Our Father's Day Jeep Adventure, The Beginning

I'm calling it The Beginning because there are just way too many pictures for one post. So here's the beginning.

 

We woke up relatively early so we could tag-team the picnic making. And by tag-team, I mean I toasted the bagels and Patrice did everything else. The picnic made, the Jeep packed, people dressed and teeth brushed, all there was left to do was to wait for our friends and the Daddy's old Jeep to arrive. Once they got to our house and all last-minute potty breaks were taken, we headed up to Catalina to meet the rest of our party. There would be four Jeeps in all.

 Three of the four Jeeps in the gas station parking lot, just about ready to hit the road.

 The twins, ready for a big adventure.

 Nicco and I, also ready for a big adventure.

Introducing all members of the party to each other...there were the Boudous and Rob, our friends the Harkins, Patrice's mechanic friend and his family, and a young couple who waited at the gas station alone for about 45 minutes until those of us with kids finally arrived.

 Nicco entertained himself while the grown-ups chatted and made plans.

While the grown-ups made plans, they should have made actual plans, not let's see what happens when we get there plans.

Gassed up and ready to go.

 Yeah!

 That's Mr. Chad behind us there.

 And that's Mr. Darrell in front of us there.

 Oh...speaking of plans, the man with the plan thinks we made a wrong turn.

The gas gauge on Patrice's former Jeep doesn't work and Chad was mildly concerned about all the wrong turns and backtracking. Little did he know, gas would be the least of our worries!

Ah...the town of Oracle. At last. And all we had to do was stay on Oracle road to get there. Who would have guessed.

 Nicco liked the dirt road. It was fun! And exciting!

Then it got a little steep. Nicco's happy face turned to a worried face for the first of several times throughout the day.

Our first little rest stop. Taken because Mr. Darrell heard a hiss-hiss as he was driving. Does anyone have any tire plugs, he asked ominously. 

 The men examined the tires and their tool kits, the kids threw rocks, and we decided to move on.

We came around the bend and there was Darrell, on the side of the road, with a pretty massive blowout.

 Caption contest...What's going on here?

Nicco and Camden inspected the tire once it was removed. Such helpers! (and it was Nicco's second big worry of the day. He told the Daddy over and over again, "Learn a lesson! Never go out alone and ALWAYS bring a spare tire!)

 The ladies chatted while the men worked.

 And the kids found things to throw and destroy.

 A beautiful view!

 And beautiful blooms.

With the spare tire mounted, we hit the road again.

Every road-trip has wrong turns and mishaps. We were glad to get them out of the way early so we could enjoy the rest of the day.

 

Ahem.

 

To be continued...

A Father's Day Story

Once upon a time, there was a little girl.

She loved to play with her friend down the street.

One Sunday, her friend asked if she would come over to play in the pool.
The little girl asked her parents if she could.
They said, "No, today is Sunday. It is church day and family day. You can play with your friend another day."

But the little girl only heard "no."
She did not like hearing "no."
A little seed of stubborn rebellion rose in her gut.
She went to her room and put her swimsuit on under her Sunday dress and told her friend, "I'm coming over after church."

The little girl went to church with her family, came home and sneaked out the back door and down the street to her friend's house. She laughed and played and jumped and splashed in the plastic pool with her friend. Suddenly she looked up and saw her big sister. Her heart sank and her stomach rose. She quickly blurted out, "I was only jumping!" knowing that her sister was sent to find her and would return home and tell her parents where she was and what she was doing. Guiltily, she ran home and tried to sneak back in the house before her parents said anything, somehow imagining they didn't already know.

She stewed and worried in her bedroom alone, fearful of the Wrath of Dad. She worried and stewed for what seemed like hours, inventing terrifying punishments in her mind. There was a knock on the door. It was her Dad. She opened the door. She hung her head and looked at her feet, waiting for the yelling and spanking that didn't come.

Her Dad gently took her by the hand and invited her to go on a walk.
He took her around the block. On the walk he explained that what she did was lying and disobedient. He gently explained why Sunday was church and family day. They walked and talked and made their way back home. When they returned, he hugged her and kissed her and forgave her and let her learn and grow.

Hot Fun in the Summertime

We had a CO friend visit last week. He was in town for his birthday. He came to Tucson. In June. From Colorado. And expressed mild irritation that it was hot. Silly fish.

