Nicco + Danielle = TLF

 Danielle came to our house yesterday to swim for a little bit and she brought a book that she made to show Nicco. It was called "GRL AND DOG AND BOY." She stapled some papers together and drew pictures of herself, her other friend Ashley, her dog Pearl, and Nicco. It was adorable.

Today we had the play date with Danielle at the Children's Museum which I showed up for a week early last Friday. When we arrived this morning, Danielle's mom told me that Danielle is convinced she and Nicco will get married. Apparently, there was a discussion at the dinner table the other night in which she expressed this conviction to her parents. Her dad told her she had plenty of time to just be friends with Nicco and lots and lots of time to decide who she wants to marry. She looked at her father, confused, and said she didn't need time, she already decided. Funny.

Here are our babies in the car on the way to the museum. Cutie pumpkin pies. I want to squish them.

The first station we went to was the electricity room. It takes 50 watts of energy to lift a little ping pong ball...Nicco and Danielle worked together, unsuccessfully, to lift it.

Then Nicco tried to do it by himself. He couldn't do it, even with the face.

Next we went to Dinosaur world. There were 4 robot dinosaurs that moved a little and growled. Nicco pretended to be scared.

The kids' favorite room was the ocean room. They liked the little aquarium:

But the submarine was their favorite by far. Lots of buttons and lights and noises and pictures.

This was a cool little rope maze. Nicco eventually removed his belt and just climbed over and under the ropes.

Captain OCD had fun with these pins...he did the whole red side, then the whole gray side.

At pet vet station they groomed, fed, weighed, and boarded all the dogs and cats.

Climbing on the rock wall... Nicco wanted ropes and a belt to be safe.

I couldn't get the next picture to rotate. It is a drum that beats to your heart. The hand things sense your pulse and the hammer beats out your heart beat. Super cool.

My flash negated the light on the bug rug...it is a light table with desert plants and critters. The bugs crawl around and you have to feed them. You push food with your shadow. Also super cool.

And, friends holding hands, leaving the museum.

It was a fun day. We'll let you know when the wedding day is. As soon as Danielle tells us.

HOAs are Evil!

Some time in February-ish, we received a "friendly reminder" from the HOA saying that a non-commercial vehicle was parked on the street in front of our house, a violation of the rules and regulations for the community. That made me a little nutso, because the vehicle in question actually was a contractor, but the guy has his own business and the business name was not visible on his vehicle. Also, he was there for no more than 40 minutes. Grrr.

We have a neighbor whose visitors have an extremely annoying habit of parking in front of our house instead of in front of the house they are visiting. This has happened several times in the year and a half that we've been here and we never said or did anything, other than grumble to each other. Once we got the notice from the HOA, however, it bothered us a bit more. I can accept consequences for my own actions, but I won't pay a citation for my neighbor. It would be one thing if there were frequent parties and parking was limited, but there is no one parked in any of the driveways, let alone the streets.

The same car has been parked in front of our house 3 times in the past week or so, and both of the past two nights. I put a note on the windshield, respectfully requesting that the owner of the vehicle park in front of the house they are actually visiting, rather than ours.

So here's why HOAs are evil: I really could not care less where people park. It doesn't hurt me any to have an extra car in front of my house for a few hours a few times a week. If we didn't have an HOA, I bet the visitor would park in front of her friend's house. But because of the HOA, I get a distinct (though unprovable) feeling that my neighbor specifically asks her guests not to park in front of her house, therefore, giving me the potential violation. It makes me irritated with my neighbor. I want to live in a neat and clean neighborhood, but I don't want to live in a neighborhood where we snitch and spy on each other to avoid violations of stupid little rules.

I don't want to write passive-aggressive notes to my neighbor's visitors. I don't want to spy and snitch on my neighbors. But I'll be damned if I'm going to pay for her friend to park illegally in front of my house.

Thanks a lot, HOA!
Jerks.

Quote of the Day

There was a netflix commercial where the lady said something about "Girls' Night" and Nicco said, "Girls' night doesn't even exist. I've been here for five years...FIVE YEARS! and no girls' night."

Happy Birthday to Me!

I celebrated the 10th anniversary of my 29th birthday on Sunday. We invited our swim friends over to play in the pool and BBQ afterwards. We played with the littles in the pool for an hour or so, and when I went inside with Nicco to change into dry clothes, the doorbell was ringing. No one ever comes over, so I was a little surprised. Even more surprised when our friend Chris was there, saying Matt told him to come at 4:00 so if he was wrong, it's Matt's fault. I thought we were just having our swim friends over, but I told Chris to come on in, he's welcome any time. I felt like a jerk and a bad hostess. A few minutes later, Matt and Kengo arrived and my husband informed me that it was a birthday party! Sushi fest! Yay, me!

