Fort San Felipe

The Dominican Republic is I think the second place Columbus set foot when he went about exploring the New World. Fort San Felipe was constructed in 1540 by the Spaniards as a defense against corsairs and as a prison for smugglers. The city was torched in 1605 and the fort was the only surviving structure. 

East of the fort in the Parque Luperon is a statue of the general who ruled the country for a year from Puerto Plata.

Both the Dominican and the city flag of Puerto Plata fly at the top of the fort. 

 

Nicco and Patrice made it past the aggressive vendors peddling their wares.

One of the towers.

An old cannon at one of the turrets.

Nicco, guarding the fort. He loved the guided audio tour. He paused his recording every once in a while to tell me an interesting fact, which I had just heard on my own device. I think he felt like a big kid. Very much in charge of his own experience.

I made him stand in front of this door to give perspective on the size. The entries were short so that any enemies who managed to sneak through would be greeted by a machete as they bent over to get through the doorway.

The bed of the former moat is all black coral.

A narrow stairway up to the towers and lookouts.

My boys, looking out.

Nicco found a niche, just his size.

The views from the fort were once again, spectacular.

When Bob and Pat picked us up at the airport, Nicco said, "Vamos a la playa!" Watching the waves crashing against the shore was killing him. He was seriously like an addict jonesing for a fix. Must.Play.In.The.Ocean.

 

Poor little boy of mine had to endure a few errands before he could dip his toes in the surf, but the mama got her history/museum fix!

Mount Isabela de Torres

In preparation for our trip, I did some research about the areas surrounding Bob and Pat's home. I sent them a list of things I thought we would like to do and see. Bob returned my list with notes saying things like we already have plans for this and this and this, you will probably die if you do that, and we can fit this in on one of your days.

 

On my list was taking the tram to the top of Mount Isabela. Bob said we can drive up there. I was very slightly disappointed, but since Pat has a fear of heights and since they have been so generous and accommodating, I figured it was just as well. 

On the ride to the mountain, we heard some more details about the funicular. Apparently it has broken down once or twice and even without a fear of heights, one is wise to have a healthy fear of Dominican "fixes."  I was happy to take the road.

The Dominicans are unfamiliar with the idea of switchbacks, so the steep grade sign was not an exaggeration. In fact, I think that riding up to the top of the mountain in Bob's 4-wheel drive vehicle was at least as thrilling as the cable car would have been.

You really don't get a concept from the photo of how steep the road is. But trust me, it is steep.

The view from the top of the mountain. Spectacular!

At the summit, there was a group of school kids posing and taking pictures and being loud and happily obnoxious as teenagers tend to be.

Nicco wanted to balance on his walk up to the main attraction.

But first, a quick trip to Rio.

Just kidding. At the top of the mountain is this downsized version of the original statue of Christ the Redeemer found in Rio de Janeiro. If you angle your camera just right, you can hold hands with Our Lord and Savior.

Que Dios nos Bendiga. We are getting a little blessing on our family.

 

After we saw the statue and the view and posed and looked around, we went for a small walk along the manicured garden paths.

When it was time to head down, Nicco was worried about the steep drive. He thought it would be way freakier going down than coming up, but it wasn't as bad as he expected. It was a fun excursion and an interesting introduction to the history and culture of the Dominican.

Arrival in the D.R.

We are on vacation, folks!

 

We have good friends from Colorado who retired to the Dominican Republic about six years ago. We've been saying we should visit some day, but you know how time and circumstances often conspire against you.

 

Some Day finally arrived. Nicco is on fall break, therefore we minimize the missed school days. Although, just driving around this town is a greater education than he could hope for in a week of school!

 

When Nicco woke up on Monday, he came skipping down the hall with a cheshire grin squealing "It's today! It's today!" He'd been packed for a week already. When the Daddy got home we loaded up, gave the kitty some extra scratches, and headed to the airport for the first of three flights.

 

It took us as long to get to the DR as it does to get to France. Each of the three flights was only a couple of hours, but the waiting in between! There are no direct flights from AZ to Miami, so we had to spend the night in Dallas. We were planning to get a hotel, but then we realized that after getting off the plane, to the hotel, checking in, and getting up in time for the morning flight we would be in the hotel for about three hours. We camped out in a lounge instead. 

 Before we settled in for our long wait, Nicco entertained himself with this sonic labyrinth. It was pretty cool...when you changed your path, the speed and strength of your footsteps, you changed the tone and rhythm of the sounds in the maze.

 Nicco was totally travel-wired. He could not settle. We got him a movie on his tablet, but even that didn't work. Finally I put two chairs together, and tickled his forehead until he crashed.

 We flew in to the island over these heavy black clouds. Nicco predicted a rainstorm, but the clouds just blew away.

