Monday Movie Madness

For our Monday fun, we took Nicco to the movie theater for the first time. I can't remember the last movie I saw in a theater...hmm...might have been Borat. That would explain why I have not gone back. Actually, I think it was the most recent Bond movie. Yep, that is it. Also a disappointment, but Daniel Craig is worth the price of admission. (We had free passes that day.)

I have some problems with movies in general, and taking my kid to movies specifically. Considering the size of our television, the surround sound system, HD quality, and the comfort of our couches compared even to the squishy rocky chairs most theaters have these days, I just don't see the point of leaving my house for a movie. When you throw in the "subliminal" messages thrown at us from hollywood, not to mention the level of crap spewn from the left coast, I am morally opposed to spending money on movies in the theater. I was apprehensive to take Nicco to a movie theater because he has super-hyper-sonic hearing and I thought the noise would be too much for him. Although he has clearly demonstrated the ability to sit in front of a show for its entire length, often for repeated viewings, I was not sure how he would manage sitting in the theater for a whole show. Even with all my misgivings, we went ahead and took the kid to see "Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs" today.

Let me just say: Cute! Cute cute cute. Cute. All about nerds. And food falling from the sky. No more grocery shopping, cooking, or cleaning. Wait...I don't do that anyway. Regardless, who wouldn't want a delicious mega-cheeseburger to land on your plate with no personal effort whatsover?

The time we selected to go to the show was for the 3-D theater. Another down side to taking Nicco to the theater. The glasses were a little bit big for his head.

We got a screaming deal on snacks. All we had to do was add $3 to one ticket and get $4 off concessions! $4 off? Wahoo! Oh, wait. We paid $3 for the $4 discount...I suppose they could have just given us a $1 coupon. But $4 sounds so much better!

We walked into the theater in the middle of the previews. (Where the Wild Things Are appears to actually maybe possibly be a good reason to spend $500 on another theater experience. I cry at the commercials. I know. WHAT???) As we walked along the aisle, Nicco said "Mommy, this music is WAY too loud." Excellent. We took out a loan to get tickets, and he's already miserable. Then the glasses issue. Too big for a small head. Watching a 3-D movie without 3-D glasses makes your eyes all googly. Lose-lose for Nicco. Super. About 15 minutes before the show was over, Nicco was curled up on my lap begging to go home. Awesome! A total failure! (Aside from the cute nerdiness of the movie and the giant awesomeness of the Wild Things trailer, neither of which Nicco fully appreciated.)

Then, the movie ended. Nicco did not stand up. He watched the credits roll to a hip and catchy version of "Sunshine, Lollipops, and Rainbows" as we urged him up out of his seat and down the aisle. Walking sideways so he could keep his eyes on the screen, Nicco said to me "Mommy, THAT was cool." And when we got in the car he said "I had fun. Can we watch that movie again?"

Success! Movie magic strikes! Now I have to work extra hours to pay for future theater outings.

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The Boneyard

Tucson is home to the Pima Air and Space Museum, located just off the Davis-Monthan Air Force Base. This particular Air Force Base has an airplane storage, maintenance, and regeneration facility for military planes. This facility is commonly known as "The Boneyard" and it holds about 4500 airplanes. We visited the museum and boneyard today for our Monday fun.
Nicco ran merrily around the hangar pointing and ooh-ing and ah-ing, as is his habit when in the presence of many airplanes. He ran up to this information station and said "Wait right there mommy, I have to tell you the instructions first. The instructions say 'this is the coolest airplane the first one in the world.'"

He liked this colorful little airplane.

Checking out the cockpit and weapons on the plane with Daddy.

Cute little toy plane kids could "fly" by moving the flaps and steering.

In the control tower, listening to recorded pilot communications.

In the tower with Daddy, giving instructions to me in the plane across the hangar. I pretended I could actually hear him. Big mistake. He was very disappointed that he could not hear his Daddy giving instructions from the tower when he was in the plane.

Lighting up the runway for the planes to land.

Emergency!

Playing with all the buttons in the cockpit.

Co-piloting with Daddy. He would have stayed in this cockpit all day. It surprised me a little that he suddenly preferred the buttons to looking at the multitude of planes all around.

We could see this plane from the road as we drove up. Nicco stretched his neck to get a better view out his window and exclaimed "Holy cow! That one is really frickin' HUGE!" and when we saw it up close he said "See, I told ya."

After we wandered around the museum for about an hour, we got on the bus to go to the Boneyard. Here is Nicco checking out the rows and rows of airplanes through the window.

A Tomcat, the planes that the Top Gun pilots fly.

I don't remember what this one is, but it was one of my better shots with lots of planes in the background.

More airplanes. The tour guide told us a little bit about each type of plane, its particular uses and capabilities, how long it has been in service, whether or not it is still being used. There were some interesting facts and stories, and we enjoyed hearing about the military history as we drove up and down the aisles of planes. I liked hearing about the "clandestine air force," the guys who fly in civilian clothes and don't file flight plans, the planes that fly in at night and out at night so no one knows when they arrived or left. So cool!

