Happy 30th of June

Went to a friend's house in the country for food and fireworks. His father-in-law spent $250 on fireworks, PLUS had some left over from a previous event. So, we started fireworks at 8:45pm, and just about two hours later we were wrapping it up. It's not even July and I'm all fireworked out already!

The girls also got to swim and play with a BUNCH of other kids at this gathering. I've done the math, and when you combine this evening's swim with the swim time the girls had at summer camp today, they spent in excess of 25% of their day in the water.

End of the road (log)

Home. Nothing sweet about it, but it is home.

Took the kids to see their mom first thing, as they hadn't seen her in a week. Intended to get to work today, but got in too late and couldn't make it work and also be worthwhile.


So here are the stats:

2,466 total miles traveled
28 hours 46 minutes actual driving time (out and back)

Cave dwelling and appreciating the interstates (RL8)

The girls and I spent several hours at Carlsbad Caverns this afternoon before getting back on the road to Oklahoma. It was definitely worth the extra trip segment, and I think the girls had a great time, with the possible exception of a couple complications. I took lots of pictures, but most didn't turn out very well. I put a few in the album, but I'm working with some others to see if I can make adjustments. Also, other vacation pics are forthcoming.

We did the full two mile self-guided tour of the caverns. That first mile is tougher than it seems at first. It takes an hour to do (while still seeing everything), but it's like walking downhill (75 stories!) continuously for an hour. Even if you're in good shape, you have to sit or stop periodically to give your legs a rest. The second mile was mostly flat, so not too bad.

One of the complications was that the girls were REALLY cold. I planned appropriately and brought jackets for everyone (which we made good use of), but I didn't put the girls in jeans, though I had jeans in the suitcase. I didn't think it was THAT cold myself, and there were many others in shorts, even other kids. So the fact that the girls were cold was a bit of a distraction at times.

Another complication was that Darby was a crap head. No, literally. I mean, her head was crapped on. By a bird. Seriously.

They don't tell you that, while at night the cave entrance is filled with bats, during the day, there are birds EVERYwhere, practically swarming around the cavern entrance. I was rather worried that one of us would get hit by ambient fecal matter, and I was right to be worried about it as it turns out. Just moments from being out of bird dropping range, Darby had a glob of it land smack in the middle of her head. I felt so bad for her. But very unfortunately, I had nothing to use to clean her head with. I had hand sanitizer, but no tissues or napkins or baby wipes. AND, the nearest bathroom was a mile away. Ugh.

Gratefully, Darby handled it VERY well. She was calm and practical about it, which I appreciated. Shelby would have been hysterical. Instead, Darby ignored the complication, enjoyed the first mile of the tour, and when we got to the rest area, she went to the restroom and removed the yuck herself, and even washed her hair with hand soap. I wish she handled ALL of life's complications that way. I gave her a big hug and thanked her for not freaking out.

My big regret is that we didn't have time to stay to watch the bats leave the cave at dusk. We left Tucson so late that we had to drive straight to the hotel on Tuesday night, and then get up Wednesday to do the caverns. With some better planning, we could have gotten to the caverns earlier Tuesday night to observe the bats, even if we still didn't do the tour until the next day. Oh well, I guess this gives us more reason to come back.

So, my recommendation summary for a good Carlsbad visit... Definitely bring and use jackets/sweatshirts; Put the kids in jeans, even if they complain it's too hot outside; Bring some napkins or wet wipes for dropping removal, maybe even wear a hat as you enter the cave; Eat a large meal before starting the tour, as you'll work it off with all the walking and still be starving after the hike; Bring shoes with good traction as the first mile of the tour is quite steep; Make time for the bats at dawn or dusk. Oh, and do make time for the gift shop. It's quite extensive, and surprisingly affordable. I've been to some gift shops with $27 t-shirts, but at the cavern gift shop, there were many rather nice shirts below ten bucks.



A travel note... after ~350 miles of non-interstate highway driving the last couple days, I've come to have a fresh appreciation for the interstate system. We tend to take it for granted, and though the state and US highways have their charm, that charm fades after a couple hundred miles, and we find ourselves wishing for something that strongly resembles the robust interstate system we've had for the last fifty years now. Once I finally got to I-27 in Lubbock, it was like a huge weight of stress was lifted from my shoulders, and from then on, the driving was much nearer to worry-free.

It's a shame about Roswell

I'd like to have driven up the road an hour and a half to visit Roswell, New Mexico. However, it's not on the itinerary, which is a shame, because who knows when I'll next be down here. Were the kids old enough to appreciate the context, we'd swing up there for half a day. But I really think it would be mostly over their heads.

