Boyz & Their Toyz

Ton fils, Papi.

National Cheeseburger Day



The 18th was a holiday. When I told Nicco, he was mad at me for making him go to school. I told him schools don't celebrate this particular holiday. Definitely not with Queen Michelle in charge of the school lunch police! It was National Cheeseburger Day. I only knew about it because my friend said so. Why does this holiday not show up on the calendar? Is it Queen Michelle's conspiracy against all things yummy and delicious and bad for you all the time, but oh so good for you once in a while?

 

I made plans to meet up with the twins and their Mama (their Papa had to work) at Five Guys after the kids finished swim, karate, and gymnastics practice. Nicco and I were there first and all I told him was that I had a surprise for him. We pulled up to Five Guys and his eyes got big and excited. He loves Five Guys. He said, "Is Five Guys my surprise?" I told him that's where we were meeting the surprise. He asked, "Is it a person or a thing?" Both, I told him. We heard some rumbling motor and he thought it was his Daddy on his motorcycle. It wasn't. Yet.

 

He said, "Once my surprise gets here, can we just pop in for a drink?" I told him we could. After a few more guesses, his surprise pulled up. His eyes and smile got all big again and he said excitedly, "Devin and Delaney!"

 

Patrice had called a few minutes earlier to let me know he was late but on his way, and could I order for him. So when the ladies arrived, we popped in. I let Nicco know that the surprise was dinner with his daddy and his friends at Five Guys. I told him about the holiday and that's when he got upset about the school thing. Of course I documented the special occasion:



Om nom nom! Nothing beats a burger and fries at Five Guys!

Patriot Swim Meet

Summer swim ended back in July, but we decided that in the best interests of Nicco, we would keep it up. He needs to be out in the sunshine and fresh air moving his body. He seems to be an individual sport type of guy, and since he actually has some real potential in swimming, swimming it is.

 

The year-round team is USA swimming, not just the relatively small Southern AZ league. The rules are stricter, the meets are run a little differently, and teams can come from all over. This past Saturday was the Patriot Meet at our brand-spanking-new OV Aquatic center. It is designed to potentially host actual for real Olympic events. There is a national synchronized swimming trial or championship (I forget which) on the books already. Pretty cool, I say. Here's the pool...

It's big. For this meet, they divided the lanes the short way to allow 25 meter swims. You can divide the lanes lengthwise for 50 meter swims. The sides are special too, (I'm not sure exactly how) to minimize the wakes of the swimmers and the turbulence in the water, so it's supposed to be a really fast pool.

 

Here's the boy during warm-ups:

 Sometimes he looks so big, then sometimes he looks so small.

He's thinking. Or pointing to his thinking cap, perhaps?

Practicing starts:

 

After warm-ups we went down to our camp and Nicco watched Cody play on the coveted DS.

Prior to his first race Nicco checked in with Coach Debbie to get some advice for his race, then I took him to his proper lane and lined him up in the proper position for the heat he was swimming. It was a hot and sunny day and I made him keep his shirt over his shoulder while he waited for his turn.

 On the blocks...

I watched that little boy swim, and I glanced up at the clock, then I looked at where he was in the pool and I thought to myself, he's swimming really fast...

The new aquatic center has a high-tech starting/timing system. As soon as the swimmer touches the wall it records his time and place on the board. I looked up and saw my boy's time and place and got a little lump in my throat...my baby was in lane 5. His previous fastest freestyle record was 25 something. Oh my.

He looked like he was actually racing, and he was! He did his best ever, looked good, felt good, and swam good! He had a proud mama. He was proud of himself and had to call his Daddy and his grandparents to report. 

On the phone he said, "I swam the fastest in my racing history!" So cute.