Nicco and his girls got burgers and home made fries instead.

Can you see all the cameras? Kengo's creations are delicious works of art.

A portion of my birthday dinner...yum! If you're not jealous, you should be!

It was a pleasant surprise, in spite of the surprise. I can't think of a better way to spend a birthday than with family and friends, good food, and good times. It was much better than my actual birthday, which I spent between the couch and hugging the toilet. I even had to cut a conversation with my sister short! Nicco said, "This is probably your worst birthday ever!" He may be right. I don't remember spending a birthday sick on the couch. But considering I was sick in my lovely, comfy home with my two great boys, it could certainly be worse.

End of Season Swim Parties

Swim season is officially over. This evening was the team awards banquet. We arrived at the pool and the kids swam and played in the rain for a half an hour or so, then headed across the street for a shaving cream fight. This apparently is a tradition. Nicco was excited, but quickly became frustrated. His little hands were slippery and not strong enough to spray the shaving cream. He cried. It was annoying.

He did manage to have a little fun before his small tantrum.

There was a fire truck waiting for the fun to end to hose the kids down.

That part was fun!

There was a beautiful sunset during dinner...

Someone made a cactus ice sculpture and put a Team Monsoon shirt on it. Nicco thought it was pretty cool. (ha ha)

Nicco got three awards and felt very pleased and proud. Each kid got a participation certificate and a little team dog-tag style "medal" engraved with their name. Nicco thought it was his first place prize. That's fine.

Nicco and his buddy Devin received the "Just Keep Swimming" award for their dedication and continued efforts. They were both very excited to get trophies.

These are 5 of the 6 kids whose papers Josh didn't turn in on time, disqualifying them from participating in championships. I was impressed that he acknowledged his mistake publicly and recognized the kids for continuing and being an important part of the team through the end of the season.

My pictures are out of order...the next set are from championships and the after-party at Peter Piper Pizza.

Nicco and one of the twins. She told him that "there is a new ride that is a lot like a roller coaster, and I'm hoping you will go with me." He was happy to oblige.

On the carousel with one of the twins. (I can only tell them apart if I can see Delaney's mole above her lip)

Poolside at the races. Nicco said, "I wish I was in championships, because I'm cooked!" It was hot, for sure. We watched the other kids swim, but mostly Nicco played airplaines and angry birdies with Devin.

I was pretty worn out by the time all was said and done. Three hours in the sun with noisy kids followed by two hours at the pizza party joint with noisy kids and noisy games just about pushed me to my limit. The boy had fun though, and that's what counts.

Creepy, with a Capital C...

...that rhymes with T and that stands for That Which Must Not Be Named.

Patrice has been pondering a lot lately on the power of positive (or negative) thinking and visualization, and the law of attraction which basically states that you get what you give. So, if you focus strongly on positive thoughts and images, those things will find their way into your life. By the same token, if you dwell on the ugly and negative thoughts and images, those things will also find their way into your life.

I have very carefully (and consciously, I might add) avoided naming the Thing I wished to avoid seeing here in the desert. The rattlesnake on my doorstep was an unwelcome visitor, but the brave firemen took it away. The scorpions are also unwelcome creepy critters, but they are small and most often dead when we cross paths. The wild cats and dogs stay out of neighborhoods for the most part.

I have been successful in either avoiding or just not seeing the Thing. The other day at swim practice, my friend Ilene was talking about her husband's mortal fear of spiders and mentioned that in 4 years, she has not ever seen a tarantula. As soon as she said it, I felt like all the wizards in the Harry Potter stories whenever Harry boldly pronounced Voldemort's name. She said it...out loud... the horror! The horror! Just a couple days later at our last swim race, she told me that as her family left, her husband stopped the car abruptly to repeated exclamations of "OH MY GOSH!!!" She thought he ran over one of the coach's dogs, but she missed the thud and was sure that they were going slow enough not to have hurt it. Then she saw the enormous tarantula in the road. When she told me this story, she said "funny how we were just talking about that!" Yeah, funny. Ha ha.

This afternoon, Nicco and I got ready for a swim. I asked him how the pool looked and if I needed to skim. He said it looks good, but I do need to skim a little bit. I found this floating, dead, in the pool:

Funny how we were just talking about never seeing tarantulas, isn't it? {{shivers}} Floating dead in the pool is the best case scenario for coming across a tarantula in my opinion.

