September 2012

 In September we went to the zoo. It was hot. Really hot. And Thor didn't hold still for a good picture the whole time. Can't look now, mom, there are other kids around!

 

 Look? Look where?

 Over there? Look over there?

 Over here? Look over here? Where?

 Touch this? Oh, grab it's teeth?

 Look! Now you look!

 I'm outta here!

 Can't look at the camera now--gotta climb

 The horse stopped him in his tracks-he loved it. (That's some random lady that he tugged on her shorts and asked her to pick him up to get a better look--no shy kids here!)

 And then the "I'm exhausted! I can't look anymore, especially at the camera!"

He loves listening to Sabre's iPod and getting piggy back rides.

I saw this cute picture on pinterest where the little boy was laughing his head off with a "Max" crown drawn on the ground and him laying on it. I wanted to replicate it, but Thor refused to smile at all let alone laugh. This look is such a Gary look:

It's Gary's "I'm humoring you-this is no fun for me at all" look. And that's the quick September story!

August 2012

My computer crashed in August. And then in September we were trying to close on the house. And then Oct. 2 we closed on it and started remodeling. So I haven't written. To catch up, these next posts are going to be fast.

Sabre started her senior year this August. First day of school:

Let me tell you how insane it is that I have a senior in high school. I remember thinking when she was born that I would be 37 when she left home. I thought that sounded young. It doesn't feel like it. She has taught me more about myself than I care to admit. And she has been a forgiving oldest child--much more forgiving than I was to my own mother (sorry, mom!). She has been a joy for the past few months. It's like she can see the light at the end of the tunnel and she can handle whatever I throw at her. But honestly, I will miss her help, her easy manner, her thoughtful comments. Here is to enjoying the time we have left.

Thor is my sweet monkey child. He LOVES bananas!

We keep them on-hand at all times.

Thor still loves swimming. He can dive under the water holding his breath.

He is a busy beaver. He loves running around naked-oh that cute little baby butt! This is one of my favorite pictures of him, tiny wet footprints and all:

Our "Man"ny John

John has been watching Thor since March and it's worked out really well for Thor.  John practices Thor's swimming with him--it's really cute!

One of Thor's favorite things is to play with the hose. It helps bribe him to get out of the pool.

Thor and the Park

We have a community park a block away next to the school. John and Jenn take Thor there every Friday morning. He loves it! He climbs and slides on everything.  He has to do everything himself, though--no helping!

It really wears him out, which is great!

Monsoon Season in the Valley

This was a really wet year in the valley.  While the rest of the country is going through a drought, we are getting drowned out! While we were gone, Phoenix was hit with the largest haboob in recent history. For those of you who don't know, a haboob is a giant dust storm that precedes the rain in a monsoon.  You can't see in the dust storm, so it's best to take shelter off the roadways.  This one was more than a mile high. It shut down the airport and caused accidents along the highways.

And the rain continued almost every day during July. Thor could not figure out where the water was coming from!

He would go out into the rain and then get scared to come back under the patio. It really freaked him out that he couldn't tell where it was coming from except up!

Driving Home (Days 9 and 10)

As we were driving to Albuquerque the next day, the rain that threatened to overtake us yesterday finally did.

It poured on us all the way there.  The hotel was way better there than in Clinton.  We went swimming as soon as we got there and went to IHOP for dinner.  Swimming always seems to calm Thor down.

Chris hadn't been feeling well all trip so we dropped her off at the airport in Albuquerque to fly home to Tulsa and Bryce, Thor and I made the final 7 hours to Phoenix by ourselves.  It wasn't that bad--Bryce was a big help with Thor.

And then finally we were home! I always love driving down into the valley. There is something so soothing for me about seeing the trees fall behind me, the saguaros rise out of the rocks, and the rocky mountains turn from foothills to flat, lush desert.  But there is nothing like the smell.  The rain we brought with us hit the creasote bushes and gave off the smell of desert rain that you can't find anywhere else in the world. It mixed with the smell of hot rubber from the freeways for the unmistakeable smell of home.

I drove for a total of 58 hours in the past 10 days. I went through 7 states, the entire southwest and most of the mid-west.  But there isn't one place I would rather live than right where I am.

Driving Miss Kathy (Day 8): the drive home

Before leaving Joann's house we took one more dip in the pool. Then Thor and I headed off to pick up Chris and Bryce. For those of you who don't know, Chris is my ex-mother-in-law and Bryce, her son, is Sabre's cousin.  They were going to drive home to Phoenix with me, visit with Sabre a day or so and fly back to Tulsa.  This was going to be great for me because Thor would have someone in the back seat with him to hand him food, talk to him, hold his laptop with his movie on it, play with his toys with him, etc.

We got all packed in the cab because it looked like it would rain.  Even with someone in the back, Thor started screaming before we made it out of Tulsa.  He just did not want to be in the car anymore! And then he pooped while we were on the turnpike to Oklahoma City, which means there is no where to turn off and we weren't close to the McDonalds yet. So I pulled off onto some weird dirt road to change him.

Eventually we made it to Gary's dad's house in tiny Shawnee, Oklahoma. It was an hour or so out of our way, but Grandpa Terry had never seen Thor before so I wanted to make sure to let them meet up.  Thor was a little leery of him, but he loved his cute blue heeler puppy. And he loved the pupy's chew toys! Terry even let him take one home.

Then we drove a mile to see Cindy, Garys' mom, and Emma, his grandma.  They had just seen Thor a month before at his first birthday party, but they were glad to see him again.

Thor hadn't had his afternoon nap (because he screamed the whole way down there), so he was a little booger. We ate dinner there but had to leave fairly early because Thor started having a meltdown. We started back towards the interstate and Thor was asleep before we got out of town. 

We stayed on the west side of Oklahoma City in a small town called Clinton, OK on Saturday night. We got a suite so we could all rest up well, but it wasn't that great.  The hotel room was nothing like on the website. It smelled funny and one of the two toilets was stopped up. But it didn't have bedbugs and we were tired, so we stayed.