 We were all happy to have landed and see our friends again!

They have a charming maid who greeted us with fun towel critters. Nicco was slightly distressed when he went to bed and had to destroy his swan.

We ate and visited and relaxed and then went to bed. Roughly 2 seconds after our heads hit the pillows, we were out and down for the count.

Nashinl Nite Out

The Oro Valley Police Department put on a community event geared toward kids and families, promoting personal and community safety.

The school announced the event and Nicco put it on the calendar. He sounded out the words as he wrote it down, then with his big blue eyes he asked me if it was right. He was so pleased with himself It almost broke my heart to tell him he was wrong. I told him he sounded it out perfectly. I'm not a participation award type mom, I believe that not correcting mistakes kids make to spare their fragile feelings is more damaging than making a mistake, so I did point out that "national" and "night" are some of those weird words that we can't quite sound out.

We arrived at the parking lot to lights and sirens. Nicco climbed in a fire truck, an ambulance, and a pre-fab mobile home from which he practiced escaping in case of fire.

I was smart enough to bring the camera, but not smart enough to make sure the battery was charged before we left. This is the only picture I took. Boo!

He saw a few friends and was really happy. We tagged along with a boy whose dad is an OVPD officer. That was nice...maybe a little out of school time will help them be better friends in school. They made a deal to wear their plastic Junior Oro Valley Police Officer badges to school tomorrow.

We saw a traffic stop demonstration and a K9 demonstration. The police dog was awesome. He had a big chomp.

I learned that the police will drive by your house if you're gone for 7 days or more to do perimeter security checks, and they will come in and replace your smoke detector batteries for free. Or for taxes, actually. Nothing is free. Hear me people, NOTHING IS FREE!!! (breathe, Tam.)

Target gave away popcorn and balloons, and my boy was in heaven.

The Old Highway's a Callin'

Two years ago, almost to the day, Dan came down from Denver to join Patrice on a 5-day motorcycle ride through Arizona and Southern Utah. Neither Patrice nor Dan had a bike that was made for a long ride like that, so they rented a couple of touring bikes.

2010

The Big Ride was one of the greatest experiences in both their young lives and they swore that one day they would own bikes like the ones they borrowed for the first trip and then do it again. As it happens, "One Day" is today. 

2012

Here they are, just about to hit the road, only this time, they're both on their own bikes. Nicco would say the pictures are "the same, but different."

They turned their wheels just so, in order for me to get the 21s in the picture. I know that is something awesome in guy/motorcycle speak, so I hope I got what they wanted.

Then while they were moving vehicles around to their proper parking spots for the week the bikes were parked nose to nose. I think I was supposed to take another picture of them. I actually thought I took a picture when Dan turned his bike just so, with the sun gleaming on the chrome. Apparently I missed the shot I thought I had, and this is what I ended up with. Somehow, I think I may be fired as the official Big Ride photographer in the future.

They took off noisily down the road. Off on another grand adventure.

I asked Nicco what he wanted to do for fun while the Daddy is gone. He slumped his little shoulders, hung his little head, and said, "Nothing is fun without him."

29 + 13

The Daddy had a birthday today. Twenty-nine again, just like me.

 

He went out to the Tucson Trap and Skeet range with some buddies and came home almost in time to go to brunch. I think they would have gotten back in time, but one of the guys got into a groove with the shooting and it would be a shame to quit just as you're on a roll. You know.

 

Even though we weren't technically "on time" for our reservation, we were seated promptly and promptly hit the buffet tables. Nicco was only slightly distressed that he didn't get to sit between the twins.

The babies finished before the big kids and were quite literally chomping at the bit (and by "bit" I mean "chocolate mousse" and by "chomping at the" I mean "sculpting with forks and chopsticks" and by "literally" I mean "figuratively.") to hike up to the waterfall.

 Nicco and his girls.

I love this picture. Nicco is mid-sneeze, Devin looks like she has some snark on, and Delaney, well, let's just say she's comfortable.

 They ran away from bees

 And looked for fish and frogs.

 My little family.

 Feeding the monstrous koi fish

The kids named the fish. There was Cow Fish, Yum-Yum Yellow, and Goldie, among others that I can't recall at the moment.

When we got home, I made a traditional birthday cake and Nicco put all the candles he could find on it. I think the Daddy might not mind going back to his 8th birthday...kids have it pretty good!

He blew out all the candles in one try and made a wish. Nicco guessed his wish was for a happy birthday. Guns, food, family, friends. I think he got his wish.

 

And now he's in the garage prepping his bike for another Big Ride. It doesn't get much better for him!

 



Are You Smarter than a First Grader?

Nicco just told me he's finished with his lunch.
I told him to take care of his dishes.
He said, "DISH! If it's one, it's DISH! If it's two, it's -ES! Do you need to go back to kindergarten???

