Bad Momma, Good Son

Doing a post on my oldest son, Lucas, is way overdue. It's his fault, too, as I have asked him repeatedly to send me some recent photos of him and he hasn't. So I have been waiting and now I'm just going ahead. Mostly to try to soothe my angst over a really bad miscommunication he and I had recently. Lucas called me on my cell phone while I was in Las Vegas and was very surprised to hear that's where I was especially because HE AND HIS GIRLFRIEND WERE GOING TO BE THERE FOUR DAYS AFTER WE LEFT!!!! His dad and stepmom live nearby and they were going to be meeting up with them there. In our recent phone calls with each other I was obsessing about that stupid heart test and he was obsessing about school, so neither of us mentioned that we were going to Nevada FOUR DAYS APART. It's been a year since I've seen him, and I don't usually see him more than once or twice a year, unless he's living with us, which does occur off and on but... ...poop. He lives in Texas, was born in Houston and is my only Texas son. He definitely got the genes. We lived in Texas for a few years when my middle son, Justin, was young but it didn't stick. And Matt was born here and Justin has definitely become a homeboy here, so...Lucas has also been a gypsy. He's lived in Texas, California, Texas, California, Texas, Wyoming, California, Wyoming, Texas, Arizona, Maryland, Virginia, Wyoming, Oregon, Maryland, Arizona, Oregon, California, and now Texas again. Some of it's my fault, some his dad's, some of both, and some his own doing. He's got a heart of gold, a little of a lost soul, his worst enemy, your best friend. He's head-on, full-throttle what ever he's doing which sometimes causes him to run into walls but he's just so full of life . He's 23 and handsome and smart and, sorry ladies, he's taken. He's got a girlfriend, Kristen, who is very special, good for him, and they seem to be a great match.

This is a photo I took of him last year at the Portland airport on his way back to California for another semester of school before heading back to Texas to look after his grandparents while going to school there.

I love you dearly, Lucas, and if you don't like these photos send new ones!!!! Especially the surfing ones...

Ahhhh, Home Again

We had a great time in Las Vegas but it's always good to come home. I'm a home-body and a week is a while to be gone. As a visual person I can appreciate the aesthetic value of the dessert but I really don't think I could ever live there. I love green too much and it is so green here. That is the reason that we are the only folks in the neighborhood who still have a green lawn (that and the Texun in me) and cannot stand to let the lawn go dormant like everyone else. And to really illustrate this is the above photo I took off the bridge where my dog, Chloe, and I stop and soak up the beauty of nature. This spot makes me feel like we have our own little version of Palo Colorado Canyon (Big Sur). Tonight the cicadas were chirping and the doves were cooing and it was very soothing.

And here's my muse, my fitness enforcer. For some reason recently Chloe will not do her doody without being walked even though we have a big fenced yard. And she's had some health issues lately so I've been allowing her to abuse me by making me take her for three walks per day! The second of the three is the most brutal as it's at the hottest time of these dog days of summer. She seems to be adverse to off-loading in any shade. But look at her, how can I say no?

This is just a little update 'cause ever since the minute we got home I have been on a tear rehabbing the first of three rooms. I shall be sharing visual progress soon. Find your own Palo Colorado Canyon...

Sunday, If I should die today make sure my family knows that...

Matt and I have been doing the, "If I die today make sure my family knows..." game. So the start of "if" was that we had breakfast at Denny's, which is always a good day. But the real "if" for me is always if I've had bacon. But I declared, "If I die today make sure that my family knows that I had bacon with eggs and hashbrowns". The day ended with, "Make sure they know that I got to have TWO Whataburgers". There are no Whataburgers near us just as In-n-Out, usually we have to go to California for In-n-Out and Texas for Whataburgers but here we got both plus Denny's and IHOP!!!! How lucky can one girl get? Oh yeah, a Scholtzy's would put the cherry, but I totally satisfied with the Sunday Sundae. We passed this little quaint cafe on the road, The Road Kill Cafe. It seemed so intriguing but we we're sure if they actually served road kill or if unsuspecting tourist became part of the menu...we steered clear.

But we were obviously on a very cool road...

