The fun stuff

There are a lot of fun things we did. We packed in our six days of doing things even if it was only hang'n out with family and then sometimes we'd take a break and let the kids nap.

My favorite thing we did was going to a restaurant called Organ Stop Pizza. We used to go there as kids with my grandma and grandpa and it was so much fun. If you are from AZ in the Mesa Pheonix area and you haven't been here you must go, it is so FUN! Kids of all ages love it, by that I mean kids, adults, and old people too ;)
Here is what this restaurant is....You go in order pizza (which actually this time was gross since they had bad meat on it and it tasted nasty, usually it's good) find a table, sit down and wait for the music to start. After a few minutes you will hear the coolest sounding organ start to play and out from the stage rises up the organ and the organist, while it rotates in circles (making it more dramatic of course). The whole time while you eat he plays well known songs ranging from Phantom of the Opera to Disney songs like Arial's under the sea, any thing you can think of really. He doesn't have music and just plays them all by ear. He takes request and if he knows it, he'll play it. This organ isn't just any organ you'd see in a church, it is so big and has tons of different sounds. The pipes go floor to ceiling and are behind clear glass that open and shut so you can see how the organ works. If you look all around the restaurant you will see a drum set on the wall controlled by the organist, you will see horns and xylaphone and bells and lights all controlled by the organist through the organ. It really is a fun show to watch. My favorite part is the dancing cats above the organ. It sounds lame but all they are, are just puppet cats that come from behind a curtain and dance. I think we like them so much because it brings back fond memories of my grandpa who loved them and laughed at them every time we went. So I told E about the dancing cats and she couldn't wait to see them and when she did they didn't disappoint.

We took my kids, my two sisters, my mom, and cousin and my other cousin Stacey's little girl Syler (my cousin Stacey couldn't come) who is just about E's age and they had a BLAST together! They ate a few bites of pizza and the rest of the time they danced and danced, with a couple of potty breaks in between, it was so cute. I must admit I joined in the dancing every once in a while. When you are there and the music is fun you can't resist. J loved the music too, his heart was racing but he couldn't take his eyes off the stage, he LOVED it.
My cousins little girl (I don't know what that makes her to me, my second cousin?) loves Phantom of the Opera. When I say she loves it, I mean she is obsessed with it! She watches the movie all the time and listens to the cd all the time and knows all the songs. It is so funny. So when we get to the restaurant she wants to request Phantom of course. So My cousin takes her down to put in her request. When she comes back I keep saying "Syler, he might play phantom but maybe not okay." She was okay with it, or so she said. I kept saying that to her because I didn't want her to be so sad if he didn't play it, or if we had to leave before he did play it. I just didn't want her to get her hopes up only to be disappointing. Well after a few songs she's asking for Phantom and we tell her maybe he'll play it next. After a few more songs we here the organ go in that low scary tone, but it didn't quite sound like Phantom. After a few seconds of unrecognizable sounds he plays the famous phantom song you know the "duuunn, don don don don, duuuuun" you get the idea. The reaction on Syler's face when she realized it was phantom it was priceless. She ran over to us screamed, put her hands on her cheeks and said "I knew he would play it, I knew he would!" she was SO happy it looked like she was going to cry. It was PRICELESS!

We were up on the balcony, it's easier for the kids to see when you're up there.

J pointing to the organ saying "look, zis, zis" look at this.

The girls spot for the night over in the corner where they could dance.

Here is the best picture I could get of the cool organ, it was kind of dark in there.

The funny dancing cats with their freakishly long legs.

And a little video of the girls dancing, it was cute to watch them have so much fun. I remember doing the same thing when I was little and I'm glad I got to take my daughter.