My nephew has been gathering bugs for an upcoming school project. I already sent him a scorpion. I wonder if arachnids count as bugs?

I'm Not Even Forty Yet...

I hustled Nicco out of the house this morning to get to his friend Danielle's house for our play date at the children's museum that is scheduled for Friday, July 29th.

Goodness gracious me. I know I'm getting older, but isn't 39 a little young for the memory to go? I guess it is a good thing I only have one kid's activities to keep track of. I'd probably be a complete basket case if I had to maintain a calendar for more!

Danielle's mom was so kind and didn't even make fun of me at all and insisted that Nicco stay and play with Danielle and her other little friend who was due to arrive a little later. I got home in time to see the pool guy (who brought the wrong replacement part for our filter...awesome.) and I did a couple of returns, (keys that didn't fit, shirts with no sleeves...I don't like shirts with no sleeves for boys) and put gas in the car without towing Nicco around town. Nice for him.

...Nicco cried when I picked him up because he "didn't even get a chance to play!" Which I believe is code for "I had to share Danielle with someone else!"

Quail Update

I finally saw our quail family this morning for the first time. Mama, papa, and one baby. Boo hoo! I'm glad the one baby survived, but I'm sad for the rest of them.

Quote of the Day

A rain storm is blowing through so I opened up our doors to let the fresh air in. Nicco is huddled up in a house, "running for [his] life." The rainstorm smell penetrated his blanket and pillow fortress and Nicco commented, "I smell fresh air! It's better than throw-up."

Nicco's Last Race

This evening Team Monsoon had a "meet" with just our team. It was basically a practice run for all the kiddos before championships next week, but since Nicco doesn't get to participate in championships, (that's a long, ugly story...) this evening was his last race. He learned a lot and worked hard and made some big improvements.

Prior to the races, they took team pictures. This is the best group shot I got, but the coach isn't in the picture. Oh well. And yes, that's a pit bull in front. One of two that belong to the coach and who wander about freely and mostly unattended with many children present.

The big kids and little kids on the team practiced separately (which is GREAT for fostering a sense of team unity...) but they were each assigned a partner. The bigs were "thunder" and the littles were "lightning." This is my little lightning with his thunder, Sydney.

Sydney is as sweet and kind as can be and was a great big buddy to him all season. She helped him get where he needed to be at the appropriate times, she cheered and encouraged him. She is also not allowed to participate in championships and the first thing she said when she found out was "what about Nicco?" Sweet. And kind. Here she is leading him by the hand to help paint their team banner.

And, this is Nicco's last race. Funnily enough, it was his slowest freestyle race of the season. He took a little break there towards the end to see where everyone else was. At least his start was much better than his first race!

I'm both glad and sad that the season is essentially over. Even with the disappointments, it was a good experience for Nicco. We'll do it again.

Boys' Night Out

I had a haircut appointment followed by my book club meeting last night, so the boys were on their own for the whole evening. Nicco wanted to play "garage games" but the daddy had other plans.

Nicco asked me to make a bunch of arrows so he could send his daddy on a treasure hunt when he came home. That was a cute beginning to their evening together.

Patrice drove Nicco to the mall without telling him why. They pulled in and wound their way among the crowds of weirdos dressed up for the Harry Potter movie. (I get the teenagers doing it, but grown ups? Grow up...) Patrice let Nicco choose his treats so he got popcorn, soda, and a Haagen Dazs ice cream bar. Spoily, spoily! Fun for him! He was thrilled when they walked up to the Mr. Popper's Penguins theater. The boy loved it, but Patrice couldn't "believe [he] put money in that guy's pocket." I'm pretty sure the boys' night out time together was worth lining Jim Carrey's pockets a little.

And that's how we spent our Bastille Day.

An Observation

We see lots of desert critters crossing the road or scurrying about the washes along the drive between home and the pool. Bunnies, quails, lizards, roadrunners, sometimes coyotes and bobcats. This morning Nicco said, "I think I see something...it might be a bunny...nope, it's a fire hydrant."

Aloha!

Lately, we have been going into the pool when it is a little cooler, a.k.a. night swimming. Nicco just needs some gills...he could live in the water!

The thing about night swimming is that it's short...half an hour or so. There's nothing better than an 88 degree pool on a 95 degree night! Except maybe a Hawaiian vacation. Our friends just got back from Hawaii and brought Nicco this sea turtle necklace:

Mahalo!

Monsoon, Baby!