Oh yeah, lest I forget, tell my family that I GOT TO SEE THE GRAND CANYON BEFORE MY 50TH BIRTHDAY!!!!! And I'm turning 50 pretty soon and have always wanted to see it and, wow, what else can a person say?, wow.

The first site of it made my heart melt then fill with such joy. If you haven't been there, there's no way to give it justice through voice or photos only personal experience.

We drove through a horrendous storm on the way. Blinding rain and just as we turned off the freeway to eat at Denny's it started to hail. It reminded me of the summer storms we used to get in Wyoming. Torrential rain accompanied by hail so hard it looks like it has just snowed for a few minutes after. BUT it doesn't FEEL like snow, it hurts! We were surrounded by storms but got to the Grand Canyon before another storm hit so we got to walk around and see a lot while gradually watching the storm come at us from across the canyon. It was fabulous, made it even more dramatic, the thunder, lighting, and the view of the rain coming towards us. We ended up at a lookout lodge where we could experience the storm in a safe location.

What a great day! We had left the hotel about 7:30 a.m. and returned at 8:30 p.m. Matt and I were done, Paul still had the energy and desire to hit the city to see Fremont Street. He was very happy with his experience there, lots o' lights and visuals. One more day then we're back to reality...

Saturday: Hoover Dam and Lake Meade

Oh we had such ambition for Saturday. We drove to Hoover Dam (sorry, photos not in order) where we parked and were going to take the full tour. It turns out that Saturday was hotter than July in Las Vegas. It was the most hot and humid day so far. It wasn't just us, everyone was complaining and working very hard to not faint. So Matt and Paul took the short tour while I hung out in the inside cafe.Pardon my "Al Gore" here but I've got to point out in the above photo the line where Lake Mead used to reach. The white part is where the water use to cover until I'm not sure exactly how long it took or how many feet but it reminded me of the segment in "An Inconvenient Truth" showing the maps of Crater Lake. The lake is beautiful but I couldn't help but be almost completely distracted by the white part. Obviously ironic considering the proximity to LAS VEGAS and I'm a magnet for irony...

This is obviously the water side of the dam. I think Paul got all the dry-side photos. Going to a dam with me is almost as bad as going to Nantucket...

We had designs and even tickets in our hands and in line to board the cruise boat to go around Lake Meade when Matt said he could go no longer. He had gotten over-heated at the damn dam and was having a hard time recovering. So we aborted that mission and headed back to the hotel to swim for hours. I think Matt and Paul got to the pool around 3, I joined about 5 and they showed Monsters, Inc. on a huge screen starting at 8 for the kids to watch while floating in the pool. So Matt was in until about 9:30! He made a friend, Sawyer, from California who he had played with at the pool during the day and watched the movie with. We hope to be catching up with her again today (Monday), ours and her last day.

Friday, Part Two

On our way into the city to see the show we stopped at In-n-Out Burger AGAIN (no, there are not too many times to eat there when you don't have one at home). Then Paul dropped Matt and I off at the Gaming Room in the M&M building. We got a pass for all the games which were very interactive. This one was very cool as you were in this bubble that felt like you were actually (as far as I know) in a helicopter. You could fire and the thing would shake. When I did it I kept accidentally crashing my chopper and the thing would shake like mad. I was fortunate enough to not get the same program as Matt when I did it. When he did it (he didn't realize at the time) he was shooting wildly at Arabs, robes and all. Just one of endless amounts of social observations you can make here. This was one of the most bizarre for me. For Matt it was a new level of Nirvana! (I explained the social aspects to him later and he agreed) This was another chopper-type only it was a race car. They had very clear, realistic graphics, when I went on the Harley I got very dizzy.

Then it was off to one of the most fabulous experiences of my life, Cirque du Soliel Love. It was indescribable. You must hop a plane asap and see it. It was like going to a live Beatles concert with the visuals of the wonderful Cirque.

After the show we hit the gift shop right outside the theater entrance. No one wanted to loose the mood. Everyone was singing and dancing with everyone else, stranger or not, singing at the top of their lungs to all the Beatles songs that were piped in there. It was a fabulous bubble that no one wanted to burst.

I got a t-shirt, Paul a program, and Matt a cap so we each got a little piece of it to take along with us.