We checked into it and between Nate's Delta vouchers and frequent flyer miles, the four of us could fly to Tempe with him for free. Plus his company pays for his hotel room, food, and rental car so we really wanted to make it work. We booked our tickets and hotel and we were so excited to go.
The boys were beyond excited and it was a whole new adventure for us to plan, flying with 3 little kids who had never flown before.
We left on Monday, February 18th, Presidents day. We had packed as lightly as we dared but we still had a number of bags plus a car seat, a booster seat, and a stroller (and 3 kids) to drag through the airport. We looked like a circus act! Nate was carrying a backpack and at least 4 bags strapped around his neck plus carrying the car seat and holding one of the boy's hands. I (6 months pregnant) was pushing Lauryn in the stroller and carrying a couple of bags. And both boys had bulging backpacks on and were taking turns carrying Preston's booster seat. Waiting in line through security and boarding the plane and getting our array of luggage tucked into place while keeping a 2 year old under control was embarrassing and exhausting. But, we did it. Arizona here we come!
The kids did great on the flight! Nate and Preston sat near the back of the plane and Spencer and Lauryn sat next to me near the front of the plane. We had lots of activities/snacks for the kids and the 80 minute flight went by like a flash. The take off was so fun to watch the kids' expressions. Preston actually squealed when we took off and I heard him from the front of the plane. Several people sitting nearby giggled. The kids thought it was great! I took these pics with my phone and I wasn't sitting by Preston so I didn't get any of him.
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That concludes Day 1 in Arizona...unfortunately the trip took a turn for the worse after the first day.
(Notice the lack of pictures going forward....)
The next day was Tuesday, and Nate was working in the Tempe office Tuesday-Thursday. Then we were planning on playing around in Arizona all together on Friday and then flying back to Utah on Saturday. Since Nate was working Tuesday, he left early in the morning and drove the rental car up the road to work. The plan was that he would come bring the car back to us when we were up and ready to leave the hotel and we would drop him back off at work and head out to explore the Tempe area.
After Nate picked us up that first morning, as we drove him back over to his office he asked what we were going to do for the rest of the day. With it being around 9:30 in the morning, we had the whole day to explore. I told him I'd been thinking about driving 30 minutes South of Tempe, to Gilbert, to take the kids to a cool park I had looked up online. I had already planned to take the kids to the aquarium one day and the zoo one day. We were planning to go to a wild animal park called Out of Africa on Friday and those places are all pretty pricey so I thought relaxing at a nice, free, warm park sounded like a good plan for the day. But I told Nate I felt hesitant about driving that far away from Nate's office, with 3 little kids, being in an unfamiliar place, in a totally different state, while being 6 months pregnant. Nate told me he thought it sounded like a fun idea and I should go since Gilbert is a really safe area (it's where we most likely would have lived if we'd moved to Arizona last year). I told Nate I was going to mull it over some more before I decided. So we dropped him off and I drove the kids around Tempe for a few minutes to see if I could find a suitable park close by and there just aren't any parks in that area. I guess because it is so hot most of the year, parks aren't big in Arizona. So I plugged the address of the park into my GPS on my phone and we headed south to Gilbert.
Thirty minutes later we arrived at the park. It was easy to find and we unloaded and were excited to see a very large, park with GREEN grass and several ponds. I got the kids out of the car and started packing up my purse with the various snacks I had brought for the day. The rental car company gave us two sets of car keys (key-less remotes) and they were attached onto one ring. I only needed one set so I tried to unhook the two remotes from the ring but I couldn't undo the ring so I just shoved both sets into my purse. I also loaded up my cool new camera that I had just gotten for Christmas so I could snap some pics of the kids playing. We started to walk over to the park. Lauryn had noticed I had loaded up the stroller in the back of the car before we left the hotel and she insisted that I get the stroller out for her. I told her I didn't think we needed it but she really wanted to ride in it so I pulled it out of the back of the car. I then loaded Lauryn into the stroller, and placed my bulging purse into the storage area underneath the stroller seat. We were finally loaded up so I locked the car and we headed over to the park. It was quite a walk across a large grassy dip over to the playground. The kids and I trudged up the other side and no sooner did we reach the playground, when Preston said he needed to go to the bathroom. Fortunately there was a bathroom right there. So Preston and Spencer went potty (buddy system:) and I waited outside the bathroom for them. When they were finished we walked over to the sandy playground and the kids ditched their flip flops and had a blast playing on the playground for a long time.
Close to an hour later, I asked the kids if they wanted to walk over to some of the ponds and see the ducks. They thought that sounded like a great idea so they gathered up their flip flops and threw them in the stroller and we walked over to one of the ponds. There were a lot of ducks a little ways over closer to the other side of the pond so we started walking along side the pond closer to the ducks. It was very nerve wracking because there was no barrier or fence or anything to keep the kids from falling right into the water. The edge just dropped off. I kept telling the kids to stay back away from the edge because the last thing I wanted to do was dive into the disgusting duck poop filled pond to gather up my children.
