered a breakfast skillet so that we could share whatever. The skillet was tasty, although I prefer the pancakes. V was impressed by the pancakes, too. I tell you, they're the BEST!

We then hung out at the house for a little while, and caught up on stuff. She was absolutely hilarious when we first got home because of the way she usually sits around when she's pregnant. APPARENTLY, this method is not supposed to be done when there are guests in the house, no matter how close of family we are. She caught herself before this happened, but of course she told me so that I could have a good belly laugh. She's really cute with her little baby bump! I don't know why I didn't get a picture, sorry.

After a few hours, we finally decided that we were hungry again, so we tried out a new place for her, Pho Ao Sen. Yes, we had Pho. It was over 100 degrees outside, and I still agreed to have soup. Craziness. But it was tasty, and so was V's lemonade drink thing. I think it was the Da Chanh, because she said that she didn't want carbonation. Anyway, I was happy because there was a Pella store in the same set of buildings. It just fit the tone of my whole June vacation time!

That night, Bro and I went to the drum corps show. Brady was not happy that we left him at home, but Bro explained to him that he didn't think Brady could handle a 3-hour event. Brady didn't care about that, so V had to deal with him all night. Sorry, V. The weather at the show was actually quite pleasant. It was 96 degrees when we left at 10:30 p.m. But no sun!

The next day was for Bro to hang out with me. They lived in luxury apartments, so I went for some free Starbuck's coffee in their lounge, and marveled at all the cool stuff that was available, like a pool table and games. We went to Arizona Mills to price some washer/dryers. While we were there, we went into some Discount Warehouse kind of place, wherein I saw a hippo. These were my words as I walked quickly over to it and looked at it: "It's a hippo! It's a stapler! It's a dollar!" So I bought it. Duh. We then had a delicious lunch at Joe's Crab Shack, where Bro had one of these, called a "Shark Bite."

The vial is supposed to be "blood", but the gal poured the liquid into the drink before I could get a picture of it. You can still see the red swirling in there, though. Pretty cool, huh? And tasty! PLUS, you get to KEEP the shark! So Bro decided to make it a little surprise in Brady's tub for his bath that night. I had yummy crab cake sliders to eat, and Bro had the Surf N Turf burger. He wisely asked for no lettuce or tomatoes so that he could actually get his mouth around the thing, it was so big.

We then met up with the realtor to go through the final walk-through of the new house. The dogs are going to be happy with their grassy area, the family will be happy with their new pool, and Tita Sherry will be happy to have a whole guest room! :) V and I picked up Brady from school. She asked what music he wanted to listen to. He said, "Rockapella." I LOVE this child! V decided to get a treat for us and we went for some T.C.B. We got home, and Brady decided that he wanted to take us to a dance club. We all wondered what this meant, but obliged. He had origami paper and used this to pay for our admission at the door to his room. Then he turned on some music (of COURSE it was Rockapella, DUH!), and we danced together. Little did we know that this was only the beginning of a MAJOR sugar high. Less than an hour later, the kid was bouncing up and down on my mattress, saying "Watch this!" all over the place. We were concerned that he'd hit his head, yes. We were more concerned, though, of our sanity, and wondered how long this would all last. Somehow, we got him to take a bath, probably only because we said there might be a surprise for him in the tub. He had lots of fun with that shark. I read a few books to him before he went to sleep, although actual sleep was way later than we wanted it to be. I like how his parents chose some books that had to do with having a new baby in the house. I really enjoyed that time with the nephew, and yes, he actually seemed to pay attention, despite the sugar.

The next day, Bro and I had to wait around because of the possibility that they would close escrow that day. So we had to stay close to home, or at least to a bank. We went to the nearby Fuddrucker's for lunch, which was yummy, but small compared to the ones that I'm used to. I mean, they didn't even have a big separate bakery section! What is THAT about? Bro's funny. He said that he never sees any cars there or at Joe's Crab Shack, but both places had plenty of customers when we were there. I don't think he actually pays attention.

Alas, escrow would have to wait to close until next week, so I couldn't be there for that celebration. When V and Brady got home, we played a little bit. I enjoyed listening to Brady do a play-by-play of every golf move when he was putting with Bro. Sometimes he would re-enact it in slo mo. Later on, Brady and Bro were playing a game combining balls and balloons. I somehow got up the nerve to go in there and take video. Here's a short play-by-play by Brady. I crack up that he has a Filipino accent even though neither of his parents speak that language. My parents sure have a great effect on him, though.

And here's the trauma I go through just so y'all can see what it's like to be in the center of the action:

It soon came time for me to go home, so V took me to the airport while Bro gave Brady a bath. I'm always sad to leave them, but at least I didn't cry this time. My flight home was full of "WOW! THAT'S CRAZY!!!" talk from the gals next to me, who had just met on the flight. It's good that I wasn't planning on sleeping or anything. We landed in Burbank, and I drove home, where a raccoon had just crossed the street several houses down from mine. I don't think that's something you see in Tempe every day, if any. Maybe next time I'm there, I'll get to see a roadrunner.

Thanks for the great time, Bro, V and Brady! You always make my time with you memorable.