Snooze, JW, and Oregano's

As I was feeling almost 100% by Saturday night, we felt good about making early plans for breakfast.  As I was browsing through the tourism magazine we were given upon check-in, I discovered that "Snooze" had recently opened in Phoenix.  SNOOZE?!  That was ONLY OUR FAVORITE restaurant destination on our Colorado road trip last summer.  You know it's got to be good if our family is agreeable to wake up and be there when it opens at 7am so as to avoid the long lines (especially on a Sunday).  (OK, it might have also been an incentive for Brayden that by going early, that would give us more time at the JW Marriott's pool...)

This location had outdoor dining, with some creative ways of killing time during the expected long waits for seating.   The second picture shows crates of games that could be played along with the ping pong table.   

We got seated right away, though.  However, there was definitely folks waiting when we left.

The pics in the booth.  Let's just say it's a lot easier to get a pic with Mikayla taken quickly than it is with Brayden.  If I haven't mentioned it before, that kid tried our patience with his "otter tendencies" this week.  Glad he's happy, but as we've mentioned oh-so-many-times, his happiness should not come at the expense of ours!!!

Love the feel of this place...

Brayden had control of the camera at this point, and I gave him a "true-to-the-moment" expression of how I felt about him.  

Not a moment too soon did our amazing entrees come.  

This was mine - french toast with strawberry rhubarb sauce, pie crumble topping, and cream cheese.  It was just as delicious as you can imagine. =)

True to our word, we ventured over to our sister hotel property (more like the royal distant cousin...but hey, you know what I mean) to get the kids in the pool.  Honestly, we were so worn out by Brayden, we couldn't wait to get a little space.  I had to take a pic of the lobby....ritzy!!!!

 Then, the moments of happiness on the Lazy River...

John and I monopolized three tubes with our feet jointly sharing the third.  Honestly, it was not the best posture for my neck to be in just one.   And, there were plenty to spare.... =)

Lazy River selfie - maybe one of my favorite selfies of all time.  

Here's the deal about Arizona in June.  No matter how much water you are surrounded by, you can only dwell in 110 degree weather for so long.  I would hop in the river, dunk my hair, lay out, and repeat again in ten minutes.  As the slide had a stricter lifeguard on this day and longer lines, we were all in the same boat about being okay to return to our own room.

And, then, everyone wanted to go eat again.  Brayden asked if we could pick a pizza place over bbq, so I researched all over Trip Advisor, Yelp, and Google to find a place we'd consider fun with atmosphere.

We picked Oregano's - and soon, we were off in our minivan to travel to another part of Phoenix.  

Not too much could be said about the parking lot entrance view.  

 But, just wait...

Is this a cool courtyard or what?  There was actually interior seating in buildings on both sides.  

This was the side we were put in.  Atmosphere, I should say so!!!  They actually had television sets showing early 60's programs in black and white as well.  

Let's go back to that heat issue.  That's a problem OUTSIDE in Arizona, but inside, it's actually too chilly for me to stay bare sleeved with the air conditioners blowing.  I'm kind of baby about being cold, so that's why much of these pics show me with my denim jacket or long sleeves.  (And yes, there's that whole arm dangly fat too....) ;)

But, here's someone who doesn't have a body image at all.  Not one direction or the other actually - and Thank You, God, for that.  Because these growing up years are hard enough without having something you despise about yourself constantly beating you down.  And, I don't think she's overly caught up with going for pretty either...  But, occasionally, her mommy and daddy get a little distracted with her innocent radiance and feel the need to use a camera to preserve it for our memories...

We ended up getting way more food than we needed.  It was tasty, but by the time we'd been served the garlic bread and waited 30 minutes for the pan pizza, our appetites might not have been where they ought to have been.  We'd definitely recommend this place, though....