As we got to the other end of the pond, I parked the stroller and we watched the ducks for a bit. The kids really wanted to feed the ducks so I walked over to the stroller and grabbed a bag of crackers out of my purse. We broke up the crackers and threw them to the ducks and they were eating them. We fed the ducks for a few minutes and the wind was picking up a bit. Suddenly, the ducks all started to fly away and Spencer asked my why the ducks were flying away. As I reflected on the question for a moment, wondering if it was a change in the temperature or a change in the wind that the ducks innately sensed, therefore causing them to suddenly take flight...I realized that no, it was not an innate sense....it was the fact that the sudden wind gust had pushed my stroller down the almost invisible decline of a hill towards the pond and in a blur I saw my stroller (with my purse stored underneath), going face down into the pond and sinking before my eyes. My instincts kicked in and I ran to the almost sunken stroller and grabbed with all my might and plucked it (and my purse) from the pond and rested it safely on the shore as water drained from it like a sunken ship pulled from the ocean. Not being able to cope with the situation, I blinked and looked behind me, assuming I was on Candid Camera. When I saw no camera, my next thought was that my kid's flip flops were floating on the water and I needed to get them back since those were their only shoes for the week. I managed to use a stick to get the flip flops back and I placed them on dry ground.
Now that everything was out of the water, it was time to asses the damages...my PHONE! My new smart phone that I'd had for 2 month was in my purse. I grabbed it and immediately took out the battery and put it in my pocket. Next up, MY NEW CAMERA! I grabbed it out of the camera bag, hoping the bag had kept it dry. I unzipped the bag, it wasn't too wet inside. I pulled the camera out and there was a little moisture on it but I hoped it was still okay. I then assessed my wallet. We had passes to the Wild Animal Park, ruined. I had over $300 in cash, soaking wet. My check book, ruined. The multiple packages of fruit snacks, granola bars, crackers, gum, mints, etc., gone.
I stood there bewildered as I wondered what we were going to do now. All I could think of is getting the heck out of there. The grass where we were standing was now wet from the stroller draining and all the pond water had re-hydrated all the dry duck poop and we were getting it all over ourselves. I loaded all of the ruined belongings back into the dripping stroller and we started making the long walk back to the car. The boys were so angry. Why had the wind done that!? It was ruining everything. I was FURIOUS. I couldn't believe it. I was holding onto the hope that my phone and camera were salvageable.
As we finally reached the car, I parked the stroller and pulled my purse out to fish for the car keys. And...I fished, and fished, and fished........where are the car keys??? I finally walked over to a (dry) grassy area by the car and dumped my purse out again to search for the missing keys. And I searched and I searched...no keys. Are you kidding me?? Surely the keys are here somewhere. I distinctly remember putting them into my purse. I checked all my pockets. I checked the kids pockets, I checked the stroller crevasses and the area near the car. Nothing. The only thing I could think of is that when I dumped my purse out the first time, the keys fell out and were still sitting on the shore of the pond. SO.... I told the kids were were hiking ALL the way back to where we just were. SO- we trekked all the way back over to the pond. And we all searched and search and we couldn't find them anywhere. Now I really must be on Candid Camera... We re-traced our steps of everywhere we had walked since we got to the park, no keys.
I walked over to the pond and looked, thinking there's no way the keys are in the pond....they would have floated wouldn't they? They're plastic remotes...I looked all over the surface of the water and there was nothing. I didn't notice them floating as I was trying to rescue flip flops from the water. I watched the direction of the wind and followed the other debris on the water and followed it to corner of the pond but there were no keys. Did they honestly fall out of my purse during the stroller fiasco and sink to the bottom of the pond?
What do I do now? I decided to attempt to get my phone working and call Nate to come rescue us. We trekked ALL the way back to the car and sat on a grassy patch near the parking lot and I put the battery back in my phone, hoping for a miracle and.......nothing. My 3 month old, $500 phone was dead. What do I do now? It's lunch time and we are 30 minutes from Nate - in an unfamiliar place. I have 3 kids- and no car, no phone, no food, and only very wet money. Even if I had keys, I have no GPS to get us back to our hotel. I had held it together really well until this point. But it was getting harder and harder. I sifted through all the damaged contents of my purse and decided to see if my camera had survived the pond. I took my camera, that had been gently resting in a dry area, turned it on and.......nothing. My brand new, $500 camera, was dead too. So much for our FREE trip to the park!
