Groom Creek

It's highly likely that gigantic wild things rolled and rollicked in the woods, turning up great mammoth pieces of granite for their playground equipment. Then, as it usually goes, mysteriously vanished, leaving only evidence behind for the believers.  
The kids and their two little friends went rogue.  The boulders and trees swallowed them up and spat them out again feral and happy. They encountered another gaggle of kids and at one point, it seemed, as though two warring parties would be, once and for all, staking claim on this granite kingdom.  Alas, they made peace and joined forces instead.

We climbed all day.  Exhilarating.

 

Sam hikes Dreamy Draw

I have a 40lb parasite strapped to my back and we're trudging through the countless trails at Dreamy Draw.  It's hot.  "You horse, I'm cowboy.  Ye-haw!"  Fine, I'll do it.  Whinny, whinny, neigh, neigh, clippity, clippity clop.  Satisfied, he settles into his pack and keeps his eye on the trail for snakes.  I tell him they're everywhere and it's up to him to keep us safe.
At the top of one lower crest he wants to hike himself.  I manage to safely lower the tubby tot to the ground and the feeling of floating almost takes my breath away.

Being carried is a lot of work, so after a snack and a long drink from his canteen,  he's ready to adventure on his own two feet.  He takes gravity by the hand and they skip off down the path as I'm yelling at them to slow down!  Sam quickly realizes the mountain needs some rearranging and starts to throw any and all rocks.  At one point he presses into the side of the hill and with all his might attempts to the move it, all of it.  Funnily enough, it doesn't budge, so he goes back to picking up huge stones and tossing them aside.  Breathing heavily, grunting, growling, the rocks are quivering in fear.  "I'm da man!  Nothin break me down.  Gas in the tank.  Money, bank.  I'm da man!  Rawwrrr!"

Penumbra is still worth it

At ten o clock the night before, it just occurred to me that there was going to be a total eclipse of the sun and it's path of totality and would be gracing the beautiful states of America.  I started reading all the hype on the internet about it and got swept away real quick.  Worry set it.  Ender's school was going to keep him inside during the eclipse.  As was Cora's.  Ping pong went my thoughts.  Should I or should I not take them out of school so they could experience the event, even if it would only be partially obscured?  Am I bad mom?  It's times like these I close my eyes and pretend to have wrinkly skin and grey hair.  My elderly more cinical self laughed at my younger more uptight self.  Wait, was she laughing at me cause I worry too much and lack wisdom, just keep them in school?  Or was she laughing because I worry too much and just let 'em play hookie for crying out loud?!  I called mama.  I fretted over the phone with her.   All night I stewed.  But woke up and decided away we fly with handmade pin holes to the archery range.

There were clouds, there was heat, there was a two year old and there was, inevitably, somebody who had to poop.

So, away we went to my parent's house around the bend.

The boy creator, the girl explorer, and the baby juggernaut suffer their mama's ideas.  I dare say they love it.

The moon slipped perfectly over the sun.  The iris and the pupil, unblinking down at their inquisitive earthlings.

We all piled into daddy's new car on Christmas Eve.  I know zilch about models and makes and blah blah blah.  All I ask myself is "Does this car speak to my sentimental soul?"  And this one doesn't do it for me. However, if you talk to Zander about it, the car is very remarkable.  Previously owned by an adult nerd who works for Intel, he cared for it like I do my own babies.  Every maintainence appointment meticulously documented,  regularly bathed and cleansed, not a scratch, tear, or stain through and through.  Sadly, it has just occurred to me, he took better care of this car then I do my own kids.  We don't deserve this car, I feel sorry for it.  The first morning, I caught Cora, mindlessly, scratching it's hood with a rock she found.  And then I scraped the side view mirror pulling the recycling can out to the curb and then not to mention Gunther and his entitlement to the front seat. 
Nah, its okay, I bet the car was tired of a life inside a vacuum, now its truly living....

We drove to Wickenburg to get some pie.  I forget the name of the supposedly famous pie shack.  And, apparently, you have to order Christmas Eve pies, which we didn't, so we got someone's unwanted 3/4 scraps.  We drove all the way through the rain to get it and by golly we were going to enjoy it! 

These were the days Sam was still in the early stages of metamorphosing from angel baby to wolf cub. 

And the hassayamp river.

Hunts Tomb

February 14th.  A valentine & birthday picnic for the love of Arizona.

Our feral children made sure every other valentine couple there seeking a romantic sunset, thought twice about where their intimate actions might lead later that evening. 

Kid's happen. Its science.

 Socks with sandals are must if you never want to be "pinned" by jealous moms on Pinterest. 

Thursday night, the air was still and sticky.  It was a mad rush, with forced resolve to be calm though, as we packed up old Trusty to head out of town.  The kid's were pumped to be going up to Grandma's cabin.  To fall asleep under the blur of orange highway lamps, to wake in the green blackness of Junipine.  We crawl 10 yards down the street and the grinding of the brakes stalls our quick get away.  "Well, hopefully, its just a rock" sighs Zander.
We pull back into the drive.  The kids squirm in their car seats while Zander quickly works to assess the problem. 
"It just went from bad to worse" announced Zander.
"okay, kids, I've got bad news.... We'll have to go to Junipine tomorrow."
Wah wah wah, yah dah yah dah, they got it out of their system and then passed out in their beds reassured that mom and dad would take care of it. 
Now, Mom did nothing but eat a box of cheezits and then cry herself to sleep because her toothbrush and toothpaste were a jenga piece wedged in a stack of suitcases in the back of the suburban.
Zander, however has the skillz to pay the billz yo.  He woke up at 6:30am under a slated sky that broke over his head in an outpouring of rain and lightning.  The wet weather did not deter his rescue mission.  Soon, he safely whisked his family away.

“Then if a child comes to you, if he laughs, if he has golden hair, if he doesn’t answer your questions, you’ll know who he is."  The Little Prince.

Tut Tut Looks Like Rain

  She's my little storm cloud that followed me around this beautiful sunny day.  She was almost a constant dribble of cries and complaints.  I was soaked and tired from her mini tempest.  Once we were back at the shelter of the cabin, I plugged that pie hole with one of her grotesque poppies and plopped her in bed for a nap.    She woke up with a silver lining.  Thankfully.

Dusky Desert

The desert is like a rose blushing again after its been withered from the heat. Its beauty never gives up. 
We spent some time at the archery range on Thanksgiving.  Gunther and the human pups from his pack ran wild.  Zander threw the ball for Gunther and his powerful body shot straight like an arrow; he impresses me. At one point Zander threw the ball off of small hill that dropped suddenly at the bottom. 
 I didn't see, but all I heard was the weight of a canon ball hurtling from a great height, hit the dirt with a mighty thud then run off with winged feet. 

 

 The story of their lives.....

 

Gunther clothes lined them.  Ender is actually taking it really well here, believe it or not.  In seconds he'll pop his head up with a smile. Cora is spittin' mad, however.