The road to Carlsbad (RL7)

We got a late start getting out of Tucson, but then who's ever in a hurry to go home? We stopped by grandma's place, where several relatives were getting things ready for the estate sale, to say our farewells until '08 (probably the next time we're out this way unless we do Thanksgiving here next year).

So the first half of the trip was largely uneventful, save the thunderstorms along I-10 in New Mexico. But then we got to El Paso. To get to Carlsbad, New Mexico (our one "pure vacation" activity of this trip), you've got to take a non-interstate highway, which doesn't look so bad on a map, departing the interstate system in El Paso, Texas.

My first impression of US-180 in El Paso wasn't great, because it was basically a city street the first ten miles or so. Not the street's fault of course, but more signs would help. Don't get me wrong, there are a lot of signs already, but in a city environment when US routes change streets, it's best to have too many signs rather than not enough.

Even once out of the city, US-180, while a well maintained road, is not the funnest at night. I highly recommend a day time trek through this stretch of road. We did it at night, and that is much more tense an experience. You're going through mountains, so the roads are twisty, narrow, and VERY dark. Top it off with cloudiness, and you've got the night-driving-hater's worst nightmare. Oh, and let's not forget the NRAs (near-road animals). I saw fifty (yes, 5-0) NRAs on my journey from El Paso to Carlsbad, which only furthered the stress of the dark night drive. I had NO cell signal, and I feared a deer-strike in the middle of nowhere in the middle of the night. While I didn't see any deer, I saw 48 rabbits, 1 skunk, and 1 unidentified furry creature (UFC). Unfortunately, the 31st rabbit I saw was the victim of my tires. It zipped onto the road much faster than I could react. Much more fortunately for the both of us, the skunk was a near miss. Seriously, it was ON the road, and the lack of quick reaction on my part would have resulted in a stinky conclusion to our trip.

One last thing. There is a clear difference in the maintenance of US-180 between Texas and New Mexico. The road was clearly well maintained in Texas, with brightly painted lines and reflectors galore. But the moment you cross into New Mexico, the lines get much harder to see, there is practically no shoulder, and overall visibility is not as pleasant as the Texas version of the road. Fortunately you're only on the NM side of the road for the last 40 miles or so (out of 157 starting in El Paso).


Update, 28 June
To New Mexico's credit, US-180 North of Carlsbad was much better than what I drove on the night before.

Last day to play (RL6)

Today was our sole play-day in Tucson before hitting the road. It's traditional, when we're in town, for a bunch of the cousins to get together with their kids (the second cousins), and do some fun stuff (we've been doing this since I was a kid and my dad brought sis and I to Tucson in the summer). It started out with an hour and a half long swim, followed by lunch, and then bowling at one of the coolest bowling joints on the face of the planet, Bedroxx.

The kids had A LOT of fun. Games, prizes, bowling, food. Not difficult to keep a kid entertained in that environment, though it wasn't cheap in the least bit. The adults had a little fun, too, for our money. We got two lanes, a kid lane and an adult lane, and had our share of bowling fun. I bowled a 122 and 157 for my games, which isn't terrible considering how long it's been since I bowled, but now my hand is numb. As I don't bowl regularly, when I do, it takes a couple days before I can make a solid fist with my right hand.

After bowling was dinner at my aunt's house. An excellent family meal. And we were supposed to hit Golf 'N Stuff for our final dose of pre-road fun, BUT, we got rained out in the desert of all places. So, we just stayed at my aunt's and socialized. Probably the better thing to do anyway, considering we scram tomorrow.

Day of farewells (RL5)

Dad wanted to get on the road early (he flew out here, but is driving grandma's car back to Oklahoma), so sis and I and some other family met him for breakfast at 7am. Ugh. But it was good times because my cousin brought some VERY old pictures of my dad, mom, my sister, and myself, that were in a chest she inherited from grandma (and which grandma inherited from great-grandma). Some of the photos I had seen before, but others I had not. Especially some photos of my mom before I was born.

After breakfast, we all said bye to dad as he got on the road. Then we went to his sister's house to look at more old photos in chests. We're talking some from the mid-1800s, so more than a hundred years old. Very neat. We also found some very useful genealogical information that I used to update my gedcoms. I SO wish I brought my scanner. I intended to, but decided against it last minute. That was a mistake. So now I need to get my cousin a scanner for Christmas (and hope she uses it) so she can scan all these rapidly degrading photos into a computer and get them sent off to us, so that we at least have the records of their existence.