At this point, I cried like a little school girl. I cried and cried. WHY? Why was this happening? What on Earth, was the point of this horrible situation? I tried to pull myself together. I had tried so hard not to lose it because I knew that would scare the kids and now they were upset too. I had remembered seeing some buildings as we drove into the park entrance so we started walking that way hoping to find a phone. We got to the building and went to a door and it was locked. Then we walked to another door and it was locked too. Now what? All I could think to do now was to walk out of the park and walk a mile or so to a gas station I had seen. So we tucked the stroller into a space by the car and started walking. We got near the entrance of the park and I could see the main entrance of the building we had been trying to get into before. We walked in the front door and I asked the receptionist if we could use a phone. She could tell I was upset (I think the mascara running down the pregnant lady's face was a dead give away) and she took us into a small conference room and handed me a phone. She left the room to give me some privacy. I dialed Nate's cell #, wondering what in the world I was going to say, and the phone immediately says my number is long distance and my number cannot be completed. Well, if I call Nate's work number it is also long distance since he's based out of Salt Lake. Okay, super! Onto plan B. I went back to the receptionist and asked if she had a phone book so I could look up the Tempe location of the bank and get a hold of Nate that way. She didn't have a phone book. Just then, her co worker comes in and offers to let me use his cell. I graciously accepted and called Nate's cell again. It rings...and rings...and rings...and goes to voice mail. Well I wasn't about to give up. I called again and I was going to keep calling until he picked up. On the second attempt - I hear a "Hello?" I was so relieved. My lifeline. I didn't even want to tell Nate what a ridiculous situation I was in so I simply said, "I lost the car keys....." and I started to cry. He could tell there was probably more to the story but was trying to be sensitive. He said "Oh, ok......Did you misplace them or.......how did they get lost?" "Ummm....they're in the bottom of a pond." I then explained the unbelievably stupid story and asked him if he could go to the rental car place and get a spare set of keys and bring them to me. He said he would do his best and he'd be there to get us as soon as he could. I could only imagine what his employees must have thought. The bank FLEW him to Tempe for work, pays for his hotel and car and his first day there, he has to "take the rest of the day off to go rescue his idiot wife...."
I took the nice man's phone back to him and he asked if I needed help. He worked for the Park's Department and said he would be happy to help me find the keys. I knew there was no way we were going to find them but I wasn't about to turn down help. He trekked all the way back over to the pond with us and tried using a large pitch fork to try and catch the keys. He went back and forth over the bottom of the pond (which happened to be cement since it was a man made pond) for several minutes with no luck. The pond ended up only being about 3-4 feet deep. After several minutes of trying I told the nice man thank you but it was not worth trying any longer. The kids and I headed ALL the way back over to the car so we could meet Nate when he got there. We sat and waited...and waited...and waited. I tried my phone again. Nothing. Tried my camera again. Nothing. The kids each sat so quietly and played with little sticks in the dirt and grass for a long time with no complaining. I sat and attempted to dry out my wallet. About an hour after calling Nate, he showed up in a bright green cab. He got out and I lost it yet again (in front of the nice cab driver). Nate kept telling me it was okay. He told me to get in the cab with the kids and go back to the hotel and he was going to stay and look for the keys. Okay, first of all - Lauryn needs her car-seat which is LOCKED in the car. So we can't just head back to the hotel. Second - there is no way you are going to find the keys. They are LONG gone. Nate insisted that he was going to find the keys. If he had to dive into the pond in his suit, he was going to find the keys. I asked him why he didn't just stop at the rental car place and get a spare set. He told me he did go there, they had NO other set of keys for that car. And if we lost them, they were going to charge us $350 to replace the keys. PLUS we would have to pay to have the car towed back to the rental office. And THEN pay to get another rental car. Now I started to see why Nate was so intent on finding the keys. Too bad they were gone forever. I hesitantly agreed to take Nate ALL the way back over to where the stroller went into the pond so he could see for himself. But before we headed out, Nate told the kids we were going to say a prayer that we would find the keys. The thought of saying a prayer had been crossing my mind for the last 2 hours but how could I explain to my kids - why Heavenly Father DIDN'T answer our prayers and help us find the keys (because I knew we weren't going to find them). But I knew it was the right thing to do, regardless. So we knelt down as a family, in the parking lot of the park, and said a prayer that we would find our keys. And then we trekked back to the pond. I showed Nate where the stroller went in. He took a look around and started rolling up his shirt sleeves and suit pant legs. He handed me his suit coat, cell phone and wallet and started heading into the pond. I couldn't believe he was really going to do this. Just then, a different park employee came over and asked if we needed help. We explained the situation yet again and he said he had a large net we could use to try and grab the keys.
