Day Three: The Bachelor Party
Everyone went golfing this morning except for me and a few others. When Pete got back from a hike, he and I went out to some thrift stores. The Goodwill didn't result in much, but the Ace Thrift store was amazing. The place was packed to the brim. There were boxes of miscellaneous items, old tools, new tools, pottery, dishes, furniture, and numerous other things. Pete bought some great items, I just browsed.
We dropped the goods off at the house and went to the airport to pick up cousin Laura and Father Tim who flew in fro m Atlanta. We circled the airport several times before we found Laura. She and Father Tim were on the same flight, but he wasn't with her. After circling several more times, we finally found him on the curb. He had been looking for Laura at baggage claim.
One of Grammy's cousins lives in the Phoenix area, as well as her cousin's children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren. They all showed up for dinner, which consisted of leftovers from the night before. It was just as good the second time around.
The bachelor's party was at a restaurant named The Monetary. It's a cool bar/grill where you cook your own food on outdoor grills. There were volleyball courts, horseshoes, pool, and ping-pong as well as many other games. Unfortunately, a very unexpected wind and rain storm came through the area. We spent most of the time inside socializing. Some of the guys ventured outside to cook their food. It was open mike night at the bar, and Matt Maher just happened to have his guitar in his car. The musicians who were playing were mostly just background noise. No one was paying attention to them, and they weren't that good. It wasn't really fair when Matt, who just signed a label with the same record company that signed Third Day, took the stage. He started off with a couple of cover songs, which were played just as well as the originals, and then played one of his own. He said, "This is a song I wrote the other night." By the end of the first song, everyone was gathering around the stage and singing along, including some people who were there for a birthday party. He closed with American Pie, accompanied by one of the earlier musicians on harmonica.
Day Two: Rehearsal and Dinner
I awoke at 8:30 EST, but it was only 5:30 local time. I met Dad downstairs and had a cup of coffee. Once everyone was awake, Pete and I took one of the rental cars and went exploring. We were given an address of a Native American jewelry shop. Unfortunately, the address took us on a wild goose chase. After a while, we gave up on finding anything and went to see Matt's new house. The three of us went to get lunch prior to getting the grand tour of Matt's house (we were really hungry). After our stomachs were full and we saw Matt's house, we met Andrew, Dad and Grammy at The Salon where Grammy and Matt were getting their hair cut. While that was going on, our high school friends, Ben and Stephen, showed up. From there we got our suits for the wedding and tried them on. Andrew was sure there would be something wrong with his -- which there was -- his zipper wouldn't close.
From there, we went to the rehearsal and then the rehearsal dinner, which was at the rental house. It was a Hawaiian theme, so dad brought all of Matt's old Hawaiian shirts. After dinner, I entertained the crowd by throwing people to the ground how I learned in the academy. I managed to stay up until everyone left and finished the day by watching Dirty Jobs.
Day One: ATL to PHX
I'm writing this at 30,000 feet. It's not any different than being on the ground, except that I'm drinking luke-warm, watered down coffee, and listening to a baby cry for the last hour and a half.
It took a while at check-in because Andrew was on the watch list. Once they figured out that he wasn't a terrorist, they let us through. We ran into more trouble at security when Pete forgot to place his water, lotion, and sunscreen in his checked luggage. While TSA was escorting Pete and the water battle outside to empty it, I put the lotion and sunscreen in my bag, which had already made it through security.
Once we got to the gate we discovered the flight was leaving earlier than we realized. At this point, Pete and I lost Andrew. We met up on the plane and after a little while we took off.
We should be landing shortly so I'll end this here.We landed at the airport and called Matt. He arrived before we got our luggage, so I stood at his car at the curb so they wouldn't make him leave. After we got the car loaded we attempted to leave, but the car in front of us wouldn't move. Matt honked, then hopped out to get them to move. The man asked Matt a question to which he replied, "Yes". We asked him what the man had asked and Matt said, "He asked me if I was from Germany."
We got to the house mom and dad had rented for the family. Pete, Andrew and I were to share the master suite. Andrew opted to sleep in the closet (which was a room in-and-of-itself), and Pete and I shared the California king.