Back Home Again...

Back home again in Indiana,
And it seems that I can see
The gleaming candlelight, still shining bright,
Through the sycamores for me.
The new-mown hay sends all its fragrance
From the fields I used to roam.
When I dream about the moonlight on the Wabash,
Then I long for my Indiana home.

The Indiana Lesnet's are back home again and although we had a fantastic time out in the desert, we are sure glad to be back!

We flew from Indy to Phoenix on Friday (June 6) arriving in Phoenix at around 7pm Arizona time. Kai did amazingly well on the flight, he did fuss a little bit but most people couldn't hear him because the back half of the plane was connecting to Vegas and they were very loud (in fact, the last couple of passengers had to be helped off of the plane because they were too tipsy). Kai was so good that the ladies in the row in front of us didn't even know that there was a baby on board until they were departing the plane!

Arizona is 3 hours behind Indiana, so that was about 10pm, which is waaaayyyy past young Mr. Kai's bedtime. We picked up our rental car (we splurged for a mini van, a Toyota Sienna) and promptly headed to the closest In-N-Out burger. After burgers, we headed down to Tucson that evening. We got to the Martin's house in Tucson at about 9:00 AZ time (midnight for us Indiana folks). Kai's timing was a bit off with the time change. He pretty much settled in to waking up on Indiana time and going to bed on AZ time. Stephanie and I definitely didn't catch up on any sleep while we were away.

On Saturday morning (6/7), I left at the crack of dawn and headed up to Casa Grande (half way between Phoenix & Tucson) to play some golf at Mission Royale Golf Club. It has been a long winter and I struggled mightily, but it was nice to get out and play. The rest of our Saturday was pretty chill as we all got caught up, ate some hamburgers, and watched the Kai and Cole play.

On Sunday (6/8), all 6 of us went up to Mount Lemmon. We had plenty of room for us 4 adults and the boys in the Sienna. On the way up, we had lunch at a Chuy's Baja Broiler. The food there is great and rumor has it that Lance Armstrong is a big fan of them, but after doing a bit of online research, I'm not sure if they are the same Chuy's (the menu's and mascots are different). We had a great time on Mount Lemmon. We have been up there before but we hadn't been to Rose Canyon Lake which is where we went this time. It was nice to beat the heat with by seeking some higher ground and the boys really liked the hikes being held in their carriers. On our way back, we had dinner at this pizza joint called Oregano's. That place was very good!

On Monday (6/9), Stephanie spent much of her day trying to get a report finished up for work, so I spent much of the day playing with Kai and Cole. We had lunch from Taco Juan's down in Tucson, it's a local joint and it is amazing! We make sure that we eat there every time we make it to Tucson. I did manage to get out and play 18 practice holes at Silverbell Golf Course. I made a huge comeback on my scoring and really started to shake some of that winter rust off of my golf swing. During golf, Stephanie and Tracey watched a chick flick. On Monday evening, we took the boys swimming for the first time in the Martin pool. It was neat the way that they kicked their legs as they were swimming around. They had a good time, but they got tired of it pretty quickly as well.

On Tuesday (6/10), we went shopping. We went shopping for Father's day gifts in the morning. In the afternoon, we went shopping for some clothes for me and went to the outlet mall to see if we could find any good deals on sneakers. On Tuesday evening, Stephanie and Tracey made The Pioneer Woman's Chicken Spaghetti, this stuff is AWESOME. It is so good that I think you should stop reading the blog and start making some Chicken Spaghetti. The spaghetti needs to bake in the oven for a while so you can come back and finish reading the blog while your dinner is baking.

Wednesday (6/11) was back to the golf course but not before we had some breakfast burritos from Nico's Mexican Food. Wow, these are the best breakfast burritos we've ever had and they are super cheap. If you are still reading this and haven't started making your Chicken Spaghetti yet, then I suggest you open another browser window and book some tickets to Tucson so that you can get some Nico's. While you are there, make sure you also check out Taco Juans! Chuck and I played Del Urich Golf Course. The Martins and the Lesnets had dinner that night at My Big Fat Greek Restaurant. I had lunch at a My Big Fat Greek Restaurant last year up in Phoenix and I really liked it. The food for dinner was okay but our server was fantastic. She was this young Greek chick (around 21-25) who questioned my manhood for not ordering something that was Greek enough. We ordered the Zeus Beer, isn't that Greek enough?

On Thursday (6/12), we ate at Nico's again! That alone would make for a great day, but after eating a burrito, we drove up to Phoenix to play golf at the Cattail Course at Whirlwind Golf Resort with Tracey's dad. I swung the club pretty well but the greens were lightning fast so my putting was terrible. I definitely played better than I scored.

After golf on Thursday, we went up to the North side of the city to see the Patterson's and their girls. The Patterson's used to live up here in Indy but they moved out to Phoenix a little over a year ago. We had a cookout with them and were able to get a nice picture of our families.

Friday the 13th - Return to Indy

Pharaoh said, "I will let you go to offer sacrifices to the LORD your God in the desert, but you must not go very far. Now pray for me." - Exodus 8:28