Eyes, Look Your Last...

...arms, take your last embrace. (William Shakespeare, Romeo and Juliet)

There were plenty of hugs and tears to go around as we loaded up and said good-bye to friends and neighbors. Here is the big truck outside, ready to go.
Part of the loading process. The mover estimated our move pretty tight and as we got down towards the end, our driver had to call to switch cabs. I wasn't part of that conversation, but I think it was necessary to accomodate all of our things. They put several small boxes in the sleeper cabins, our small t.v. and one of our lamps rode on the seat beside the driver. When the garage was almost empty, we had two long folding banquet tables left and the guy said "You know, all things considered, we have done a pretty good job." Patrice and I agreed, until he finsihed the statement by suggesting that we choose one table to take with us. Um, sorry, no. You are not getting paid thousands of dollars for us to leave our stuff behind. Figure it out. Somehow, they managed to get everything in.

Our neighbor, Erika, popping in to say goodbye. We reminisced about our first day in the neighborhood. Patrice had some responsibilities to take care of and Mom and Dad and I waited for him to get back so that we could work together to get the U-Haul back to its place. While we were waiting, Erika and her sister Vanessa knocked on the door with cookies to welcome us. (Erika was 12 and Vanessa was 14. They are 17 and 19 now!) It was snowy and cold day. It was quite a different day when we left.

Nicco was exhausted at the end of the busy day. Patrice and I kept working until about midnight to minimize the cleaning and touching up we would have to do the next day.

We spent our last night in the house the same way we spent our first night--on an air mattress. Only on the first night, we built a fire and we had boxes of stuff all around. No fire on the last night, and no boxes either.

The little car is finally packed and ready to go. We got up at about 6:00 to finish cleaning and patching up holes and touching up paint. I got an oil change and tires rotated to prep the car for the trip. We were dirty and stinky and the last thing we did was rinse our bodies before we left. Nicco was like a tiger in a cage, pacing the empty house waiting for his daddy. He said "Isn't this house clean yet? I am ready to rock and roll! Come on Dad, let's go already!" A final sign of our moving on was when the mail arrived 20 minutes before we left. The only thing in the box was my 2010 license plate tag and my renewed car registration, as if to say here you go, now you can get on your way.

Our empty living room. Patrice had a vision of the day we brought Nicco home when he looked down the stairs into this room for the last time. We had many adventures and happy moments here!

Another last look. We thought about all the meals we shared together and with our friends in this little kitchen. It will be difficult to think of our first home in a business frame of mind and divorce ourselves from the emotional attachment. But, like Patrice's boss said, having a rental is no big deal. When you are ready to go back in, you just throw 10-12 thousand dollars into it and you're right back. Yes. $10,000-$12,000. Just, you know, throw it in. No big deal.

We took our last looks, locked all the doors and windows, hugged our neighbors, and drove away. I was bawling like a baby, of course. Nicco doesn't like me to be sad, so he said "It's okay Mom. Those guys with the truck will put the couches in the new house. Doesn't that make you happy? Be happy now!" We were en route at just about 5:00 p.m. and Patrice drove until he couldn't drive anymore, reaching almost to Albuquerque at about 10:00. I took a turn but had to turn the wheel back over to him at midnight. We took progressively shorter turns driving through the night until we finally arrived in Tucson.

Here are some first looks:

Nicco wandering the hallway, deciding between the two small bedrooms which will be his.

The kitchen entry to the living room. The house is lovely, cozy, comfy. In a pretty little neighborhood with two pools and a park within walking distance.

The best part of the house: the back patio. What do you think, Thanksgiving dinner out there? Hmm, Mom and Dad? What do you say?

The sun coming up over the Catalina Mountains. A brand new day. A fresh start.

Gone, and a Cloud in My Heart

Gone - flitted away,

Taken the stars from the night and the sun

From the day!

Gone, and a cloud in my heart.