Nicco and Cody and Paul hung out all day together. They had some fun with their games and devices. It was fun to watch them swimming and between their races. But here's the thing...Coach Debbie had to stay at the Coaches' table and Coach Parker was competing at his own H.S. swim meet so we had to be individually responsible for our kids, getting them ready and in their proper places at the proper time. Cody's parents were with me at our camp, but Paul's dad was somewhere else. Andrea, Cody's mom, just happened to notice that Paul was in the same heat as Cody in his first race so she walked them both up to check in and line up. A moment later, Paul came back, confused. He asked me where Coach Debbie was. I wasn't sure exactly, so I told him to stick with Cody and he'd get where he needed to go. "Where is he?" he asked. I wasn't sure about that either, so I walked him up to the pool deck, saw Andrea, and solicited her help, wondering where the heck Paul's dad was. Andrea took him under her wing and all was well. For the moment.

Between races the three boys played their games. Nicco and Cody also ate snacks and drank water because, you know, their parents were there checking on them and taking care of them. At Cody's next race, Andrea noticed again that Paul was registered as well, but in a different heat. Again, she took both boys up to the pool. She came back shaking her head and said that Paul didn't go when he was supposed to. Coach Debbie was scrambling to see if he could race in the final heat and a few minutes later, Paul came down WHERE WE WERE, not where his own dad was, in tears, but wet. Oh my goodness, I was getting really annoyed. I asked Paul if his dad was timing, because if that was the case, then I understood why he wasn't watching out for him. But if that was the case, he should have friggin' asked us if we wouldn't mind watching him, and here are his snacks and water and these are the races he's in! But, Paul said no, he was just watching. Grr. I don't know if he swam his last race or not and by the time Nicco finished his last race, everyone else from our camp was gone. You're welcome! I said to no one. And, Goodbye! Annoying.

Back to our story...the racing day was not done...Nicco still had backstroke and breaststroke to go. Here he is on the blocks for the backstroke:

He didn't swim his fastest backstroke in his racing history, but he did pretty well. It was also not his slowest in history and now he has a time to beat for this season.

 

Breaststroke is not his best nor his favorite, but he's been doing better and better. Like he did in his freestyle race, he actually looked like he was racing. He had a nice streamline glide between strokes leading into his breath.

 

 

He placed sixth in his heat, but it was his own personal record. So yay!

 

After his race we checked in with Coach to say thanks and bye. She told him well done and gave him a high five and a free junior frosty coupon.

It was another good day, and I think that fresh taste of success motivated him to keep going and try to do better. He was getting a little burned out, but that meet was a good experience for him.

Now he gets a small break from racing and we'll even take a break from practices in October when we go overseas. Then we'll be ready to get serious again!

I love races.

Indian Ruins, a Scenic Drive, and Finally We Rest

The next stop on my list of things to do was the Shoofly Indian Ruins. The ruins are left from people who lived here between about 1000 and 1200 A.D. Before we got to the site, I was expecting some sort of cliff dwelling or maybe some petroglyphs, but we arrived at this lovely field of wild grass and wild flowers with no signs of cliffs except for the rim in the far distance.

We walked along the path and saw this...

and this...

and this...

and this.

The ruins. I was slightly disappointed, but Mr. Tour Guide read all the signs and we learned that those piles of rocks were not in fact random, but the foundations of actual individual, family, and community dwellings, the walls and roofs had just disappeared over the past 800-1000 years.

Very interesting. It's amazing, first what the human mind will conceive in terms of survival, and second, what the human mind can discover from a seemingly random pile of rocks. I'm sure that when the site was first discovered and excavated there was more evidence than just the rocks, but still. Amazing.

 

We walked along some more, because it was just so beautiful. Nicco refused to let me photograph him sans camera in front of his face. I suppose that's okay, because this is a fairly accurate representation of my child these days: 

He was taking pictures of my attempts to take his picture. Silly monkey.

When we got back to the car, we encountered a damsel (and her dog) in distress attempting to change her flat tire. Patrice offered to help. She explained that a man drove by, signaled to her to roll down her window, pointed out the flat, then drove off. I suppose it was a kindness to let her know she had a flat, but really? he couldn't take 10 minutes to help her change it too? An opportunity in service for us. And by "us" I mean Patrice. Nicco and I were just in the way, so we took another little scenic walk. 