We've been waiting in our smoldering heat for the monsoon rains to arrive. We got a preview on July 4th, a little of nature's fireworks:

Our neighbor's flag against the backdrop of heavy clouds:

On July 5th, Nicco's swim races were cancelled and this dust storm rolled over Phoenix:

This morning our pool guy came and did some work, which included backwashing. Whenever we backwash (which has been twice since we moved in...) whatever is in the pipes and filters gets washed into the street. This leaves a slightly white mess of something called diamotitious earth in the street and gutters. It's not salt, it's not chemicals, it's totally organic. Our grouchy neighbor rang the bell this afternoon to let us know we made a mess in his driveway, and could we come sweep it up when we get a chance. First of all, give me a break. Second of all, it's in the street, dude. Not your driveway. And no, I'm not going to sweep the street. Third, just take a quick glance over the mountain. It will be cleaned up soon. Guaranteed.

Nicco had swim practice at 6:00. I should not have gone. I knew it. But, I went anyway. The coach had the kids in the pool and they got 5 laps in before the thunder clapped. He herded them all into the garage in case it blew over. Within 5 minutes, he sent the kids with parents at the pool home and got the rest on the phone. The temperature in my car's thermometer read 102 on the way to the pool at 5:45. By the time we left, it dropped to 67. Crazy. Nicco and I drove home, dodging branches in the street and screaming at each other to be heard over the pounding rain. I was glad that our drive home didn't take us on any of the "DO NOT ENTER WHEN FLOODED" streets.

I kind of feel like going to my crabby neighbor's house and asking if his driveway is clean enough for him now.

Happy Independence Day!

"The second day of July, 1776, will be the most memorable epoch in the history of America. I am apt to believe that it will be celebrated by succeeding generations as the great anniversary Festival. It ought to be commemorated, as the Day of Deliverance, by solemn acts of devotion to God Almighty. It ought to be solemnized with pomp and parade, with shows, games, sports, guns, bells, bonfires and illuminations, from one end of this continent to the other, from this time forward forever."

~John Adams

Go celebrate, Patriots, and remember why we celebrate.
Happy fourth, everyone!

Hello Kettle, My Name is Nicco. You're Black.

We walked in the house after our church's Independence Day pool party and when Nicco saw all Frankie's toys strewn about her house and around her scratchy-pole, he said, "Boy, Frankie sure has let this place go."

Nevermind the current condition of his own room:

Speaking of Patriotism...

Nicco said that if Frankie ever met Obama, she would probably scratch his face off.

Fight on, fuzzy Patriot!

Little Patriot

Do you see my boy? He's the short-stuff standing to the right of the flag.

The little kids lead the pledge of allegiance at the start of each meet. When Nicco saw his coach pull out the flag, he asked if they were getting ready to say "the words of the flag of the United States" and if he could say the words too. I was proud of my little patriot, wanting to say the words.

I read an article today in the US News about a Harvard study proving that patriots are Republicans. The study finds that July 4th parades energize only Republicans, turn kids into Republicans, and help to boost the GOP turnout of adults on Election Day. “Fourth of July celebrations in the United States shape the nation’s political landscape by forming beliefs and increasing participation, primarily in favor of the Republican Party,” said the report from Harvard.

I read another article from the NY Times saying that the 4th of July is "an opportunity for atonement" of our carbon sins against the planet..."FOOD is responsible for 10 to 30 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions. By many estimates, cooking represents more of a meal’s carbon footprint than transport. For certain vegetables, it accounts for more emissions than agriculture, transport and disposal combined."

So, Republicans celebrate our independence, our founding, our freedoms. Democrats want us to eat only non-cooked food. I guess that means no more french fries and fat cakes for Queen Michelle. Oh. Wait. Nevermind.

In anticipation of Independence Day, I say go to a parade! Light some fireworks! And, grill on, Patriots!

It Must Have Been Bad

Every morning when Nicco wakes up, we go through a series of questions:

How are you this morning?
How did you sleep?
Did you have sweet dreams?

This morning he told me "one was the scariest dream ever."
I asked what his scary dream was about and he said, "You don't even want to know."

Weekend Update (part II)

Take a look at what my industrious hubby did:

He moved all the river rocks from behind the bar to make fresh new borders along the tile and pool deck and around the palms, he moved nearly 2 tons of gravel to fill in the dirt spaces and make a fresh, neat, and clean groundscape. And he did it all in just a couple of days! In 105 degrees! Now all that is left is for the bushes that nearly died in the freeze to grow back or for Patrice's metal fabricator friend to build us a nice wall to hide the pool equipment.

Working in the sunshine (without a shirt or sunblock, silly boy...) created a picker/peeler's paradise on his back. I just have to vacuum and wash sheets every day until he's done shedding.