~Alfred Tennyson

I know it may be silly of me to feel so sad today, it is not like I will never see my parents or Bailey again. Diana mentioned that it is probably a good thing that Mom and Dad are going on vacation before we actually leave, that way we could maybe avoid a tearful goodbye. Not so. Maybe it is worse because Patrice wasn't there for me to go home to. I just suddenly feel all alone! It was really hard to drive away this morning.

I was weepy as I took this picture but I had to laugh a little because there are no smiles! It is a sad picture! Mom said that is as good as it gets, we just have to document the truth of the moment. Dad made silly faces at Nicco as we got in the car and drove away. He giggled and insisted that I look at Grandpa. "Look mom," he said. "Grandpa is so silly. Isn't that funny? Doesn't that make you happy?" Ironically, the silliness actually made me more sad.

On a happier note, I came home and made a mad rush to bake cookies and make sure the house was in great shape to show because we had FOUR appointments with potential tenants looking at the house this afternoon. Hopefully something good will come from that.

The Air Show

Today was the big day, Nicco's first air show! We packed up our chairs, umbrellas, coolers, and of course, one airplane and headed up north to see the airplanes. Nicco had nearly as much fun just walking in seeing all the planes lined up (Nicco likes airplanes lined up in nice neat rows) as he did watching them fly. I always love to see his initial reaction to lots of planes. He points and oohs and ahs. He made sure that his grandparents saw what he saw. As in "Hey Grandma...hey Grandma...that one is HUGE! Did you see it, Grandma?"

Relaxing in the sun as the airplane parade went by. Thank goodness we thought to bring the umbrellas. There is no way we would have lasted 4 hours without their meager shade.

Nicco imitating the stunt plane flight patterns with his biplane.

The opening of the show was really cool. They had 5 little planes (if I paid that close attention or felt motivated to go downstairs and get my program I could tell what kind of planes they were. I did not pay that close attention, and I am mostly only motivated to sleep right now. ) anyway, these 5 little planes flew in some neat formations while the skydivers they carried jumped out. One of them was a former special forces guy, and he carried the flag (designated as a banner, so that it is not technically disrespected when he lands and it touches the ground.) The best part was when the planes made circles around the jumpers.

Here is the guy with the flag and two of the planes circling around.

Another cool fly-by formation.
Trail of smoke from one of the bigger planes.

Sweaty head Nicco on my lap. As if it weren't hot enough, I got the added heat factor of having my little personal furnace sweating...I mean sitting... on my lap.

Craning his neck to see the F-16s. They were super cool, for real. Those pilots are amazing.

Awesome.

They did hurt Nicco's ears sometimes, Nicco of the hyper-sensitive senses.

This video is an F-16 flyby. It is not the clip I wanted in my fantasy world of perfect filming. Ideally, I would have catpured Nicco's reaction to the first pass, when he was jumping and giggling with enormous eyes. Or, I would have captured one of the really loud, really close passes. This is what I got instead. It does give a small glimpse of Nicco's excitement, but I think at this point the sun pretty much drained him of all his energy and this was as much as he could muster.

A fun way to spend one of our last days with Grandma and Grandpa.

A Visit (Or Two) To Bailey

A visit to Bailey is a lot like a visit to Fairview in the sense that both places are comfy, familiar, traditional, and feel like home. We do pretty much the same things every time we visit each place. When we go to Fairview, we go to the museum, the park, the mountain, chat and visit. When we go to Bailey, we feed the fish, walk around the property, and "hunt' for deer. Very often a visit to Bailey includes lunch and ice cream at the Hot Dog and an hour or so playing at the park. Grandpa also likes to provide his grandchildren with opportunities to help. I think he likes having a legitimate excuse to give the kids his spare change.

Here are some photos from our two most recent trips to Bailey (Grandma and Grandpa's mountain house, as it is now known, since it must be distinguished from the Fairview house.) In case anyone thinks Dad is a major nerd for advertising that he loves his wife on his t-shirt, there is some fine print. The shirt reads "I LOVE it when MY WIFE lets me go fishing." See? Not a major nerd. A minor nerd.