The air was scented with the juniper berries. Aaahhh...just like home! 

Nicco rode the fence like a pony.

And he made me take a picture of the daisies. He always does. They are his grandma's favorite.

There's the Mogollon Rim off in the distance. It was spectacular, for real.

After stop number two, we decided to find a place to sleep. Our options were the motel with the blue tree, 

or the one that told us about the local psychic.

We chose the one with the psychic and then went for a ride, hoping to catch a nice vantage point for watching the sunset on the rim.

We passed Dead Eye Road,

on which was located the local general store.  

We stopped and asked, hoping that they might have some 22 ammo in stock. That question set off quite a rant from the good ol' boys of Houston Mesa. The toothless characters. It was fun(ny).

We got back on the road and took a turn, thinking it was a short cut that would take us up to the scenic drive along the rim. But it did not. It dead-ended at the entrance to the fish hatchery. Which was closed. Bummer.

So we turned around and drove along a mostly dirt road, which dismayed the Daddy, driving the beautiful Audi which had recently been buffed and shined.

We caught the tail end of the sunset, but were in the middle of the forest for what was likely the spectacular light on the rim. Oh well.

We got to our motel, dirty and tired. Too tired even for a hot tub soak before bed.
It was a long day, but a fun one.

Tonto Natural Bridge

Ever since Patrice decided that he needed a new work vehicle, he's been on a quest to find just the right car for him. After much research he found it, in Payson. About a 2.5 hour drive north of here. We decided to take a little road trip to check out the car so he could decide if he really wanted it and in the meantime, we could have a little adventure on the side.

Patrice researched the vehicle and I researched the town and off we went.

I made a list of things to do and first on the list was the Tonto Natural Bridge. When we got there, Patrice was tempted to send Nicco and I on the short hike while he stayed behind to nap. He was up late and didn't sleep, then drove all morning. He needed and earned a nap. But he decided to come along anyway. He could sleep later.

This new camera could become a problem. I take a lot of pictures. A. Lot.

The little valley from the lookout on the top of the bridge.

Looking through the hole in the bridge.
(It's a good thing the grate was there, otherwise you could die.)

What we saw.

Looking up...see the little hole there?

A closer look.

Another view from the lookout point.
Nicco said, "I sure do enjoy Heavenly Father's creations."

The boy will probably need a bigger SD card when we go to France.
He takes more pictures than I do.

Look for tracks, the sign says.

We found one.

A rainbow in the waterfall. Pretty.

The steep hike down

The muddy pool at the bottom

My happy boy

Climbing on the rocks, without any help.
He did allow the Daddy to point the way, but no boosts, pushes, or pulls.

Peek-a-Boo!

They reached a point where they couldn't really go any further
and had to climb onto the bridge that everyone else walked across.

The waterfall spray was refreshing after the hike.

 

 So pretty!

The boys hiked some more. I stayed behind (and took a thousand pictures) because the terrain was difficult to maneuver upon and the rocks were very slippery. I was wearing good shoes, not my usual plastic flip-flops, but I did not have my camera bag and I would definitely need all four limbs to climb.

My small red speck of a boy, waving at me from the other end of the tunnel

 The boys return!

The Daddy told me how proud he was of Nicco. He hiked and climbed with much confidence and competence and after a refreshing drink, Nicco told me that "something happened to me on that hike." He meant that he felt more confident and capable. He became a Man. ~smile~

Some of the pictures I took while my boy was off becoming a Man...

 We headed back and Nicco did NOT want to walk on the paved pathway. Real Men climb rocks!

Here he's trying to convince the Daddy to help him over the side so he could go back the way he came. I managed to talk him out of it. Such a spoil sport.

 My Men.

The walk back up was more tiring. It's a pretty steep little climb, and going up is harder than going down. We made it though, and Patrice asked Nicco what he wanted to do next...should we get in the car and go home, or should we find a hotel and spend the night, and maybe see some more fun things?

Well, I think you can guess what the boy chose. And off we went to find a place to sleep.