School Pictures

I love my boy and I think he is the cutest kid in the history of earth, but there's a reason I don't pre-order (or post-order, for that matter) his school portraits.

And, this is the reason.

Once Upon a Time...

...I wrote a letter to our Dear Leader. It was back when he asked us peasants what $40 means to us. It went like this:

What does it mean to YOU? $40 from 14 MILLION taxpayers went up in smoke in the solyndra fallout. $40 from me and about 20 MILLION other taxpayers was spent on "stimulus." We all know how well that worked. How about the $40 6,250 taxpayers "invested" in the Chevy volt disaster of an eco-experiment? Or I don't know, ever think about the $40 stolen from 2,500 taxpayers so Queen Michelle could take a separate flight to Hawaii? I know Dear Leader spent $41 on treats for Bo...did Bo also get flown back here for a photo op? As you've apparently learned, $40 means a lot to a lot of people. Sadly, it doesn't appear to mean much to you, you condescending bunch of out of touch jerks. Merry Christmas.

Because I wrote to the White House, I got on The List. I hear from them regularly now.

Once the letter was about a kids' state dinner. I responded,

"Keep your royal overlord nanny-statist hands off the kids!"

I was thanked for my interest.

Our Dear Leader cares so much about us. He always wants to hear from us. He's One of Us, don't you know? Recently, after months of insulting and threatening our military, he sent another message to the peons. It was about serving those who serve us. Mostly I delete the messages I get from him because I don't like vomiting. But sometimes I just have to respond.

I've done it again. This is what I said this time:

How about you actually honor and respect our uniformed servicemen instead of insulting them and using them as tools and leverage to threaten the rest of us into going along with your disastrous agenda? I CAN'T wait for November to change your address.

Instead of hearing back from "The White House," I heard back from "The President" himself! This is what "he" said:

Thank you for writing. As President, it is my privilege to hear from Americans like you who take time to offer their perspective on the serious issues facing our Nation. I appreciate your message and value your input.

From putting Americans back to work ($23 million and 8.3% unemployed! Yay!) to expanding access to medical care(Taxmageddon! Woo hoo!), my Administration continues to take bold action to do what is right for our Nation. We have enacted the most comprehensive financial reforms in decades(QE3, anyone? Another credit downgrade? Awesome recovery there, junior.), rescued and helped retool our auto industry(Yeah, we know. GM's alive, Bin Laden isn't. Now GM is begging the gov't to get the hell out of their business. Won't happen, because selling at a loss would look bad. Thanks for that.), expanded student aid to millions of young people(Now the students can be students forevah! Good thing too, since they can't get jobs.), helped level the playing field for working women(The paychecks of the women in this administration beg to differ.), and made the largest investment in clean energy in our history (Solyndra!!!! Abound Solar!!! Amonix!!! Chevy Volt!!!). Because of the courageous acts of our service members, we have been able to end the war in Iraq and take down Osama bin Laden. (Captain Badass Spikes the football, again!) We have also made historic commitments to provide for our troops as they return home. Securing our country’s future will take time, but I will not stop working to rebuild the kind of America where everyone gets a fair shot, everyone does their fair share, and everyone plays by the same rules.

I am always eager to hear ideas that will help our country adapt to changing times and lead us toward a brighter day. The enduring American spirit is revealed in the letters I receive, (somehow, I get the impression he didn't really read my letter.) and I remain dedicated to ensuring it is reflected in our efforts to improve the lives of all Americans.

Thank you, again, for sharing your views. I encourage you to explore www.WhiteHouse.gov to learn more about the ways we are moving America forward.

Sincerely,
Barack Obama

Keep the lies coming, Lying Liar in Chief! Some day, I might believe them! Or not.
Only 42 more days.

Psst...

Passing notes is a long standing tradition.

 

I still have notes from high school passed between me and my friends. Top Secret. 007. For my eyes only.

 

I remember when my sister and I thought it would be great fun to take a Shakespeare class together in college. We had the worst professor in the history of earth teaching our class. He droned on and on and generally put us to sleep. To keep each other awake and to pass the seemingly interminable hour and a half, we passed notes back and forth instead of taking notes on the lectures.

 

Because the class was over an hour, we had a break half-way through. The professor got smart and finally started taking attendance after the break when he realized half the class wasn't returning. One day, just before the mid-point, Danae passed me a note asking if I planned to come back. My emphatic response was, "HELL NO!" We probably went to the cafeteria for a navajo taco instead of attending the second half of the class.  

 

For a long time, I saved printed church programs with notes scribbled between me and my roommates. Once when I was home from school, my sister and I were assigned to speak in church. While we waited for our turn, we passed notes back and forth. Just before I went up to speak, I was struck with the call of nature. I wrote to my sister, "I have to pee." We both started giggling (quietly) up on the stand in front of the entire congregation. I'm pretty sure it mortified my mother. I'm also pretty sure she forgot all about it, until this moment.

