Mondells in Minneapolis: Maci is my Co-Worker for a Day & a Scottsdale Weekend with Christie!!

Pic from last week’s snow tubing field trip

Connor seen not in tube :)

Weekdays:

Monday - Happy President’s Day! The kids had no school but Maci has been wanting to come to work with me so today was the day! She was so excited which made it so cute! She loved the sushi from the cafe, her strawberry banana smoothie for breakfast and the snacks from when we visited my friend Mouli BUT her fav may have been the dry erase board in my office! She did some great drawings :). I was most proud of how she entertained herself when I had meetings or calls. She loved every minute, was so polite to everyone she met and can’t wait to go back. During the day, Connor got invited to go to a movie of Sonic 3 with Seb and his dad. Fun days all around! That night Maci had training and soccer. I ran her up there but Clint had to pick her up b/c Connor was finally getting a haircut. I was able to get him in at 8p - he bravely decided to get it shorter this time around and I Love it - he was getting adjusted but by Wednesday said “yea it looks good.”

So Proud of the Drawings

Did some arts and crafts too

Oh and she wore some blue light glasses to look extra ready!!!

Tuesday - Back to work and school. In the evening, Maci and I were off to soccer practice at Minnetonka High School while Connor and Clint had basketball at the same time. Connor was going to apologize at his practice for quitting on his team in the final game of the last tourney. I am so proud of him, Clint said he went up to the coach and said it with a few tears in his eyes but said it wont happen again. Guess what, they scrimmaged the #1 team and Connor had multiple steals and was just crushing it - go buddy!!! While they were doing this, I worked at a local library to clean up some email. Nice that it was so close to Maci’s practice b/c it is COLD and not easy to hang in the car for 90 mins.
Wednesday - This was a wrap it up day so that everything could be in a good order before I head out of town with Christie girl! After work, Connor had basketball practice and then I ran Maci to soccer practice. Clint was thoughtful and picked her up so I could relax from the day and get things in order before my trip.

I love when they are into doing something together!

Thursday - I got up with the kids to say bye to everyone. I gave huge hugs and then finished my packing before Clint was driving me to the airport at 9a. I got some food, hung by the gate, took my calming pills and was off. It was a pretty easy 3 hour flight. I watched some junk Bravo TV and colored on my iPad. Once I was there, I headed over to the other terminal to meet Christie who had just landed as well. I only hung for about 10 mins until she was there!! YAY! We got our stuff, hailed a Lyft and were quickly at our hotel. We sat by the pool for a bit just to enjoy the end of the day before getting ready for dinner and eating at the Old Town Tortilla Factory - yummy! After a few cocktails, food and travel - we were spent and hit the hay!

1st spot - pool bar!!

Dinner Time

Friday :

Christie couldn’t sleep in also jet lag with us being 2 hours behind her home.
She sweetly let me sleep while she read in the lobby of the hotel
Once we were up and at ‘em we got coffees and then had to hit the road for the spa. Our first apt was at 1030a. I did a moisturizing body wrap and Christie got a facial. We then hung out in a salt room for 30 mins where they pumped pharmacy grade salt into the air - great for skin conditions, sinuses etc. After that wraps, we got to have lunch by their spa pool before our final treatment - a pedicure. It was WONDERFUL!
After we were done, we did a quick change into our suits so we could lay by the pool and read/color again.
Before we knew it, time for dinner again. This time we ate at Olive & Ivy in the old Scottsdale downtown area. It was a Mediterranean restaurant which was different and yummy. We did a little window browsing before heading back to the resort.
While we were out and about, Clint took Connor to a baseball personal clinic then the 3 of them headed up to the Wayzata basketball game where they won by like 40.
Once back, Christie zonked right away but I finished reading my 2nd book of ‘25 - “It Ends with Us”

Outside the Spa

Shopping Finds HA

Pick on the Water Before Dinner

Saturday :

Once again, a sleep in for me while Christie roams the halls :)
I got showered and then we got around to heading out for brunch. Followed by some shopping. I bought more for the kids than myself but I did get a really nice tan hoodie from a local Scottsdale shop. I also got a new gray Tshirt and a sweater vest.
Once we felt we had done enough browsing/spending, we headed back from another afternoon at the pool with books and coloring :). Dang did we LOVE our pool afternoons!
Back at the ranch, Maci had a performance training and then Clint took Seb, Connor and Maci to see the movie Dogman.
Once again, dinner snuck up on us and we went to The Mission in a different part of old town Scottsdale. We did a little final shopping - good kid finds - before getting the buzz for dinner. We loved our food with yummy margaritas (National Margarita Day) and Table side fresh made guacamole. It was such good food. After it ended, we went walking for a little more perusing. We also walked by several bars but decided to pass and get home to rest. We watched some SNL and relaxed in bed.
Clint stayed out later than us by enjoying Margaritas at the Herness home.

Brunch~

Poolside Cocktails!

Pretty Ladies, Ready for the Town

Original Catholic Church and a Saturday night wedding occurred

Pretty view of the Church & the Restaurant

While we waited for our table we FaceTimed with Neil - So Fun~

Fresh Guac - SO GOOD!

I liked the sign

Sunday:

Last Day ;-(
We started the day with a quick coffee and then off to a hike before our afternoon flights home. We went to Camelback and hiked the Cholla trail. Well we didn’t realize this trail was “Extremely Difficult double black diamond, whatever that means in trails world. HA
We asked someone on the way up if we were near the top and she said ummm 1/2 way. So Christie and I went a little further before deciding to stop, take pics, call our families to show video and then climb back down.
Thankfully we did b/c this allowed us time to head back to the hotel, eat a lunch by the pool and then head to the airport. Soak as much Vitamin D as we can. While getting to the airport, Connor headed over to his pal Channing’s and then Maci rode her bike up to Target with Kate before heading to 2 different soccer events - Training and regular Practice.
Once practices end, I land and Clint plus the kids will come get me. I am so excited to get home and hug my babies and Clint, even though I already miss Christie girl.

The bad idea but also glad we did it, hike