Scottsdale, Arizona

After a few different mix-ups with directions and movie times, we finally made it to the art haus theater next to the Fashion Square Mall in downtown Scottsdale. 4:15 showing of “The Kids Are All Right,” starring Annette Benning, Marc Ruffalo, and (annoyingly) Julie Ann Moore. Not a bad way to kill two hours, especially in the freezing cold AC.

Pizza for dinner with CCHH, some very entertaining “Apples to Apples” competition, and the second half of Grease before heading to bed. Very much looking forward to a day with the girls tomorrow.

LVL up at the crack in order to take Chris to work, as we need two cars in order to take the Subaru in for its 3500 mi check-up. After a drive through Scottsdale, we dropped off the car and headed back home to hang out with the girls.

Kids and I played Sorry and some other stuff while LVL continued working. As expected, I finished last in just about everything we did. About 11:30 we took to the road in Chris’s enormous truck, headed for lunch at Paradise Bakery.

A busy place, something like a desert Cosi, with a mix of mid-day work crowd and young families. Salads, sandwiches, and kids mac and cheese/yogurt/cookie bags. Quick, and pretty good. After dropping a salad off with Chris, we headed to see “Despicable Me” in 3D. The movie was cute, the 3D was pretty cool, and Steve Carell speaking in a Russian accent stole the show.

The girls are hilarious, and tons of fun to be with. I wonder if they realize that they’re getting the full grandparents’ treatment from us. Like most Nanas, we indulge them at every turn* and love doing it. From the theater to The Yogurt Bar for a quick fix. For us, a pretty staid choco-vanilla-cookie dough concoction; Helena and Hannah go nuts, with Nerds, Gummy things, fruit, and so on. Clearly, a self-serve yogurt place like this is a kid’s dream.

Driving and yogurt eating, all the way to Chris’s office and then home. Almost immediately, LVL, Hannah, and Chris back on the road, this time to pick up the Subaru. Helena and I stayed back, with plenty of time to play Sorry and Life.** Shockingly, no problems with the car. I’m actually more inclined to believe that the dealership does shoddy work. Hopefully not. One way or another, we’ve got a clean bill of health and approx. 4000 miles to go in less than three weeks. Fingers crossed.

Brats, dogs, and veggie burgers for din, with sides of salad and Doritos. All in great spirits, esp Catherine, who spent part of her day on what sounds very much like a perfunctory interview for a new job with a well-funded tech company. More fingers crossed.

* [Ed. note: Except that we would only let them play one game each at the movie theater arcade. Hannah took that well. Helena, not so psyched about our life lesson on choices/limits/cheapness.]

** I love Sorry. Great memories of playing it as a kid and fun with it now. Life, on the other hand, is basically the worst game I’ve ever played. Nothing interesting, exciting, or fun about it, and on top of boring-ass game play, it sends a pretty bad message. Of course, winners are millionaires and losers are bankrupt, sent off to the woods to “philosophize” by themselves. Despite all of this, it was kinda fun, but only because Helena says stuff like, “I don’t care about getting $150,000. I want to get a daughter…now. NOW!”

Said goodbye to the girls and to Catherine, finished packing up the car, and then hit the mean streets of Scottsdale to meet Chris for brunch at U.S. Egg. 10 mins or so later, past several nondescript strip malls, highway on/off ramps, etc., we arrived, ready to be caffeinated. Service mediocre (at best, not as doting or as nice as they were at Butterfield's), food good. For me, spinach Florentine (hollandaise on the side); bagel and cream cheese instead of English muffin. Few things as tasty as cheesy egg on a bite of cream cheesy bagel.* Great to have a bit of time to hang out with Chris. It’s no wonder H and H are so smart, funny, and well-grounded.

* It is painfully obvious that the portrait I’ve painted of myself these indulgent two months is of a gluttonous, food-obsessed, one-track-mind with vaguely disgusting preferences. If the shoe fits, I guess…