This is where airplanes come to die and donate their parts for future generations of planes. One plane that was purchased for $450,000 provided a million dollar fan engine. So they actually got a good deal on that. On our way back to the museum, the tour guide said something about how "so many of the airplanes come here for storage, then get thrown out. Which is what will happen to us with our new health care." Ah, freedom of speech, how I love you!

Although he was hot and tired, Nicco asked if we could come back here every day. I guess he had a good day!

Sabino Canyon

I decided to take Nicco on an adventure today. There is a shuttle that runs up and down Sabino Canyon, about 20 miles from our house. We packed snacks, water, and airplanes to ride up the canyon on this H-O-T day.
Nicco is a smart kid, waiting for the shuttle in the shade, drinking his water.

Looking out over the canyon at one of the stops.

This is the "Winking Face Mask." You kind of have to use your imagination to see the winking face, but it isn't as much of a stretch as some of the "sculptures" I saw in China. On one of our tours in China, our guide asked us what one particular sculpture looked like. It looked like a rock to me. He said that it was a rabbit, one of 12 sculptures representing the Chinese zodiac symbols. I thought that if the rabbit was standing on its back legs and had its ears and front paws and face tucked in, and you squinted real hard, you might make out a rabbit. This winking face is not quite that difficult to see.

Here we are at the top. Our driver took this picture. He was a pleasant guy originally from Boston, with a pretty heavy "southern" (as he called it) accent. It was hard for him to say "saguaro" with the Boston "r." It sounded like "Sawawo." Funny.

This is a prickly pear cactus, with one lone prickly pear. I am going to attempt prickly pear jelly next year.

Cholla cactus. These guys are nasty.

The famous saguaro. Nicco clearly has learned to stay away from the cacti. The blooms of the saguaro, or "cactus trees" as they are known in my house, are the state flower of Arizona. The saguaro can live well over 200 years, they grow roughly 1-2 inches a year, and they don't get their limbs until they are about 70 years old. When they are full of water, they can weigh up to 5000 pounds.
Here he is admiring a cactus in Grandma and Grandpa's yard. They don't get as big in Bailey as they do in Tucson! It was always a contest to see who would find the first cactus on our little hikes. Maybe the Bailey cactus hunts are the reason Nicco points out all the cacti he sees on our excursions.

Houses

Nicco has to distinguish all the different houses he's been in lately. It started when he found out that Grandma and Grandpa have two houses. Now there is the Fairview House and the Mountain House. When we visited Patrice in July, he was staying in an apartment affectionately known as Daddy's Working House. That name had to be changed when we went to the boss' house. The apartment became the Little Working House and the boss' house is the Big Working House, or the Bear House. When we moved to Tucson, the Little Working House became simply the Little House and our rental is known as the New House. Last night, Nicco "dreamed about the Empty House when it was full." Our Colorado house is now known as The Empty House. (whimper, sigh)

Get Well Soon!

My Mother-in-Law is in the hospital today getting an operation on her hip. We are concerned and thinking about her, of course. We hope the operation goes well and that she recovers quickly. Nicco has a particular reason that he wishes her well soon. This morning as we were baking chocolate chip cookies, he said "That Mamie is sick. I hope she gets fixed and is better soon. She can send me chocolate after she is better."

Mount Lemmon

It is nice to have Patrice's weekends on Sunday and Monday. Since Nicco and I don't have school on Mondays, we can make that our adventuring day and avoid weekend crowds. Today we took a drive up into the mountains. It gets up to about 8,000 feet in elevation and cools down by about 30 degrees.
Here is one of the scenic views of the mountains and the valley.

The pretty forest. When we arrived, Nicco said "It looks like Grandma and Grandpa's neighborhood up here!"

We had a little picnic, but it was *cold!* We made fun of ourselves for having acclimated to Tucson already, to the point that 70 degrees feels slightly chilly. In our defense, we were in the shade and there was a slight breeze. Nicco was more than slightly chilled...he was "so cold!" so we pulled out a blanket for him. He loved our picnic basket with its colorful utensils. His daddy was nice enough to share, so that Nicco could fill in all the spaces in his utensil line. We also threw bread crumbs and apples to the little chipmunks running around. Nicco was thrilled and amused watching them approach the morsels we dropped for them.

We walked down by the river bed. Nicco was timid at first, but like most kids and most things, with just a little time and practice, he was climbing around like a mountain goat.

Crossing a "tree bridge"

Hustling up the rock wall with his daddy.

They made it! (That was close...according to Nicco.)

Walking around the river bottom. We had a fun adventure today. Our toes only got a little bit muddy and wet, but as Nicco said, you know what happens with wet toes. They dry.

I May Never Leave My House Again...