After a couple hours at our aunt's, it was time for my sister to catch her flight back to NYC, so we said our farewells and off she went. Who knows when we'll all be together again. Hopefully not just for another death. Maybe for my little brother's high school graduation? Maybe for my sister's wedding to her boyfriend of seven years (hint hint)? I just really hope it is not only death that brings us together in life. Even so, I'm definitely glad we snapped this three generational photo following the burial, with my dad and all his kids together for one of the few times in many many years.

The burial (RL4)

It was sort of a late night, and we had to get up early for the burial, because it was early to begin with, but also because it was quite far across town from our hotel. Then I went to the wrong cemetery (the two are side by side), but even once I got to the right cemetery I went to the wrong funeral, as there were two, and the one I belonged at wasn't as visible as the other. The problem then was that I got blocked in at that wrong funeral (with those narrow cemetery roads and cars parked on both sides of the "street"), so I had to back out and drive backwards about fifty yards (it was that or drive up onto the grass and over graves to get around a car... NOT a good karmic idea), through cars and people. As I'm not very good at backing up over long distances, I was rather fearful of creating cause for another funeral while trying to get to the funeral I should have been at to begin with. Add to this the fact that my cousin called me to say she could see me and that I was at the wrong funeral and that I should drive to her waving arm that I still couldn't see from my vantage point. And also that my sister, who was a few minutes behind me, was expecting a call from me any moment with directions to which cemetery entrance to take and exactly where the grave was located. Two things I hadn't exactly gotten right just yet.

So my sister and I barely got to the burial on time. Everyone else was there already and wondering about us. And not a minute after we got there they started the grave side services. It was as somber as the funeral mass in terms of raw emotion, but there was one thing that really rubbed me the wrong way... the dirt. You know, the little bucket of dirt used for family to scatter over the casket (or urn in this case). It was this hard, chunky, dry, dusty clay. It seemed strangely chintzy. Like they just grabbed something from the first pile of dirt they found. Probably it was from the very hole they dug for grandma, but it just seemed like we should have been using better dirt. You know, like, sorry we have to put you in the ground grandma, but don't worry cause we're using the best dirt on the planet. I was just miffed by the dirt quality. Struck me wrong. Sorry.

Shortly following services, we gathered for a traditional group photo that came out pretty decent, which it should have I suppose, because a professional (my sister's boyfriend) snapped the photo.



I say traditional because my dad has all these group photos from post-funerals on his wall (like that's the only time the family gets together, when someone dies), so it was pretty much expected that we do this, though I've been to many other funerals where taking pictures was the last thing on anybody's mind. Don't get me wrong, I'm very glad we did it, but I've never seen anyone else do it. Are we alone in this practice?

After pictures we had yet another huge family meal, as we all went to breakfast. Or brunch at least. It took so long to get us seated and we were there far into lunch, and so many of us (myself included) ordered from the lunch menu, we should probably call it brunch.

Following brunch, I took my sister and her boyfriend, along with the kids of course, up to the mountains for some site seeing as they're scheduled to leave tomorrow. We spent several hours up there, enjoying the view, the cooler temperatures (79 in the mountains vs 105 down in the valley), and some trail hiking. It was a good afternoon, but we had further plans to attend to, so we sort of had to rush down the mountain, barely making it to our dinner plans.

Sis and I have close family friends in Tucson that I call "multi-generational friends". Our parents were friends with these folks before we were born, we became friends with them (and their children) as we became adults, and our children are now friends with them as well. So we always make it a point to do dinner with them at least one evening while we're out here, and tonight was that traditional event. But I think we were all rather zonked from the day's events because this was the first time in recent memory that we left their house before midnight. Although we did also have to be up very early. So maybe it was a little of both.

The funeral mass (RL3)

Dad arrived in Tucson this morning, and we met him for lunch. Sis arrived late in the afternoon and met everyone at the funeral mass. The mass was, of course, as somber as could be expected. All three of grandma's children and all but one of her grandchildren were present, along with at least eight of her great-grandchildren. Personally, I was quite disappointed that none of her siblings showed up to pay their respects, but what can you do...

How strange is it that the seat I picked to sit in was the very seat grandma sat in every Sunday? Grandma was actually cremated earlier in the week, so there was no body to see, which provided less closure for me than a viewing or even a casket would have provided. I'm definitely glad I made the extra effort to see her in March.