 

Now that my boy can write and is learning strategies for sounding out words, he is continuing the note-passing tradition. Last night after we played a card game and were watching a show before dinner, Nicco hid himself under a fort of pillows and blankets. He found a marker and a scrap of cardboard and slipped this note to me from under his hiding place:



 



I probably would have given in if he had already eaten. It was almost amusing enough for me to feed him ice cream for dinner.

STOMP

A couple of weeks ago while I was trudging through my treadmill run at the gym an advertisement for STOMP came on. Limited engagement! it said. Two days only! Get your tickets now!

 

I went home and told the Daddy that STOMP was coming to Tucson. He saw them perform before when he lived in Philly. He was blown away by their performance. Amazing! He said. I thought the Boy would like it too.

 

We made it a Family Date Night. Dinner and a show. We went to the Macaroni Grill. It was pretty awful, but it filled us up. Pasta. Bread. More pasta and bread.

 

This was our first time attending a performance at the Tucson Music Hall. It was very confusing. There were no ushers or signs indicating where to go and as we wandered, the only doors we saw led to bathrooms. We finally found our seats. The rows are really long...there were about 60 seats in our row with no center aisle. If someone had to get up to go potty from the middle of the row, they would have to climb over 30 people. Thank goodness no one had to get up and go potty in the middle of the performance!

 

The stage was lit up and music was playing before the show began. Nicco was not impressed. "So far, this stinks," he said. "Just wait," I said.

 

The elderly lady to the left of me asked if this was the first time we'd taken the kid to a show. Indeed it was. The lady behind me tapped my shoulder and said that the ushers have small boosters for small children. I climbed over 30 people to get to the end of the row to find a booster.

 

Finally the show started. I spent nearly as much time watching the one-man performance in the seat beside me as I did watching the stage performance. Nicco L-O-V-E-D it! He was stomping and clapping and snapping and woo-hooing throughout the show. Oh my goodness me.

 

The elderly lady to the left of me said when it was over, "He was hilarious! It's so nice to see young ones enjoy a show so much!" I concurred, with a big smile.

 

Nicco used this performance to write reports for both Music and P.E.

I helped him make little booklets with the tickets and pictures from the program.

"I went to STOMP on Saterday."

"STOMP is musick and exersise."

"I was amased."

Cross Country, Cars, and Cold!

Nicco and I had a lazy morning. I was finishing a book (Unbroken - we all know of the atrocities committed by the Nazis in WWII and I had some vague knowledge that the Japanese were pretty awful too, but holy cow.  Little Boy and Fat Man were pretty much justified means for the end.) and I was killing time until my super speedy niece took to the trails for an elite X-C invitational race. It was supposed to be webcast live! on the internets, but alas, it was not.

 

When I checked the race website, the people in charge appeared to really be on the ball! They were posting videos of all the races pretty quickly. Not quick enough for me, though. I obsessively hit the refresh button until the girls' race video was posted, then continued while it processed.

 

My poor boy needed some love and attention. I decided to take him to lunch and to a car show while the race video processed. 

We only stayed at the car show for a little while. It was hot. Nicco was bored. Frankly, I was too. Car shows are for Daddies. We decided to jump in the pool when we got home because we were boiling. There were rumors of the end of triple digit days, but they were FALSE rumors! 

The pool, however, has cooled down recently and has not recovered, even with a couple of 100+ days. I remember our first summer here. We eagerly awaited the water temperature to go over 70. It was bearable at 72, nice at 76, and heaven at 78. People kept telling me to wait until it got over 90 and I wouldn't even want to be in it. Bah, I say! It was 94 at the peak this summer. Deee-lightful!

 

So when I dipped my toes in the 84 degree water, I was chilled. Submerging my whole body was downright frosty! That's the world I live in now. One in which 84 degrees is cold. We need to replace our worn out pool cover if we are going to be able to swim into October!

 

When we got out of the pool, I checked the videos of Lucy's race...she's been chasing one girl in particular and closed to within 7 seconds of her today. She is also rapidly approaching the 18 minute barrier. Both 18 minutes and Summer Harper are in danger of being surpassed by Miss Lucy!

Lucy is 2nd from the right on the 2nd row
4th place finish, 18:17 5k

 

I'm a proud aunt.

The World's Stongest Kid

Richard Sandrak's (look him up) got nothing on Nicco!

Except, you know, well-defined muscles and actual athletic prowess.

But Nicco can push a car!

God Bless America

 ...of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.

Happy Constitution Day, Patriots.
Celebrate it.
Honor it.

Pray for it.
It's in danger.