Twins Travel to Tucson -- March, 2011

This time the travelers came to us. Dorothy arrived on Saturday, 5 March, and Ruth and Dori arrived on Wednesday, 9 March. In their short visits we managed to work in lots of talking, lots of sight seeing, some wildlife sights and sounds (jack rabbits, coyotes, javelina), lots of eating, lots of "Kids 1st" box-going-through and a massage and some jewelry for each twin.

Dorothy got to see the normal tourist route with us complete with multiple passes through Border Patrol check points, but she's the first we've taken up to the top of Kitt Peak. We didn't go for any reason other than to drive up and back and for Trout to get a "man in the maze" basket. He found one in the gift shop there. It was labeled as being woven around 1960 and it now proudly hangs on our wall.

The man in the maze is the symbol of the Tohoho O'odham Nation. I've linked to their website before. Their reservation is very close to where we live. Trout talked to our friend, John, about buying a basket with the symbol. John explained the different ways the basket could be woven, the different colors used and what Trout should pay for what type. So Trout went prepared with some knowledge before buying. Thanks, John. Trout's been wanting to do this for years and this was the right time.

I was atypically negligent in picture taking, so all these are somewhat posed. They still show #11 quite well, along with her mom, namesake aunt, Grampa Trout and Grammy Lo. There are even some with Cisco. He was just fascinated by Dori and couldn't see (sniff) her enough.

We all went to the Desert Museum on Thursday. We got there in time to see a few animals before the raptor free flight. After that was over, Dorothy and Ruth headed down to see the javelina and coyotes and Trout, Dori and I went to the patio outside the Ocotillo Cafe to wait for them to come back and join us for lunch.

During that time, we got to show off Dori and talk with lots of other people. There's not much better than a baby for attracting attention. We especially enjoyed talking with a young sailor and his wife. They were on their way to San Diego for his next duty station. Their daughter was 3 months old and another little cutie.

It didn't take long for Dori to sack out after her bottle. Grampa Trout sure has the touch.

After lunch, Trout and Dorothy waited on a bench until Ruth tended to Dori. Dorothy had the perfect desert hat on, although we did tease her about looking like Darth Vader.

This is a cute series of pictures with Trout and Dori in our living room.

This is my favorite of them.

These are some pictures with the twins sitting on the sofa. Although Ruth looks a little funny in this picture, I love the way Dori is looking at Dorothy.

I like these with Dorothy, Dori and Cisco.

Trout got into this 3 generation + dog picture.

Me too.

I love the way Dori looks at her mom in this picture.

I think Cisco is licking Dori's feet in this one.

Here's the doting Grampa.

And I decided I'd finish with this potential-blackmail-of- a-15-year-old picture of Dori with Dorothy. This was her best goofy look the whole time she was here.

It was a delight having all 3 girls here. It was particularly good because Trout got such good news on Monday the 7th. Dorothy went into the room with us to get the test results from Dr. Patel. Trout called us his entourage.

At one point, our next door neighbor, Maralee, came over to borrow "Trout's strong right arm." She said something about how much alike Ruth and Dorothy looked. That's when we told her they are identical. Maralee has 6 kids. She blames the cold Montana nights.

You may notice in most of the pictures that Dori has a very intent look at the camera and other things. Ruth and I decided she is probably an old soul. That feeling sure comes out of her eyes.

While here, she was a delightful baby. She wasn't at all fussy, only cried when she needed something (food, diaper change), wasn't startled by anything and was in general good spirits the whole visit -- even when her GPs changed her diaper. (Thank goodness it was only wet!)

We must admit, it was hard for Trout and I to call Dory the Elder, Dorothy, but we're working on it.

Birthday Visit from the Hathaways -- January, 2008

A great thing about having a birthday close to a national holiday (MLK's birthday) is that there's always a 3-day weekend in close proximity. Sometimes my birthday even falls on the holiday.

Two things happened this year that made this birthday very special. I turned 62. That means my first Social Security check will be coming in March. And, the Hathaways came to visit from Salt Lake.

As usual, I got so caught up in the moment that I didn't take enough pictures, but I hope these will suffice. And if you're wondering why these appear on this blog, just think of travels as broader in scope than going to someplace where you don't actually live.

Ruth, Aaron, Kiersten and Eli arrived on Friday afternoon the 18th and left on Monday the 21st. We packed a lot of stuff into those few days. Aaron said we wore him out. We also got to do some good visiting.

One thing we did that I didn't and indeed couldn't get a good picture of was to follow Kiersten's suggestion to go out to the house at night. We had never been there late before. The moon was full and it was amazing. We discovered that there are absolutely no lights toward our major view direction to the south and southwest. At least there weren't that night. I was thrilled.

We had no functional flashlight with us, but the moon was so bright we really didn't need one. We went up to the shop deck and the stairs appeared to be spotlighted by the moon. The only bad thing about the moon being so bright was that the stars weren't so brilliant. Now we need to go out at about 10:00 pm on a dark moon night to really see them.

We actually took these pictures as the Hathaways were leaving, but they give a good idea of what the landscaping around the airport is like and how great this family looks. That's Trout and me and Kiersten and Eli.

And this is Trout with all the Hathaways.

This is in front of the house we're renting, and yes, that bush is blooming and that sun is shining.

Here are Kiersten and Eli in front of the house. Kiersten is being very careful with that white thorn acacia.

As usual, the kids were entranced by Guido. Here Eli is trying to join him in one of his favorite hangouts, the kneespace under the desk.And Guido helped Ruth show Trout some good yoga poses for his back.One of the highlights of their visit was a trip to the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum. The Desert Museum concentrates on flora and fauna of the Sonoran Desert. We timed it for the raptor free flight. One of the birds released was an owl. Here he is on the handler's glove.Then he flew very close to where we were standing.

It was so windy that he didn't fly as much as we hoped. He tended to hang out in this tree.Trout's favorite bird in this demonstration is the ferruginous hawk. You can see why. They are absolutely beautiful and are the largest hawk in the US.

Unfortunately, Aaron and Eli missed the hawk because the owl took so long to get moving. But they saw some of the other animals including the ones below.

This is a bobcat. You don't have to go to a museum to see these guys around here.

These are javelina. You can see them in the wild, too.
This is an ocelot. I haven't heard of anyone seeing them in their backyards yet.
We showed the kids and grandkids around town, so they got to see the rattlesnake bridge, Meyer Street, San Xavier del Bac mission and Kelly who stayed with them when he and Trout were in Salt Lake in August.

Here's some of my stock (I took them) photos of Meyer Street. You can see me in the mirror.

Kiersten said no houses should be these colors. Such conservatism in one so young.

For my birthday we went to Casa Vicente. It's a Spanish restaurant complete with Flamenco guitar and dancing. We had paella. I thought Kiersten would be the one fascinated by the dancing but it turned out to be Eli. We also went to three other must eat places: Todd's at Ryan Field, El Charro downtown and Beyond Bread. Aaron wanted a franchise in Salt Lake.

And no family visit can end without driving over the best dip in town on Freeman. You have to do it at least 3 times. Ramona and Jason have also been treated to that experience. Two families down, three to go!