Friday when I got home from work I printed groupons for Dracula, Golf, The Spooktacular Balloon Festival at Salt River Fields and the Fall Festival at Vertuccio Farms... so I declare this was the Great Groupon Weekend!
I am one of the few who have never seen or read Dracula... I do love the Twilight Saga and HBO's True Blood series, but before last year I had zero interest in vampires. Since no one else was really interested in going to see a play I invited my coworker, Becky to come with me. We split the Groupon of a whopping $12 for two admissions and carpooled out to Grand Canyon University for the evening- talk about a cheap outing!
Since I was not familiar with the plot or characters I had no pre- conceived notions about the play and I really enjoyed it! in fact it was probably one of the best plays I have seen! Now I want to read the book and watch the movie so I can compare them: )
I always have a good time hanging out with Becky, because she is so easy going and fun and tonight was no exception.
BTW the Grand Canyon University campus is amazing!
While I was out at the play Kenny met up with his Nana for a movie. They saw In Time and both said it was pretty good.
Saturday morning Kenny got up early to pick up my brother for a round of golf ... out in Mesa. When they got home Kenny told me they tired and both scored 83... I had to ask, "What exactly were the rules?" and he replied they scored themselves on what they felt like they should have got for the hole... ha ha I knew there had to be a catch! My brother is left handed, but doesn't have is clubs anymore so he borrowed my dad's right handed clubs... Although, he did really well driving right handed Kenny and Brian both admitted there were moments when they both couldn't stop laughing (to me the best kind of golf- laughter filled). They stopped Cheba Hut for lunch on the way back. I guess all of the food is named after pot... Kenny didn't care for that too much, but he said the food was good : )
Saturday evening my mom, Kenny, Brian, the boys and I went to The Spooktacular Balloon Festival at Salt River Fields. I was surprised how big the event was! We started at the kid zone area which included bounce houses, obstacle courses, a zipline, a giant slide and human sized hamster balls!!
Since it was only $2 each we all tried the hamster balls. I was surprised how much the boys liked them. They came back dazed and giggling and wanted to go again (the line was pretty long at that point!). Brian took off running fast in his ball and we all laughed when the momentum scooped him up and he rolled in the ball. I went last and almost didn't go, wanting to save the tickets for the kids to play, but I am glad I did it! It was a ton of fun. When we did the hamster ball in Branson we were strapped in, but this one you actually just ran like a hamster and you could control the speed and do flips if you wanted to which of course I did : )
After the boys had tried a few of the bounce attractions we headed over to check out the vendors.... I always enjoy the vendors-- free goodies and maybe some coupons- oh yeah! Kenny and I signed up for a Time Share presentation there too... hope we don't buy it! They are always fun to go to though. The boys liked the booths too, because they got to trick or treat them!
Once it was dark it was time to check out the haunted house... Little Brian begged and begged us to let him go through the haunted house. We finally gave in and bought him, Jacob and Big Brian a ticket... once he got within 10 feet of the entrance he turned around and starting crying and said he changed his mind and didn't want to go. Since there were no refunds available and my mom had wanted to go anyway she ended up going in with Brian and Jacob... Brian said when they walked in Jacob turned and headed back for the door and Brian ended up carrying him. He clenched tightly to his dad and was wide eyed, but never cried. When they came out he declared that he was not scared at all ....
After we got a quick bit to eat we decided to go on the FREE haunted trail ride. We hopped on the golf cart and toured through the baseball fields with random zombies and ghosts jumping out at us. Kenny and I were in the back seat and of course I think that was the worst seat for me to choose... they 'creatures' would all follow and stare at us which freaked me out and I would turn away until they left... I think Jacob is more Brave than me!!
We ended the night using up our tickets on the giant slide... Kenny, Brian and I all wanted to try it out! Funny how sometimes the adult like the kid attractions more than the kids. Little Brian ended up going up with us even though I thought he would be too scared. He did end up wanting to go down with me, but was pretty brave and then raved that it was the best part of the night.
Everyone ended up having a really great time that night. The weather was perfect we all just enjoyed each other. Mom and Brian both admitted they were sure how much fun the Hot Air Balloon festival would actually be, but ended up really enjoying it... yeah for Groupon!
Sunday morning Kenny and I picked the Taylor boys back up to drive all the way out to Mesa (again) for the Fall Festival at Vertuccio Farms. I mostly wanted to go out to this farm because they have a 10 acre corn maze! Everything (besides food) is included with your admission, which is so nice not to have to worry about all the hidden extras of buying, sharing and keeping track of tickets!
While everyone was fresh and still full of energy we tried out the corn maze.... after about 40 mins of wandering we did make it out. All the boys had so much fun taking turns running ahead and hiding so they could jump out and scare us.
We tried the peddle cars which were of course a big hit-
The bounce horses were SO much fun! After about 10 mins we were tired out and moved on to the next activity.... more jumping!
The Extreme Air Pillow was basically like a trampoline and we all had a bunch of fun bouncing.... I don't know how my brother has so much energy to keep up with those boys!!
We rode the train, checked out the animals and milked a 'cow' and we were pretty beat.
Its pretty sad when it takes you as long to get to a place as you spend there... Kenny did admit it was worth the drive.
We stopped to eat at Taco Bell (which the boys weren't too happy about because they voted for McDonalds, but all the adults voted for Taco Bell - ha ), but they ate there food without complaint! The boys were pretty wound up when we got in the car for the hour drive home, but once I told them we were having quiet time and they had to entertain themselves they did just that!
Another fun filled, but exhausting weekend!!