He came back on his 4-Wheeler with the net and Nate tried to fish out the keys for a long time. Still no luck. Now it was time to get down to business. Nate rolled up his pant legs again and headed in. He got down on his knees (the water was up to his neck) and started feeling the bottom of the pond very slowly back and forth. He combed over the area a couple of times. After about 15 minutes of searching, it was too painful for me to watch any longer. I decided to walk back over to the play area with the kids so they could play instead of standing there watching Daddy wade through the yucky pond. The Park employee was there with Nate and just as I turned around to leave, I heard the park employee say something and I turned back around. I could almost see a red cape swaying in the breeze attached to the back of Nate's neck as he appeared to be a superhero standing there in the pond, holding up the sets of keys. He had found them. Unbelievable! Nate said as he was feeling along the bottom of the pond, he felt what seemed to be yet another piece of garbage (there was a lot of crap in the bottom of that pond), so he was going to drop it and keep searching but he felt prompted to pull it out of the water, and it was the keys).
We all rejoiced and thanked the Parks guy for his help as we headed back towards the car, hoping by some chance that the key-less remotes would still work after sitting at the bottom of a pond for several hours. As soon as we got near the car, Nate pushed the button and sure enough, the car unlocked. And the car started without hesitation. We were SO relieved.
Tears continued falling down my cheeks throughout the remainder of the day. It was a traumatic experience for me as a mom. I had set out to have a fun day with my kids. I felt very vulnerable out there, helpless, with three kids that were depending on me to be the grown-up. I was devastated about my camera more than my phone. Nate had given me the camera for Christmas. Not because we needed a new camera, but because I had wanted a new, cooler, camera for fun. It cost a lot of money and I had loved it. It was a gift. I knew I had insurance on my phone, after a $100 deductible. Yes we had found the blasted keys, miraculously. But still...it was a rough day! I was just so angry. The circumstances of the day just seemed too ridiculous. Our freaking stroller BLEW INTO A POND??? WHAT!!?
I was so grateful that Nate was so understanding. He felt really, really bad for me and promptly took us through the Wendy's drive through to bring our blood-sugar back up as we headed back to his office to drop him off. As Lauryn savored her chicken nuggets in the back seat, she said, "Thanks for saving the keys Daddy." (In her two year old voice:).
Nate had only packed one suit, so he unrolled his stinky pants and shirt sleeves and headed back to work. The kids and I went back to the hotel, never to leave the safety of that sanctuary again! (not really)
We tried to dry out my phone and camera. The phone miraculously started working about a week later but my camera was officially declared dead:'( So what was the point of this stupid, stupid day? Probably a faith building lesson for our family on the power of prayer. I find myself being too "realistic" sometimes instead of being faithful in receiving answers to prayers. In the moment, I mean well and try to make the best of the situation. But sometimes I need to be more childlike and have the faith that my prayer WILL be answered. Nate was a great teacher to me and our family that day. I was grateful to have a partner to rely on. I knew he would have my back and help get me through the situation one way or another. I guess that's why God intended for us not to have to make this journey through life all alone (the buddy system:).
The rest of the week went quite smoothly, although no more pictures were taken:(. We went to the aquarium one day. We swam some more at the hotel. We went to Dave & Busters and ate and played video games. And on Friday, we went to Out of Africa. It was awesome! We got to feed giraffe's carrots right out of our hands. Nate put a carrot in his mouth and the giraffe came down and ate it. We saw (very close up) lions, zebras, tigers, hyenas, bears, and a ton of other animals. Spencer and Preston got to hold a 20 ft python. We all got to go into the exhibit and pet it (20 minutes later we had to drag Lauryn out of there because she wouldn't leave the snake alone). We got to watch the caretakers feed all the predatory animals. Spencer almost got his hand torn off by an ostrich. We watched an awesome tiger show. It was really cool. And I cried several times throughout the day that I got ZERO pictures of our family vacation. No pictures to remind us of the fun experience. I know it's not the end of the world but it made me really sad as a mom.
On Saturday morning, we headed to the Phoenix airport and headed home. We said goodbye to the sunshine and 80 degree weather as we flew back to Utah and were greeted by 20 degrees and a snow storm. The flight home seemed a little longer and Lauryn was a little less content. After we landed we had to sit on the plane for quite a while as the airport workers scraped ice from the terminal so we could de-board. Nate's dad picked us up from the airport (in our rental car since the Expedition was still being repaired from the accident). As soon as we jumped in the car to escape the freezing storm, Craig said, "Well how was the trip?" Preston and Spencer both exclaimed, "It was fun but our stinking stroller BLEW INTO A LAKE! And Daddy had to go in the water and find our keys." That was the take home message of the trip...
It really was a fun trip. It was just tainted for me after the unmentionable day. We had a really nice, big hotel room and the kids were really good. We got to go to several fun places to eat. I think our favorite was Joe's Crab Shack. The food was delish and the kids loved it. Our kids love to travel and it makes it so much fun. We will look forward to lots more trips in the future and hopefully I can put the bitterness of this trip behind me.
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