R&R in AZ

Last Friday was the last day of school for the boys. 

After a hike up the Lion’s Den Trail to Fort Lewis College with the third graders (hiking with third graders is…interesting), we drove to Arizona for a much-needed getaway and to take care of some business things, as well. Since we left around 2:30 pm, we didn’t arrive in Phoenix until sometime after 10:30 pm.

View from the trail. 

We were late getting back to school after the hike. The SLS staff took excellent care of Zane. When I picked Zane up, I discovered this...

Chase said since it was hot out, they rolled up their sleeves. Since their guns were showing, they wound up with matching tattoos! How cool is that?

With baseball and doctors’ appointments and writing and chauffeuring and job searching and—you get the picture—we’ve been going at a frenetic pace here in CO. It was good to leave town for a bit.

Here’s what we did:

Pool

Floating in the pool. 

Six days in a row for J (including a midnight swim on the night of our arrival—crazy kid!); five days for me; and Zaner only managed three times in the pool. He slept quite a bit. I think the sweltering AZ heat took a toll on him. Lethargy was his companion for most of the trip. Plus, he wound up with some funky rash on his face. 

Movie

We saw Epic, which wasn’t all that…epic. Justin rated it 50% (whatever that means in kid-ese); I texted during part of the movie; and Zane fell asleep halfway through. In the world of Siskel and Ebert, that equates to a thumbs down.

Arcade

When I hear the word “arcade”, I think of the 1980s when my friend, Samantha, and I used to visit one at our local mall for the sole purpose of seeing the guy who worked there. Today, things have been ever so slightly updated. You know, graphics are just a little more realistic than in the days of Astrosmash and Pac-Man. Justin wanted to visit the arcade in the mall, and he had a blast. I was a little concerned on Zane’s behalf because the majority of the video games have warnings for those with epilepsy and seizures. But Zane did all right, and he seemed to enjoy the whole mall experience, especially moving through it after the arcade portion ended.

 ***

We had a really relaxing trip. I did zero writing on my trilogy, which did little to bolster the word count I had planned to sweat out over the summer. But I read and relaxed: something I truly needed after a bit of a hectic year to this point.

As far as Zane’s health goes: his seizure activity has increased a bit in the last week or so, despite the medication increase. I always worry when things change with him, such as the upswing in the seizures and the increase in his sleeping. I never know if this means something else is going on in the background or (as my hopeful self tells me) is simply part of a growth spurt or brain development changes.

Anyway, it is officially summer vacation! My absolute favorite time of year because I am off chauffer duty, and I get to spend lots of time with my precious boys! Plus, nighttime baseball games will finally be enjoyable instead of crazed and rushed.