There was much crying by many at the mass, and it was quite some time before the crowd dispersed. Part of the delayed dispersal was due to the fact that there was so much of a reunion aspect to the gathering. The mass was first time my father had seen my sister in eight years. And the first time all of his children were in the same room at the same time in that same amount of time. In fact, the last time my sister saw our little brother, he was Shelby's age.


Some time after the mass, nearly the whole family gathered at Pinnacle Peak for (an expensive) dinner. I'm pretty sure we were the noisiest family in the place (we're a family of loud talkers, getting us all in one place is inadvisable for those with eardrum sensitivity issues).

As is common at such places, there was a balloon artist. Also expected was Shelby having a monkey (in a tree) made for her. I was weary about the balloon because Shelby has had some bad luck with balloons of late.



Sure enough, just walking out to the car, a couple segments of her balloon popped, causing the tree to begin deflating. Before long, the tree was completely deflated (and looking rather obscene). Not sure how long Shelby's bad luck streak with balloons is going to last. She must have broken a balloon mirror or something.

Road log, Day 2

Yesterday and today were like night and day for Darby and Shelby. Yesterday it was peas and carrots in that they were getting along well, watching movies together, singing songs, you know, being sisters. Today, they argued, didn't watch movies together, or even play together very much. They used their pillows and blankets to erect "forts", walls of isolation, and they effectively spent hours apart. Also like sisters I suppose.

I don't like this part of the journey, nearly all of which is spent in New Mexico. Nothing against the state or anything. it's just such a big part of the OK to AZ journey, you get sick of being in it so long. Texas comes and goes so quickly (ironically, being the larger state), and when you finally get to AZ, it's not long before you hit Tucson.

About an hour outside Tucson, while traveling at 79 MPH, I saw something on the road ahead. I couldn't tell what it was at first, it was so small. But then I noticed a head move. It was a bird. And it WASN'T moving. I was in the process of passing a car, which at this point was right next to me. I couldn't tell if the bird was hurt or stupid or what, but I remember thinking that if it would just stay put, that I would straddle it, and we'd both go about our days. But no. It decided last moment that it would try to reach the sky before I could traverse the less than hundred feet from when I noticed it. And so that bird is now demised. I had no reaction time. It lifted-off, and poof. Splatter on the nose of my car and windshield is all that remains. Not even enough remains to distinguish the bird from the bugs. There was a significant thump upon impact, which got the girls' attention. They were expectedly grossed out when I told them what had happened. And the smell when we got to Tucson, in the hundred degree heat on my black car... those remains got quite putrid. Is it ironic that I have created death on my way out to memorialize a death? I'm not sure, but now I feel like George Castanza. I mean, don't we have a deal with the birds? They're supposed to MOVE, right?

So I was faced with a strange scenario I had never noticed before. I needed a car wash, and there weren't any. I can't believe all these years I've been coming here, and there are no car washes, or at least not enough to be noticed. In OKC, it seems like there's one on every block. But I suppose that being in the desert, and having water shortages, that running a car wash is probably not very cost effective, and so there are few to be found. I had to leave the Tucson city limits to find one so that I could rid my vehicle of that dead animal scent. Maybe there was a car wash somewhere in town, but I couldn't find it.

The hotel we'll be in for a few days is nicer than expected. I mean, not like the Ritz or something, but more than what I figured I'd have to pay for what we got. It's two rooms (two TVs even, which the girls like), a small kitchen area, a substantial cable TV selection (unlike the typical dozen or so hotel cable channels), and we're 20 feet from both the breakfast area and the pool. Which I THINK is good. I went to the car earlier and there were A LOT of people in the lounge area just outside our door. That seemed bad, but when I thought about it, I didn't hear any of those people from inside the room, so I guess not so bad. We're near the foothills of the Catalina Mountains, so it would just be a short drive up to the trails from here, and we have good access to the rest of Tucson.

As I was unpacking I realized I made a non-trivial planning error. I had forgotten that the funeral mass and burial ceremony are on two separate days, and I only brought one non-play-clothes type outfit for each girl, and I didn't figure it'd make sense to have them wear the same thing on both days, so... we went to the mall not long after checking in, to get another decent outfit for each kid. Of course, AFTER the fact, I realized the shoes I brought with us didn't AT ALL match the outfits I got them today. So, we'll be going to a shoe store in the morning I guess, and thus heading back to OK with more shoes than we brought with us (ugh). I am such a guy about this kind of stuff. I don't think far enough ahead about outfits and shoes for the girls. Or for myself for that matter. I had to pick up another dress shirt, figuring it's probably not terrible to go just shirt and tie for mass, and then full suit (with different shirt) for the burial (why am I caring about this? oh yeah, there are more women than men in the family and I don't want to hear about it...). I'm sure this could have all gone much more efficiently with proper planning.