 

There is always a surprise of one kind or another when Dan comes to town and since it was his birthday, Nicco made it a gift exchange. Nicco drew Mr. Dan's motorcycle for him in exchange for the 3-D printed rocket, airplane, and Batman insignia. Mr. Dan has a new toy. An expensive new toy. With which he makes bric-a-brac for my small boy. Nicco was thrilled, so that's $2500 well spent! 

Dan and Patrice had been discussing a visit for a while and what they might do while he is here. Patrice asked if Dan wanted to arrange a rented or borrowed motorcycle for the weekend. Dan said something along the lines of "I won't want to ride if it's 100 degrees." Ahem. June. Tucson. It's 100 degrees. We talked about taking the jeep up the mountain where it is generally 30 degrees cooler than town, but then there was the problem of suffering in the heat on the way to the mountain. What to do, what to do, when it is too hot to do anything?

 

You swim, my friend. You swim.

We relaxed and enjoyed the cool 88 degrees in the water, but the wheels in the inventing mind of Mr. Dan are always turning, so he rigged a BETTER way to relax and enjoy the water. The noodles were good, but everything can be made better with duct tape or zip ties. He spent as much time constructing this noodle loungy chair as he did relaxing, if not more. That's fun for him.

Not to be outdone in his own home, Patrice rigged up his own version.

And not wanting to be left out, Nicco showed the big boys how it's done. No zip ties needed. Flippers, on the other hand, totally necessary.

Day morphed into night but the only change for us was the lighting.

Night swim, with glow sticks!

When we dried off, Mr. Dan pulled out another "epic" (new word of choice for my small boy) surprise...light up plastic whirligigs from Thailand. The boys spent a good half hour launching the whirligigs (and retrieving them from rooftops and treetops). That was $0.25 well spent for sure!

And Miss Frankie did what you do when you're covered in fur and it's 106 degrees outside.

Shockwaves, Episode 1

Nicco got back into swim practice in mid-April, just after soccer ended. I was glad to see him back in the water for more than just play. He's such a little fish. It was pretty amazing to see his improvement since the last time he was on a team just in practice. We've talked about his technique and set some goals based on how fast he swims in practice and he had some realistic yet challenging marks to shoot for in his first meet.

 

I was very excited. I've been envious of my sister watching her daughter run and win races. My envy was quelled by the opportunity to watch my own kid race. He's not winning any titles (yet!) but races are fun no matter what. And the best thing about sports like swimming, track, and cross country is that no matter how you match up against your competitors, you can always be successful by setting and reaching your own goals. So much fun. So good for body, mind, and spirit.

 

Nicco's goals for the meet:

Backstroke in 35 seconds or less

Breaststroke in 40 seconds or less

Freestyle in 25 seconds or less

 

He and his teammates got some instructions for their warm-ups before the start of the races.

 Backstroke warm-up...

 Set for his leg of the medley relay...

He swam the breaststroke leg of the medley. It is not his best stroke, but the kid smiled the whole length of the pool. That's success in my book.

His wall-touch at the end of his leg...

He's always thrilled to see his Daddy at his events, hence the smile during the race.

I didn't time his medley split because I was too busy with the camera, so I delegated stopwatch duty to the Papa for the remaining races. I was busy, you know, trying to coax a happy face out of my kid while we waited for his next race to be called. In this sideline shot, he was tormenting a half dead ant.

Here he is, apparently giving an opponent the business at the starting blocks prior to the backstroke race. Mr. Hands-on-hips.

 Swimmers take your marks...

 Go!

It was probably his best yet backstroke start, and he was smooth and straight for the whole length. He slowed down a bit at the end, but finishing strong will come with practice.

Nicco smiled a big giant smile when he met his Dad at the finish and he kept the grin on as they walked toward me. He was anxious to hear his time. Patrice handed me the watch and asked, "What was he going for in this race?" I said 35 seconds as he handed me the watch, grinning widely himself. I showed Nicco the clock and his eyes popped nearly right out of his head. 28 seconds! I wish I would have had the camera ready for the look on his face when he saw that time. He was so proud of himself, but only half as proud as I was.

 

That set a great, positive tone for the rest of the meet. Here he's getting some more instructions from Coach Parker for the breaststroke. His goal was under 40 and he swam a 38. Another personal record! The best thing about that race was that he had a goggle mishap and ignored it! Yay, my boy! Two years ago a goggle mishap sent him into tears of frustration. He's grown up a bit!

