November 25

Two weeks ago we held the 8th annual Locey Pie Party. We're sorry some of you weren't able to make it. After all the excitement, we didn't get around to sending out an email last week. Some of the highlights of the party were:

- Sweetheart's parents came from CA.
-Friends helped with the kitchen, which greatly improved the pie 'throughput' - more pie consumed by the masses, less left overs to give away
-Estimated attendance somewhere above 100
-Kitchen cleaned and everyone asleep before 10 p.m. (a first!)

One of Hurricane's adventures... He was taking a bath unsupervised. He came out of the tub and announced that there were 'bunnies' in the tub. We went to investigate... brand new 600 ct. package of q tips = lots of bunnies in tub.

Underfoot and Hurricane loved having their grandma and grandpa in town. They went to the air museum, read books, and had a wonderful time. I introduced my mom to Louis L'Amour. I think she read The Lonesome Gods in 48 hours or something. He He He...

This week we celebrated Thanksgiving by getting a Groupon (read economical) hotel in Scottsdale, AZ for two nights. On Thanksgiving Day Mama participated in a 5k race. For dinner we went to a fancy golf course restaurant where the food was expensive but not particularly tasty. On Friday we headed north to Williams, AZ to ride the Polar Express. We kept  Underfoot and Hurricane in the dark until we got to the Depot. The boys had a wonderful time. It was great to see their reaction when they finally understood that we were going for a ride on a 'real' train, and it was THE Polar Express. (Mama made arrangements for the boys to see the movie earlier in the week & we read the book to  them several times to get them ready.)

After the Polar Express we headed to our favorite thrift store in Flagstaff, AZ. Savers is on the route from Tucson to Places North (Utah & Idaho) and it makes for a great get out and run stop. This time around we decided to stock up on some cold weather clothes for our upcoming trip north. (It is hard to find snow pants for a 3 year old when it is 85 degrees outside...) Mama tried on upwards of 125 articles of clothing and our total haul was somewhere around 70 items. All clothing was 50% off. What a deal! As a treat for doing such a great job in the store, both boys were able to pick 1 plastic weapon. Hurricane chose a double barreled shotgun,  Underfoot picked a Nerf gun. We left the store about 2 1/2 hours after we arrived. The boys devoured their supper.

On our way down the mountain (Flagstaff is at an elevation of around 7000 feet, Phoenix is somewhere around 2000) Hurricane announced his immediate need to pee. We are ecstatic that Hurricane wants to pee like a big boy, and want to encourage that behavior whenever possible. Mama pulled over and Hurricane peed on the tire. He still hasn't quite learned that it is not a good idea to pee into the wind, nor is it a good idea to pee 'up', but he's learning... About 15 minutes later  Underfoot had to go too, so Mama stopped a second time. 15 minutes after stop number 2, Hurricane announced that he needed to pee again. Mama immediately started looking for a place to pull off the road and missed the speed limit change from 75 down to 65, as there were construction signs all over the place.

She mumbled an 'oh crap' under her breath. I noticed the telltale lights of the AZ highway patrol. The officer asked if she was aware that she was doing 76 in a 65 construction zone? No. Where are you coming from? Flagstaff. Where are you going? Tucson? Ok, I'm going to run your license and registration... The officer comes back. Hurricane pipes up (he's got his shotgun on his lap) " My grandpa K is going to teach me how to shoot a real gun. He is going to teach me so I can be safe." ... I'm going to give you a warning, Ma'm. At that point I asked the officer if my three year old could pee on the side of the road? Yes, that is okay....

So we don't know if the officer was being nice or if he was charmed by Hurricane's funny story and cute grin. Either way, we are grateful that Mama didn't get a ticket.

We topped off our adventures with a stop at Costco in Tucson. We'd been in the car for some time and both boys needed to pee (again!) I got Hurricane out of the car and immediately went to get a cart to put him. To my horror, I turned around to find him peeing on the same back tire, in the middle of the parking lot, before Mama even had a chance to park the car. Frustrated, I helped him zip up his business, only to find  Underfoot doing the exact same thing. A story my father told me once came to mind, of my two older brothers doing something similar in a Safeway parking lot in Alamo, CA, some 30+ years ago... The more things change, the more they stay the same...

Be well.