Moving Day

         May 14th, 2004

                   "Moving day!  We are so excited, yet sad to leave our little home.  But, with Tonio, we needed something larger!!  We moved two miles northeast of our old home, so, not too far.  Rose and Vito let us use one of their big, bread delivery trucks!  Lots of friends helped us move all of our stuff to our new home.  David Conrad, Jack Croce, Ross Verduzco (Ross and Kristie are the reason we are moving to this neighborhood!  We fell in love with their home when we helped them move into theirs about a year ago!), Mark Williams, Mario Castillo, Rashon Wirasinha, John Ramirez, Robert Favela and Ben Hocking.  They worked so hard - we got them all pizzas and beers!  The most amazing thing to see, was how Dave, Mario, Rashon and Ross lifted the shed from our old house, over the block wall, in one piece - walked it into Vito's truck, drove it to our new home and carried it right into the back yard!! We are so blessed to have such good friends!!
                  Tonight, the kids slept on the floor!  We will begin reassembling their furniture tomorrow...and making this house, our home!"

                   Boy, did Kim ever do that, eh?  Everyone who comes over marvels at the decor that she put together. Warm colors, interesting paintings, etc.  As things start to wear out, I'm terrified of unbalancing all that she's done!!  We still love it, even though it seems darker, colder and more of a house without Kim to light it up!

                 Photos from our day:

Do we ever get tired of Viro's after church on Sunday?  NOOOOOO!!!!  Wedding soup for Tonio, Breanna, Autumn and Lexy.  A customer lifted the lid for the soup and complained "They're all out!", I pointed to our table and said "There it is!" - of course, I went to get more.

                                 Tonio, checking out the plans for the chapel at St. Joseph's.

                               We still haven't received any support for the chapel via Kim's foundation, but, we haven't heard anything from the letters we sent out - so we are hoping people are finding ways and will get back to us soon!

                                       Well, two out of three of us were not prepared to run steps today at St. Joseph's to visit with Meleah, Kim's newborn.  We ran all seven flights to the roof - 140 stairs!

                        Kim's little baby is so cute, making sweet little noises - full head of hair.  It is so good to hold a baby - they smell so fresh!  After we visited Kim, we went over to ICU to visit with one of the techs, Deborah, who took such great care of Kimmy - she took photos of the kids and was very happy to see us.


              Later, we decided to hit Fantasy Island.  It has either been too hot or too rainy to get out there over the last few months.  Cody couldn't wait to see the affects of the terrific rains we've had on the track.  He was not disappointed!  We found a lot more sand and canyons had come about due to the rain.

                             The sand makes it much trickier to traverse the narrow pathways, heavily bordered with cholla and prickly pear cacti.  Tonio would go hurtling down these paths at blazing speed - at one point, he was headed straight for a huge cholla, I closed my eyes and prayed.  When I opened him, he did an absolute 90 degree turn and just missed it, getting back on the path and laughing loudly.  In fact, this characterized the ride.  It was such a great example of how we had bonded.  We had the place to ourselves (no cars were parked at the entrance) and were loudly having fun - Autumn yelling at giant jack rabbits.  Cody barreling on and off the track through the desert.  Tonio began singing one of the songs from Nacho Libre (Jack Black) 'I am, I am! I am, I am!'.  It was full out hilarity.  We were just enjoying the cool air, beautiful desert and our time together, unhindered by school, work, appointments, who has who when and who cannot have who when, when do I have to pick up, have someone dropped off and be where by when for what?  It was relief, for all of us.

                           We stopped for a drink break by Kimmy's bike, still looking good 9 months after we hung it in this palo verde tree.

The sunset looking incredible.  Once again, I showed the kids the myriad of flowers growing - our fall.  Our autumn.  The loved it.  If I was a botanist, I'd be collecting flowers.  If I was a photographer, I'd be out there snapping away.  Instead, I am a dad, sharing this beauty with my children.  So they know and appreciate.

             

Uh, yeh, beautiful sunset...but, at this point, we were only half way through.  Overcommitted is how I felt.  I told the bambini, now is not the time to panic, we would get through Fantasy Island just fine.  Cody and Autumn went on ahead so I could help Tonio through.

Tonio, cool as a cucumber.  Neither hurrying, urgent or distressed.  "Tonio, do you see the sun?"  I finally asked him. "Yes, Dad" he replied.  "No you don't, because it's not there!"  "I know Dad, I meant yes, as in I see that it is not there".  He is pretty deep, if you can see beyond his antics. "Well, what do you have left?  Can you dig deep?".  "Sure Dad."  And he would increase the pace.  A little.

Tonio?  There is a coyote coming our way, let me get out in front."  "Don't worry Dad", Tonio told me as he flicked on a light mounted to his handle bars.  A light?  Wait, I am not that prepared!  "Tonio, where'd you get that light?"  "Oh, Janene gave it to me." Tonio said, as the coyote ran off into the desert, spooked by the bright, led light.  "Do you like it like this...or blinking?" He asked as he switched to blinking to demonstrate.  He never even got nervous.

We approached the parking lot, just as we lost final light.  Autumn and Cody ran to greet us.  Autumn babbling "Dad, I threw up all over myself!  I guess I was so nervous about what happened to you guys!".  Poor Autumn.  Next time, we'll leave earlier.  "Well Dad, you know it is getting darker earlier..." Tonio flatly reminded me.

So it is.  Damn dark...