 

A video of his freestyle race. Almost as great as the race itself are the arm-farting boys behind the blocks. Hilarious. I thought for a moment that Nicco might actually catch those two boys in front of him, but he just ran out of juice. His goal was a 25 and he swam a 26. Not what he hoped for, but a P.R. anyway.

The last event of the night for my boy, the freestyle relay. He's getting his instructions prior to the start...

 Waiting for Chris to finish the first leg...

 And he's off!

To avoid chaos and confusion, all swimmers stay in the pool until the relay is completed. Nicco was the second leg and was told not to get out of the pool. When the anchor swimmer came up, Nicco was watching closely for his teammate to touch the wall. When he did, my boy took off like a pistol shot on a fifth leg. He was exhausted when he got out. Coach told him he did twice as good as the others, wink wink. When I explained to him that he only has to swim one time in a relay, he said he didn't see me so he thought he should go. I said it is better to go than not to go. He got an extra race that I didn't even time for him. Oh well. There's always something to learn from!

We left happy and tired. Nicco barely had energy to get his jammies on and passed out within seconds of his head hitting his pillow. I'm a proud and content mama tonight.

Goin' to the Zoo

We decided to celebrate the end of a successful first week of French camp with our fellow pseudo-French friends. We also wanted to take advantage of already being in that part of town. Ending the first week of camp was pretty much a convenient excuse for a little extra fun with friends. So, zoo day! The temp being darn near 110 meant we had the zoo (and the splash park) pretty much to ourselves.

The kiddos, at the first exhibit. The animals, understandably, were not very active. They sought shade where they could, as did our children.

 Luckily, there was plenty.

Nicco played tour guide with his key to the info boxes. He only got slightly annoyed that everyone didn't listen to the entire mini-lecture at each habitat.

The tiger pretty much effectively summed up how every living creature at the zoo felt on this particular day.

 The peacock had his own method of cooling down as well.

We reached the splash park just in time. We nearly melted into oozy puddles of sticky flesh and sweat.

Sweet relief...

Aaahhh...

And, on to the next habitat. I love how open our little zoo is and how close you feel to all the animals.

The recently upgraded elephant exhibit is the best part. There is an informative and interactive wall with everything you could ever want or need to know about elephants, as well as some creative elephant art using recycled materials:

Supposedly you can make this elephant bum fart, but try as they might, our boys were unsuccessful at eliciting any noise.

We walked along the paths and Nicco and Ryan climbed upon the little elephant statue. They couldn't help it. A climbable statue. Must. Climb.

Eventually, we made our way to the actual elephants. The last time we were here, they were all playing and splashing in the water. This time, we just got a back view of the big guy. The only action we saw was him defecating. Although, his fifth leg was intriguing. "What's that between his legs?" one of the children inquired. "That which you would expect to find between the legs of the male of the species," I answered.

The kids hopped and skipped along the small boulders on the path. I tried to get action shots. I mostly failed.

We stopped by the splash park to cool down again before checking out the remaining animals.

The kids were 95% good. There was only one very small moment where they became pesky, which was remarkable and admirable, considering it was a long and hot day.

The Best Day Ever

It is an absolutely, 100% perfect day. A little on the hot side, but that's nothing ice cream and swim time can't fix. We came home from church, had a little lunch, and I sent Nicco to check on the pool. I asked my boy how's the water. He said, "warm, with awesome sprinkled on top!" I told the Papa. The Papa laughed. Then I tested the water myself and told the Papa that the Boy spoke the truth.

 

We swim swam swum and then the boys put the ice cream together. It isn't even Mother's Day and they served me on my loungy chair. How spoiled am I? Answer, extremely spoiled.

I'm poolside with deluxe, divine, freshy-fresh homemade vanilla ice cream and my book.

 

My two favorites on the loungy chair by my side.

 It cannot possibly get better than this!

Well, except for the encounter with one of Nature's Monsters.

I wanted to kill it. I skimmed it out, got a rock for the squishing, but the little bastard ran away. He was quick. Nicco was a little nervous of coming across him again. I thought it was more likely that he went into hiding. I think he had a fright, nearly drowning. I hope he remembers that I saved his life!

Oh, and I think I was wrong with my original assessment of the gender of our Sago Palm. I think it's a boy.