So we've already seen some cousins in the few hours we've been in town. My dad and sister fly in tomorrow. It will be the first time my dad will have all of his children in one place in eight years. I'm sure he's all giddy about it. It will also be the first time he'll get to meet my sister's boyfriend (and probably future husband) of seven years. So, tomorrow will be a full spectrum flip-flop of emotion as family reunites, only to be reminded soon after that we're here to commemorate the passing of one of our own.

One last sad note, just as the day was almost out, I found grandma's obituary online. Here it is locally for posterity.

Road log, Day 1

In a first, I had a mostly as-planned day, working the morning and hitting the road this afternoon... EARLY. I didn't expect to get out of town until about three, but we were on the not long after one. We made it to Albuquerque after nearly eight hours of driving (about 9 and a half hours total travel time), which was mostly uneventful, though there was one rough patch, and the fact that I nearly went insane.

About five miles from the Texas border, Shelby had a nose bleed, which is exactly what I hoped would happen in a confined space with limited resources while driving 75 MPH (that's 120 KPH for my non-US readers). It passed pretty quickly, but Shelby is so melodramatic that its influenced lingered much longer into the trip.

I didn't get nearly as much sleep as I should have last night (big surprise), and was already starting to feel it, so I HAD to take a power nap (~ 20 mins) after we had dinner in Amarillo. Man did that help. I didn't have any trouble after that.

However, my nap made me more alert to what the girls were doing, which about drove me nuts. A few days ago I bought them the High School Musical DVD, which they'd been begging me to get for weeks, but I resisted until it seemed like a good idea for the road trip. Wrong. BAD idea. Obviously, it's a musical, and while with other movies they can watch with headphones and be fairly quiet, this particular flick had a sing-along mode, which they enabled, and they both sang every song quite loudly. As the movie had played on Disney channel a bunch, it was already practically memorized by them. And now that I've heard them sing it four and a half times through... I'm VERY tired of it, but it's all they want to watch, though I brought many other movies. Aaaaaaaaaaa!

The DVD player might have to experience technical difficulties tomorrow. I'm not sure I can take three to five more run-throughs of that movie.

Last game

Today was Darby's last baseball game. Since we're leaving soon, we're missing her team's last two games. So the team gave her a signed game ball and bid her farewell. The bad news is that, being gone at the time, we're missing the team's end-of-season party. The good news is that we get to miss the players vs parents game again. Ha!

Testing Picasa Web Albums

I've never been a big Flickr fan. The concept was nice, but I always found the interface unfriendly. Probably it was just me.

Also, I've not been wanting to be redundant by having family photos on both a photo site (such as Flicr) and also in the family album on this site. So my motivation to try such services hasn't been high.

BUT, I tend to be first in line to try just about every new service Google puts out, so I needed some content to try the recently announced Picasa Web Albums (i.e. gFlickr).

As my most prolific set of non-family photos happens to be my pics from the various baseball venues I've been to, those seemed the best candidates to use to start up My Picasa Web Album. Probably I'll continue to use it to post other non-family, non-blogged pics. But we'll see. I have more than 5GB of photos on my HD, which far exceeds the 250MB Picasa limit.

Haircuts

It's been a while since the girls got haircuts. And Shelby has been bugging me everyday for a week about it. So I figure as we're about to go to a family gathering, it's as good a time as any to give their heads a snipping. Both girls got haircuts, though Darby's was more of a trim, while Shelby's was quite noticeably whacked.


Oh, and Shelby lost a tooth today. Darby is in trouble for spilling the beans about the sans toothfairy world.

Non-stop father's day

We started the day off with a sizeable Father's Day breakfast for the girls and I, followed by mass, and then lunch. I had been planning for some time some time now to take the girls to the Animal Planet Expo that was in town this weekend, so that's where we headed after lunch.

The girls got to check out a bunch of critters, though we missed the main event/live animal show because of the long lines. However, they did get to do nearly all of the other activities, which included watching dogs catch frisbees and rock climbing, just to mention a couple. Darby made it all the way to the top, but Shelby didn't quite get as far, which was ironic considering her proven monkey-like climbing abilities.