I had visitors this morning:

Firemen.

Rattlesnake.

One of the ladies from church came by for a visit and before even saying hello, she said "I will wait right here and keep an eye on your rattlesnake while you call the fire department to come get it." What the what??!!??? She said he was curled up in the corner by the front door and got a defensive stance before slithering into the bush. I have to say, I am glad SHE found it, not me or Nicco. Still, GRRR! She said that in all her years in Tucson, she has never been this close to a rattlesnake. Nice. In my yard. I've lived here what, 12 days?

The firemen totally teased me about being skittish. I guess when you work in steel toed leather boots, snakes aren't much of a threat. I'm going to Target later, if I can work up the courage to walk out my front door. I wonder if they carry steel toed leather boots?

Virtual Tour

A.K.A. All you ever wanted to know about my house, and more. This is mostly for our parents so they can have a better picture of where we live. It is also for Diana, who said she wanted to see more pictures. Remember, you asked for it.
This is the view out our front door. A nice clean path with a cute little bench at the end. I doubt anyone will ever sit on that bench, besides our satellite guy. It looks like a match to one in the back.

I love this decorative quail and prickly pear! Many homes have similar desert themed iron decorations on outer walls. I like it. And lucky me, my house happens to have my favorite desert critter!

When you walk into the house, to the left you see our dining room and the back side of the built-in shelves that separate the dining and living rooms. Our table takes up almost the entire space. I guess that is appropriate.

This chandelier, while charming, is not really practical. Yes, those are candles. Actual candles. You know, the kind that have to be lit with a match. Perhaps it would have made sense centuries ago, or at the latest before electricity was invented. Not so much these days. Unless you are an environmentalist wacko who thinks we really should revert to the olden days. Then again, the air conditioning and fans running constantly probably cancels out the single non-electric lighting feature in the house.

The kitchen office. It is a little crowded, but a nice space for me to put the laptop to work while Nicco plays in the living room. Nicco also likes it because it is just his size. A perfect place for him to eat his snacks.

The kitchen. I like the tile floors. I also like the ice/water dispenser in the fridge. Maybe we should have left our fridge home after all so we could purchase a new one with water and ice for our next house! (Or not.)

The breakfast nook. My hammock on the patio. Aaaahhhh...

The living room. I like the gas fireplace. I also like the ceiling fan. I do not care so much for the lack of overhead lighting. It makes all my assorted table lamps necessary. Also, since this is a rental, we can't drill holes or pull things up to hide all the wires for the surround sound system. We left a lot of our stuff in boxes to minimize the packing when we buy a house in 6 months, keeping only the necessary items out for the term of this lease. Surround sound was on the list of necessary items. Guess whose list?

The other side of the built-in bookshelves. Full of books. Guess whose list of necessary items included 6 shelves of books? I also really like the cabinets under the shelves. We got rid of Nicco's rickety toy/bookshelves from before, so these are great toy storage for him.

Nicco/guest bathroom. I like having double sinks in both bathrooms.

I DON'T like having carpet by the potty! Not that we pee on the floor, but you know, pee gets on the floor! GROSS!!! There is a can of spot shot handy.

Nicco's room. The Lightning McQueen bedset was a puh-rise from Daddy when we arrived in Tucson all together. The little man occasionally drags it off his bed and makes a nest somewhere else.

The guest room. Currently, the miscellaneous furniture and empty box catch-all. It is a good thing no one is coming to visit soon! Actually, somebody come visit soon! Then I will be forced to organize this space...

The master bedroom. (complete with airplanes on the floor. FYI, the laundry in the basket all belongs to Patrice. I am afraid to go through it because it was on the floor near the bathroom. Explanation to follow.) My favorite thing about this is the patio access. Oh, and the large closet. Oh, and the "reading room" that we made into our office.

I like the arch over the bathroom entrance.

I love the shower! Cool little bench!

So, the double sinks are great. The shower is really cool. The second towel rack is here...tucked in a corner by the toilet. Veeerrry convenient. I am officially SCARED of this toilet closet. A HUGE HAIRY SPIDER was in the house the other day. Patrice squished him and flushed him down this toilet. The next morning, I saw the same (or similar) hairy beast crawling and struggling against the whirlpool of the flushing water. It was under my bum the whole time! Every time I go near that toilet, I slowly and carefully scan the surrounding space for evidence of the Spider Who Cannot be Killed. (Hence my fear of laundry that has spent more than 2 seconds on the floor, especially near The Bathroom.)

The office.

The iron quail family is a really cute decorative element. Bleached bones of dead animals, not my favorite.

Citrus trees! I am not sure what kind of citrus this is, could be an orange. We have another one that looks like grapefruit. Mmmmm...fresh grapefruit and orange juice!

Outdoor fireplace and fountain. Awesome! Sadly, fountains attract hordes of bees, apparently. Also, this one doesn't work.

And that is my house. For now.