The hike this day was a milestone for Nicco. It was the first time that he adventured on his own. He didn't hold anyone's hand and he wandered off the beaten path a bit, climbing up rocks and over fallen logs. He never asked me to take him either. He made it all the way back to the house without being carried once.

Nicco likes to smell the butterscotch or vanilla scent in the cracks of the bark on the pine trees. Mmmm, yummy!

He also loves all the little wild flowers. While we were sitting on the bench, he asked me if I saw something green, something white, something red, something yellow, something purple, and something orange. I said yes, and asked if he saw all those colors too. He answered "Yes I do. It is in all the flowers."

Here is Nicco, king of the mountain.

The mountain of which Nicco is king is an enormous stump from the huge tree Dad had to chop down.

Holding hands with Grandma. This is the part where you all let out a collective "aahh" as in "aahh, how sweet!" Because really, what is sweeter than taking a walk through fields of wildflowers with your grandma? Not much, I say.

Nicco is earning his coins, helping Grandpa install the regulation address pole at the top of the driveway, without which they could not install a new roof. Hmm. Not sure how an address pole relates to roof codes. But, whatever.

So helpful.

Nicco just likes to be around grandma. When she is cooking in the kitchen, he finds something to do to be near. This time he was helping by scrubbing the sink.

Again, so helpful.

Nicco discovered the trout in the little pond by the picnic area at the Hot Dog. He squealed with delight and could not wait to tell Grandpa about them. He would have been content to watch them all afternoon, I think. But then Grandpa arrived with fries.

Mmmmm...fries....

When I snuggled Nicco to sleep after this visit, he said "This sure was a nice day. And a lovely evening."

I agree.

For Rent

This appeared on my lawn today.
Even though it is a sign of our moving on (literally) it still made me feel sad. I feel sad.

Imagine, If You Can...

...what THIS information did to my small boy:

Colorado Sport Aviation
Bringing the Colorado Sport International Air Show and Rocky Mountain Regional Fly-In to Denver, August 22-23, 2009.

We have been watching air show videos for the past half hour. I anticipate watching air show videos potentially until bedtime. I guess we have a new reason to X off days!

Quote of the Day

Nicco lined up his airplanes on his "airplane rug" (You may think it looks like a road rug, but you would be mistaken) and he discovered that one was missing. Calamity! He told me that we need to go to the store next week and get a "goofball" airplane. I am not sure what a goofball airplane is, but apparently, it is the one he dreamed about.

I told him that I think he has enough airplanes, considering the airport is full.

(See? Full.)

He pointed to an empty spot and said "See that? That means I need one more. DO YOU UNDERSTAND ME? So cut the nonsense and go to the store and buy me one more goofball airplane!"

Hmm...now that I re-read that, it seems that "goofball" may be a swear word in 3-year-old language!

P.S. Guess what I did NOT do?

Pillow Talk

So, last night's snuggle time discussion was about airplane dreams. Tonight, Nicco said "After I am big, I will shrink down to a baby. I will be a baby again soon, in no time." I told him that he will always be my baby, even when he is big like daddy. He replied "I like moms and dads." and promptly fell asleep.

Hopes and Dreams

Last night as we snuggled for sleep, Nicco expressed his hopes and dreams. It went like this:

"I hope I dream about airplanes, because airplanes are really cool and I love them."
(10 seconds later...)
"I don't know why my airplane dream isn't working. I hope it will come soon."
(Mommy says "You have to go to sleep and wait for your dreams.")
"My eyes are closed already! RRRGGGHHH!!! Why isn't this working?"
(5 minutes later, when Mommy thought he was asleep...)
"COME ON! Work already!"

Nicco eventually did fall asleep. I do not know if he had an airplane dream or not.

Like Father, Like Son. . .

. . .The apple doesn't fall far from the tree, two peas in a pod. . .

