June 2010: Goodbye Arizona

J. was really meant to live in California. I've known it ever since his hair got long enough to tough his eyebrows and I put him in his first pair of board shorts. He loves sand. He loves the water. He just loves being outside. Unfortunately we didn't spend Memorial Day swimming this year. Instead we had to quarantine the Fish house (sorry Dad) with my stomach-virus children. J. got to watch hours and hours of Playhouse Disney (we don't have cable or anything) and A. survived by watching Animusic over and over and over... (thank you Nonnie!) We managed to have a throw-up-free 12 hours before boarding the plane to come back home.

It was so hard to leave. I knew I was leaving home for the last time. Mom would never be there with her welcoming arms again, and Dad would be moving out of the house before I made it back to Arizona. That wasn't the hardest thing though. The hardest part was leaving the strength of the Fish family circle to be off on my own. I cried the first night I spent back in my own bed -- it seemed so final now. It's still hard for me to really believe that Mom isn't still over in Arizona where I can fly out and visit when I next get a chance.

We love our swing. Or rather I should say we loved our swing. It hung from a big branch on our great old oak tree in back and children and adult alike got great use out of that thing. I loved to got out after lunch or dinner and swing with my boys for a while.

Then Ken cut it down. I wanted to strangle him... still do a little bit. He worried that ants were eating it and it said it looked bad and I disagreed. Yes, yes, the safety of the kids is important and all that, but this is my swing! (and I've had some experience with caring trees.) Evidently I lost but took to gloating as much as possible when he saw the healthy looking stub where he'd pruned it. No one was more angry than J. though, who to this day will look out the window and cry, "Daddy cut the wrong branch!" I have a secret for you someday J..... Daddy knew which branch he was cutting...

June was a bad month for Ken. His next big idea was a joint camping trip with Chlynn (Chad + Lynn family). We knew before we ever left the house that there would be record heat and humidity that weekend, but he did not want to call it off. Finally that morning I sort of laid into him again and he conceeded, but by then Chylnn were already packed and ready to go (and you can't tell your kids at that point that your not going camping... not if you expect them to ever love you again). So we were off to Kentucky with our fingers crossed.
Once the guys were done putting up the tents, unloading the cars and hanging shade tarps for us baby C. was getting grumpy and looking flushed. The Dads took the other kiddoes fishing and Lynn and I stayed in the shade as best we could. It wasn't long before little C. threw up his dinner and we knew he was feeling some heat exhaustion. I got the AC going in the van for C. to nap and poor Lynn made dinner so we could all eat. The fishermen returned empty handed and with added insult of having bought out-of-state fishing licenses on the one free fishing day of the year (in KY). I had decided to take the kids with me to a motel for the night (with air conditioning!) and after Kiri freeked at the amount of insects taking flight at dusk Chylnn decided to come with us. So then we (well, mostly the guys) had to pack up everything (in the dark) while the kids enjoyed airconditioning and Animusic in our van.
After staying in the most run-down Super-8 in existence (yes, there were holes in the sheets and a door missing on our armoir), I'm surprised that Lynn and Chad are even on speaking terms with us anymore. I think the kids still had fun - like us they were just glad to be able to visit - but Ken is not allowed to plan any future gatherings.


Kids bowl free all summer long where we're at. They loved it -- and C. liked rolling the balls around too. (And especially loved trying to crawl up onto the bowling lanes so Mommy would go chasing after him to pull him back... grrr...)

I found this kids sewing machine at a Rummage Sale (or was it Goodwill??? I forget.) and decided to teach A. to sew a bit. He loved it, seeing as how he loves machines, and had all the buttons and gadgets figured out very quickly. He made a pillow and a little sleeping bag for his stuffed puppy. He has asked for a new one that isn't pink...