Donuts, Downpours, and Dinner

Wow, it has been awhile since I had time to continue this vacation recap :/ Let's see how my memory holds up :) I know that Buck got up really early and drove through the pouring rain to a donut shop our friends suggested. He walked in the door, saw the one bursting at the seams with cream filling and said, "That one is for my wife!"



Because we needed something kind of indoorsy to do on a rainy morning, we followed another suggestion of our friends and checked out Modern Round. It's a daytime nightclub that looks swanky, but is for playing video games. Kind of like James Bond-ish. The waitress lady picks up a silver suitcase and escorts you to your lounge. Then she opens the case and shows off all the replica weapons, explaining how to use the lasers to shoot stuff on the big screen in front of you. We stuck to low-key games like robots, hidden picture, and clay pigeons. When I say "we" I mean everyone but me . . . but I did like the overpriced pretzels ;)









Buck and the boys thought it was pretty cool :) Maybe more of an adult vibe than a youth vibe, I thought. Anyway, we were delayed in leaving due to the monsoon outside. Crazy! 

Our plan was to swing by In-n-Out for lunch on our way to Buck's aunt and uncle's house. The rain came slanting in the window, completely soaking Buck and the vehicle in the short time it took to order a few double-doubles, shakes, and fries. He had to put his pants in the dryer at his aunt's house--THAT's how wet he got!



As you can see, there was a lot of water and nowhere for it to go. We drove through flooded street after flooded street, choosing not to cross the emergency drains, which were flowing over the bridges where vehicles were supposed to cross.





When we did arrive at Buck's aunt and uncle's there was a brief break in the rain, so we ran out to the van and grabbed Grandma J's Christmas gift (yes, I fit that in our luggage :) We might have driven Z a bit crazy, since she has to wait for Christmas for hers, but Grandma J knew what to expect and couldn't wait a whole 'nother month and a half!





I'd say she was pretty happy with the result of her t-shirt quilt :) All four kids contributed, cutting, arranging, pinning, sewing . . . it was a big project!



In the picture above I asked Z to smile. When I showed her the pic, she said, "I was smiling." Ha! Well, at least Buck was smiling ;) The second try worked out better, those pretty green eyes!

As you can see in the background, a pretty intense game of Uno started up at the back table. I'm not going to say it was as wild and crazy as that Pictionary game I experienced almost two decades ago, but they certainly don't go easy on their game experiences in this family, lol!

When the rain let up once more (it was very downpour, sprinkle, stop, downpour, sprinkle, stop), Buck's uncle took us to tour their retirement community amenities. Wow! What a set up! Everyone but Caelan and myself got to tour the woodshop (we didn't have closed-toed shoes). The homeowners can pay like $15 for the year and have access to all the classes in woodworking, metalworking, jewelry-making, pottery, etc. etc. etc. Buck said the woodshop was amazing and very well thought out. Caelan and I browsed the gift shop, where I finally found the toaster tongs I've been trying to replace for like eight years since my IKEA ones snapped! Caelan also found a cute dog leash hanger for the pups' leashes (which we can either not find or annoyingly find wherever they were last dropped).

In addition to the community learning classes, there are multiple gyms, bowling alleys, golf courses, pools, pickle ball courts--you name it! All for a low, low price. I don't think you could ever run out of things to do if you tried!



Buck's mom and aunt and a neighbor/friend from Colorado made us a delicious Mexican food meal for dinner. We were spoiled and stuffed! We rolled ourselves out of the door (nice double rainbow!) and headed back to our friends' house. 

Their kids hoped our kids could check out their youth group as they had checked out our kids' youth group earlier this summer. Buck and I sat in the lobby and talked to a teacher lady, and I got basically none of the book done that I was supposed to be reading for our second year of church "school" :) (But I ended up writing a paper on it by accident, so I think that gets me out of writing the one that's due in two days . . . maybe? :)







The kids were super bummed that it was their last night together! We had to take a picture or two to remember all the fun. And of course Jen and I had to snag a picture together too--we've known each other half our lives!! It's pretty great to have long-time friends and to know that our kids enjoy each other's company, too (heart emoji)!