We stayed at the expo until they were closed and tearing it down. But then we had to swing by the girls' mom's to pickup the dress I recently bought Darby for use at the funeral later this week. We didn't stay long, as we had to get to a family Father's Day dinner that had been planned, which was then followed by shopping for a dress for Shelby. So, we were on-the-go for most of the day, and it was probably after eight before we got to sit down and do nothing.

I thought father's day was supposed to be relaxing?

Rained out

The one time I was glad a game was rained out. Darby's baseball team was supposed to play the parents of the players this evening in a game. I'm not sure if there were to be any restrictions, but I was generally looking to play some ball, I just didn't look all that forward getting beat by my own kids' team (hey, I can't vouch for the playing ability of the other parents). But I guess we'll never know what the outcome would have been...

Piano guild

It's that time of year. Piano Guild auditions. Darby did well (so says the judge), with 14 Cs and 2 As (Cs are good in this context). I can't believe she's been playing almost three years now.

Off to Arizona, in memory of Maggie

My grandmother passed away this afternoon at 12:45 Tucson time. Though she was 77 and lived a full life, I wish we had more time with her, as a whole generation of memories has gone with her. My sister and I got two hours of her recounting her life and times on video back in November, but I hoped to do a few more sessions.

Good-bye, grandma. We love you, and we hope you've reunited by now with Grandpa George. We hope to see you again when our time is up, as we miss you already. Please watch over your great-grandchildren, as they are already VERY sad that they were not able to see you again before you passed.

Margaret Elizabeth Massari, 1929-2006

(Photo taken on our last family visit, November 2005)

The funeral is in about ten days, so sometime next week the girls and I will head off to Arizona. The positive aspect of this sad event is that grandma was well loved. I expect a packed house, and in particular many family members from all over the country that I haven't seen since I was a kid, and that my kids of never met.



Update, 11:15pm: The worst way to die (naturally)
I'm thinking when I go, I don't really want to know about it. I picked up dad at the airport tonight, and he tells me that grandma was sharp-minded 'til the end. Her body just gave out on her. That just has to be the suckiest way to go naturally. While I don't generally like the idea of losing my wits, I'm not sure my wits would enjoy being all cooped-up in a largely non-functional body. Ignorance is probably most bliss at time of death. I'm so sorry grandma that you had to go that way.

Missed chance to be a hero

Darby had a rare opportunity to step-up and be noticed today at her ballgame. She was up to bat with the bases loaded. But, she didn't get a hit, big or otherwise, instead getting a base on balls (and an RBI). The batter after her instead got the glory, hitting a triple, and forcing Darby to make the heart-pounding run from first to home.

Darby got another walk and a strikeout during her other at-bats, and made a couple good backup plays in the field. Also, we received her team picture, which has been uploaded to the album.

Car trips and car movies

Darby had altar service this morning, and with my step-mother in Arizona with my dad, I took the kids to mass instead. After mass we headed up to Stillwater, OK for a gem and rock show. It seemed like a good idea when I first read about it in the paper, because Darby has a budding interest in rocks and has a small rock collection. However, I had some regrets not long after departing.

My last trip to Stillwater was back in 1994, during college, when I carpooled up there with some classmates for a symposium. I fell asleep in the van on that trip, and so have since had a wildly inaccurate idea of how long it took to get there. I was thinking it was more like going to Norman, just in the opposite direction. But no, it was about 70 miles, only half of which is interstate, so it took about an hour and a half to get there. So, no trivial trip this was. I may as well have been going to Tulsa.

It helped not one bit that I got flat lost looking for the exposition center where the show was. We ended up on a dirt road in the middle of nowhere. I had to get back in range of a cellular signal in order to look the center up on the internet and call them for directions. Turns out I was only off by a few miles, but it was a crucial few miles in the wrong direction.

Once we finally got there, we saw some pretty cool stuff. In my opinion, the coolest thing there was a piece of art made entirely of selenite crystals. There were also several cool fossils aside from the art displays, and the girls' favorite part, the kids zone.



In the kids zone, the girls got to color pictures, paint rocks, put plastic fossil kits together, and hunt for rocks and fossils. The rock hunting probably took the longest. Each kid got a tin can to fill up with the best rocks they could find. They didn't skimp, so now we have A LOT of rocks in our "collection".



The rock painting took awhile also. Basically they each picked a rock that resembled something and then they tried to paint that object onto the rock. Shelby made a car, while Darby went with the much simpler option of a lady bug. Overall, I think the girls had enough fun to justify the trip, though I was worried for a moment at first.







