loss-leaders at Kierkland Commons, the kids don’t know its fake snow
beckie is master of Xmas cheer
this plant’s indignities upon her while spreading joy spurred Beckie to finally allow me to kill this plant. it would have happened sooner if it was her parking spot.
Tom’s Thumb
Our house is in this picture, but i can’t spot it; maybe if I had 12 megapixels
beckie’s bday! we both took the day off, rode The Fast & The Spurious then had beers at Zipp’s
beads!
One of the best days in a long time! We took most of the day, and let the kids have a big say in our pace. Multi-use paths through Horizon Park to the bike lanes down 96th St to Camelback Walk to the Scottsdale Greenbelt. G LOVED the tunnels and twisty paths. We stopped at 7 miles to feed the ducks. Alana picks up new words every day, and learns new things watching G do it once. Beckie tried to give the camera swimming lessons, so no pics as we continued south to the giant horse fountains in the Indian Bend Wash spillway and then the Scottsdale Railroad Park. After an hour of inspired play, G fired up for the 10 miles home with the promise of ice cream. I kinda did too, hauling our meatsacks around is quite vigorous. I’m amazed Cold Stone is not the subject of a class action suit by the American Diabetes Association.
Free tickets, free field passes, and free pom-poms! If only finding a babysitter and a place to tailgate had been as easy. It all worked out; our football marathon began at 10 to head over to Glendale, and ended about 9 at night after the Eagles played the Sunday Night game.
are you talking to me, little man?
it was amazing to see up close how limber and fluid even the hugest of these guys all are
pre-game position drills, 1-handed catches and effortless acts of athleticism abounded
Fitzgerald in 7-on-7 warmups
in college, for 4 yrs me and Lawren, Jud and Niraj kept a quote book. I know before we left Lawren made copies, but I don’t know if I still have them.
Beckie and I had a quote book, and it went on good for a couple years and then some hither and tharn for a couple years, and then some nothing for a couple years. So in that tradition…
people who are serious about hiking should be running. Beckie, on anal hikers
i’ll pedal slow and you’ll pedal superfast, and we’ll be a great team. G, on 2-biking
The rehab continues, slow steps of is-it-really-progress, exhultation in landing a 2-ft drop and not having my left leg buckle. It was the slowest of my 5 times up Tom’s Thumb, the goal only to finish not to supastar, and i did, and it was cool. Also cool how compatible me and my neighbor are. Phone a friend? I’ll do it, i’ll drop trough – I really want to make a friend in the neighborhood, who rides, kinda close to me, and has lovely little girls to play with my girls.
10 minutes…drop 10 minutes and we are all good again. I’ll take your 10 minutes, i could barely walk a few weeks ago. It won’t be as many as 10 minutes next week.
Returning tired to Pimp My House: Lame White Suburbanistas. Whatever. i’m working here. I’m storing, I’m sorting, I’m promoting airflow. I’m making my house my own, a subtle balm after 6 months of low-level noise and and not feeling comfortable. i came back from a trip to CO injured and pissed off and wanting to rehab and fix my house and not go outside til it was autumn about December. This will suffice.
We took the 2-bike and the trailer up the hill, and after a few false starts and some fussing from G, we settled down on an APS transformer at 108th St. Very ghetto. that’s how we roll. We saw at least 10 displays out across the Valley. G came around and had a great time, Alana had no clue but she’s a joiner. Then we had chorizo-stuffed peppers.
bikes
fans
out.
neighbor gathering in yon backyard
leftovers, preKila
leftovers, postKila
G and A’s school had Teacher Appreciation Week, Beckie had the epiphany to give them some of our bookshelves full of kids books, after discovering at 10pm the night before Teacher Appreciation Week Brunch that a nasty-looking cheese plate from Bashas cost $16.59. My house is tidied, we did the school a solid, and according to Miss Jen a roomful of kids were quietly engrossed in fine literature for about 2 hours. She said it was eerie, kinda Children-of-the-Corn. Beckie’s mother the librarian would be so proud, a classroom fascinated by new books. Maybe G’s teacher is figuring us out, that we are not as uptight as the average Scottsdale parents. Or maybe I’m just working the room, trying to crack so much ice and blackberry screens so that my kids will feel at home. The other day neither Miss Jen nor i could find G on the playground, I whistled for her like i do Kila and she soon came running. People know when you’re keeping it real. BTW, that works at IKEA too.
When i came to pick them up, G & A were playing together at a little table. They both came running across the room to see me. It was amazing, Alana toddling mechanically towards me with outstretched arms, G hurtling above and beyond her with outstretched arms. It was like Terminator Salvation, or maybe The Empire Strikes Back.
Jen made a point of thanking me for the books, and telling me that G had just eaten a bunch of snacks. Great, I give you and the 4′s the written word for years to come, you give me Cat 5 Hurricane Genevieve.
While getting G’s stuff, she spotted across the room a bag of lollipops. I bet she had been scoping them all day. Being such a good girl in school for like 10.5 hrs while i rode Somo with Bob, i told her she could take 2. Alana started to have a fit, going from happy in my arms to thermonuclear panic in 2 seconds – the time to spot a lollipop. i have underestimated her, she’s probably been scoping them all day too.
lollipops for a baby in the car seemed a terrible idea, and Alana had another fit when i put it away. So i stuffed…litterally, shoved…graham crackers into her yapping piehole. This kept her til we got in the car, when she saw unopened lollipops in G’s hand. Panic ensued, and now I had to reason with G as to why i’d like her to put her lollipops away for the 5 minute ride home. She starts to panic, and i shove graham crackers into her yapping piehole.
So many personalities, so much interaction. Beckie said about a year ago that she thought Alana made us a family, but i did not feel it much before now. A new era of two opinionated Monsters has begun.
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