This is a picture from an e-mail Nicco's Papi sent him. I guess the organizing gene is strong in the Boudou men! Papi did make Nicco happy with the pictures of Patrice's childhood toy car collection.

Here is the note Papi sent with the pictures:

Boujour mon petit Nicco, regarde si Papi il en a des voitures,puis un avion ,puis un train et je te ferais voir les autres belles voitures.Gros Bisous de Papi et Mamie, ainsi que Maman!
(Roughly translated: Hello my little Nicco! Look at the cars Papi has, and the airplane, and train. I would let you see the other beautiful cars. Big kisses from Papi, Mamie, and Mommy!)

Surprise!!!

Patrice and I made lists of things we need/want to do around the house to get it ready for a new tenant. Among the items on the list is replacing the shower door in the master bathroom and doing a professional cleaning or refinish on the shower pan. Our friend Dan does that type of work at his current job, so Patrice asked him if he wouldn't mind coming to the house today to do that for us. At about 11:00 this morning, Dan arrived. He said he brought a helper (which is no surprise...he often works with his cousin) so I invited them in. His helper was not his cousin after all, but Nicco's Daddy! Nicco smiled from ear to ear and ran to him. Later Nicco said to me "That silly Daddy 'puh-rised' us again!" Indeed, he did.

It was a really awesome surprise. I told him it was great to see him, now he can mow, fix the garage door, trim the bushes, fix the laundry room doors, help Dan with the shower door, pack up his things in the garage...Sadly, that isn't really an exaggeration. He and Dan did work on the garage door (one of the sensors was off or something) then he had to run to Home Depot to get a shower door while Dan still had his big truck with him for hauling. He did snuggle the kid for a while and got a good nap, but this is what he did when he woke up: Nicco was thrilled to "bop" with his Daddy. I've had our neighbor girl mowing the grass for me this summer, but their mower broke and the grass was un-mown for a couple of weeks. A veritable jungle. (I told Patrice he could teach me how to work the lawn mower, but he said "Just pay Erika." I don't know if it was his lack of interest in teaching me how to run the machine on the day before he left town, or if it was a lack of confidence in my ability to run said machine. Probably the latter.) It took a long time, but the yard looks much better now, and at least one boy had fun in the sun.

After the yard work and dinner, Nicco performed his night-time routine. Like many children his age, there is a storm before the calm at bed time. I was glad to let Daddy help Nicco run down the battery tonight:

And in case you want to know what it looks like at full volume and in live action, here you go!

Nicco is now passed out asleep, Patrice is giving Dan a ride from the shop where his truck is being worked on, repaying him for the ride from the airport this morning, and I am enjoying the quiet while I "work."

I think we will be able to relax a little bit together tomorrow. Yay! It is nice to be a family again.

Excellent.

Can't wait to move to Arizona. Thanks for the pictures, honey!

Trouble Sounds Like...

...Nothing. Silence. For all my wishing and asking and begging for a few quiet moments, the ominous quiet often speaks of trouble.

I have been upstairs sorting, cleaning and packing and Nicco has occupied himself with cartoons, trains, airplanes, and new library books. He was playing trains noisily for quite some time when I suddenly realized it was quiet. Too quiet. I went downstairs to check on my kid and he was sitting on the arm of the couch ripping a popsicle wrapper open with his teeth. When he saw me come down the stairs he got a very frightened look on his face, quickly turned it into his sweetest smile, and asked "Do you love me?"

Happily for me, he was only sneaking a popsicle, not writing on walls with permanent marker or something more dramatic. Still, his response to getting busted was pretty amusing.

Quote of the Day

"It sure is empty around here without Daddy. And quiet."

I agree with the empty part of the statement, but Daddy is not the noisy one whose absence makes our house quiet.

What Nicco Learned...

While I was working on my computer, Nicco was working on this:
It is an airplane, of course! He even showed me the plans he drew up. Not quite as elaborate as those Lucy made, but a drawing of an airplane all the same.