Before getting back on the road, we ate at Joe's, where Shelby flashed her attitude to the waiter ("I did NOT order orange juice, I ordered root beer. Bring me a root beer! (pause for effect) AND a bendy straw!"). Coincidentally, the shirt said it all.



Of course, no surprise here, Shelby asked for and received a free balloon. BUT, for the second time in as many weeks, Shelby experienced rapid balloon loss, as her balloon floated into the sky when she let it slip off her wrist in the parking lot.



So we finally got back on the road home, and you'd think we had enough for one day, BUT, there was one thing we still hadn't done, though I wasn't sure we'd make it on time. We rolled into the parking lot in downtown OKC right at 7pm, and just our luck there was a 7pm showing of the movie Cars. By the time we got in there, we had missed the previews, and didn't get great seats, but those were negligible issues.

The movie was AWESOME. Definitely one of the best Pixar movies. If you watch NASCAR to any degree you'll definitely like the film, but even if not, it's very entertaining all the way through. No dull spots. In fact, the actual movie blew the previews away. Usually they show all the best parts in the previews and you end up disappointed in the movie, but in this case, the previews didn't do the movie justice. If you haven't gone yet, go see it soon. You'll not regret it.

Work and play

Though it's a Saturday, I reported bright and early for work at my friend's business, as I had promised some consulting time this weekend. I was there several hours, but only got a couple hours of productive work in as I got reaclimated to their network (I setup their firewall in January and had slept since).

After work, I saw X-Men 3. It was a decent movie, but not as good as the first two. Interesting that they left it slightly open at the end.

I hung out at the mall a bit longer after the movie, as I had to get a dress for Darby. Shortly after the movie I learned that Darby's piano recital is TOMORROW rather than next week. I was pretty peeved at Darby for miscommunicating that detail (I had previously and specifically asked her about the event). While I did get a dress, wouldn't it figure that her mother and I would later decide not to participate in this recital? Darby's mom has been dealing with moving issues this last week, and among other factors, it made more sense to opt out.

Shortly after leaving the ex-wife's, I got the expected call from dad, asking where I was, because I was supposed to take him to the airport. Fortunately, I was on my way there. In the short amount of time I was at my dad's waiting for him to finish getting his things in order, I learned I'd be doing a bit more work after dropping dad off, AND I had to wire my mother money. Those details will remain unexplained, but needless to say, mom called while I was waiting to take dad to the airport.



Update
So I ended up working a few more hours after dropping dad off. But it was worth it. I finished up what I went there to do to begin with this morning. My friend's business now has a fully functional VPN, so they can work from home, or from anywhere really, and have full access to all of their files and systems. It's so cool, I'm thinking about setting one up at home (surprised I don't already have one).

Another down-cycle

Grandma had stabilized over the last several weeks, but is in the midst of another down-cycle. Her lungs are filling with liquid again, and the doctors are worried she won't make it beyond a week.

Dad called me at work today and asked me to setup some plane tickets for him, as she wants him out there. So I got him some tickets to fly out tomorrow night.


Update, 11 June
Spoke to dad, and he was with grandma in AZ. She wants to pull the plug while dad is there. Dad is scheduled to come back on Wednesday, so that means she may only have a few days left. It also means I could be heading to AZ with kids myself in a few days.


Update, 12 June
She's been moved to hospice care. She will receive no further medication, and no more dialysis. And she has a signed the "do not resuscitate" paperwork. So it is only a matter of time.

Darby heard me getting the update from dad. And she cried for ten minutes.

Ducking for cover

Darby had two walks and two runs today. She didn't really get a lot of good pitches to hit, and had to duck for cover to avoid getting pegged (again) by a pitch.

After Darby's game, which started late and ended late, I had to meet the kids' mom to drop off the kids so I could rush downtown for my division manager's retirement dinner. I was pretty late (everyone had started eating already), but it was worth going because the food was awesome.

Pegged

Darby started off her game today with what looked to be a nice hit, but she was tagged out at first. HOWEVER, she was then given first as the ump said the catcher interfered. On her second at-bat, she was PEGGED square in the back with the ball by the pitcher, so she was given first base. She's a tough girl (sometimes) and so walked off the hit pretty well. She scored both times she was on base.

She also (finally) had a decent day in the field. They had her in left field most of the game, and she did an awesome job backing up third so that she was there to get the ball when the third baseman missed it. However, she didn't get the ball in to home on time, so the runner was safe. But I'm pleased she's finally executing the backing up without being told. A few more times of that and she'll start pulling off some nice plays.

Shelby's balloon karma

That little girl of mine has a history with balloons being a component of happiness. And so it is considering that fact that I found myself humored by this sign while at dinner tonight. But is her balloon karma waning?

Sure enough, Shelby got her balloon. And her moment of subsequent happiness. But within seconds it was gone, along with her balloon that floated off to the unreachable ceiling. Sure, it was replaced shortly thereafter by the kind staff, BUT her helium-based representation of bliss was again diminished by carelessness only a few more minutes later. While in the car, driving away, before even exiting the parking lot, there was a startling pop that was her glee's demise.

In the confused after-moment, I smiled. Not necessarily just because I was glad she had stopped flailing the thing about in the car, but perhaps also because there was hope that Shelby would realize that balloon-happiness was a gift and not a certainty. It must be treated with utmost care, as it may burst away in the blink between tears of joy and sadness.

Saving babies

As though "saving" a toddler more than two years ago wasn't enough to semi-validate my worth as a human being, I was required to endure it once again this morning.

I was dropping the kids off at my dads so they could go to church with my step-mother, when I noticed across the street from his house, there was a very little kid wandering around a yard, apparently unsupervised.

As I sent my kids into my dad's, I noticed the kid across the way had entered the street, though I still did not see any adults. So I ran across the street myself into the what I presumed was the kid's yard. It was then I could see that this was no full-sized kid, but rather a baby. A little girl. Binky in mouth, blanky on shoulder; not much, if any, older than two.

I tried to coax the youngin out of the street and back into the yard, but it wasn't working so well. So I rang the doorbell of the house we were in front of, noticing about then that while the storm door was closed, the front door was partially open. The first ring went unanswered. And then the second, and third, and fourth. I was running out of ideas.

Then the little girl walked up to the door of the house and grabbed the handle as though she were about to enter, when it occurred to me that I still did not know if that was even her house. No no! I said. I'm sorry, but I don't know if this is your house.

I rang the doorbell twice more. Finally someone came to the door. The man looked rather freshly awaken. I apologized for my intrusion into his day, explained what I had observed and asked if the child was his. He said yes, thanked me, and took the little girl back into the house.


Call it a personality flaw, but I simply cannot ignore a child in such apparent distress, particularly when there is no clear alternative to myself for rectification. One of these days this may get me in trouble. But even so, I'd rather not judge the parent in today's incident, as I'd want the same non-rushing-to-judgment were the situation reversed.

The fact of the matter is that the man that came out to claim his child is a police officer in this town. Who works nights. And is probably overworked. I believe his wife was not home, and suspect his fatigue caught up to him. Perhaps one day I'll be in a situation that will require pause for consideration. I hope in that case he'll be opposite myself and will grant me my due.

Black Hawk Darby

After I picked up the girls from their mom's today, we went to check out an open house at the Museum of Women Pilots, which was pretty cool, and I hope inspirational for the girls. Aside from the exhibits, they got to see a Black Hawk helicopter up close. They each even got to sit in the cockpit.








They also got to watch the helicopter take off from less than a hundred feet away. Of course, in the spirit of the day, it was piloted by a woman. Warning, the girls are NOT in the video. Just neat seeing a helicopter taking off.

Upon completion of a short visit to the park and then dinner, and keeping with the themes of they day, we went to the Women's College World Series, as we have for the last two years. We got to see the closing innings of the Tennessee/Arizona State game, and then watched Texas try really really hard to beat UCLA. While it looked like Texas actually played a little harder, they just couldn't score, and lost the game despite the HUGE Texas fanbase that showed up. There were more than seven thousand in attendance, which was a record for a non-championship WCWS game. While Shelby is never generally into such things, Darby was pretty into it. At least until the day caught up to her and she fell asleep (photo courtesy of Shelby).

High School Graduversary

Fifteen years ago today I graduated high school. Definitely an old-feeling-maker.

Sleeping behind the bat

Got the laptop back today, but haven't had time to play with it. They tell me it's fixed, but we'll see.

Darby had a ballgame today. But it was a bad sign that she fell asleep on the way there. Her summer camp goes swimming on Fridays, which wears them out, so I was worried that she wouldn't play well. To my surprise, though, she did fairly well. She got her second hit, a nice shot into right field for a stand-up double. She also got a base by hitting the catcher's glove. He stuck his glove out reaching for the ball, but was called for interference. Darby also scored once and struck out once, but not a bad day overall. Maybe she needs these power naps before each game.


Update
ARGH!!! Laptop original issue fixed, but the wireless doesn't work. Dangit!