The day loomed chilly. And early. We couldn't sleep last night. None of us. Putting it off without talking about it. We watched a movie together (The Fantastic Mr. Fox - excellent!!). Tonio fell asleep first, in front of the t.v. at 11. Autmn, Cody and I went out back around 12:30 a.m. to light candles and say good night to Kim...
I awoke with a start at 3:30 a.m. Sirens... I went to the living room, listening, looking, waiting...a bleary eyed Autmn and then Antonio came out shortly after and we sat silent in the living room...waiting...
I took them all to Jerry Bob's before we had to get Cody to school for a good breakfast...then, to shake off the feeling we shared, I surprised the little ones and too them to Sabino Canyon. We hiked to Anderson's Dam...
This was one spot that Kim and I frequented - and I thanked God for everytime that I took her to her favorite watering hole. When the creek was running pretty good, we'd jump off the rock into the pool below. It was deep enough to swim in today, but not deep enough to leap off of the rocks. There is a pretty water fall that runs through the crack in the center of this formation, but I couldn't come up with a good angle to capture it.
I told them all of the stories that I could remember of the many times that their Mama and I hiked back in there, packing Subway sandwiches for lunch, swimming, jumping off rocks, laying on the rocks to warm up and to dry off, exploring deeper into the canyon. They sat mesmerized, soaking it all in, nodding excitedly and asking questions...
They climbed around on these rocks like champs. I was pretty proud of them, remember, they are self professed 'marshmallows' and accident prone!
We spent a couple of hours at this spot climbing, hiking and playing...
There was this small falls at the top of the rock formation.
Tonio braved the frigid waters...he liked trying to see how close to the fish he could get!
As we hiked back out, I would stop the kids and tell them about the time Kim and I swam here, or hiked there, or picnicked by this tree...and about the times we took them there, as well. They really enjoyed our time there.
As the afternoon wore on, the grew quiet and withdrawn again...not surprising after their sleepless night and long hike in the warm sun...I told them that Andrea was going to take them out for a special evening, but did not tell them where! I nearly had to tell them, when, as Andrea and Angie were ready to head out, Tonio started to breakdown...he did not want to leave me...and he missed his Mama...Andrea and Angie worked with him to settle him down and were on their way...to Disney on Ice's Toy Story 3! Andrea had set this up for the kids as a surprise.
Lexy, Autumn and Antonio enjoying the show...
Antonio, Bryson, Mariah, Kim and if you look real close...baby Maleah on her lap! They had such a good time, thanks to Andrea and Angie!! It was a blessing that they were able to comfort these two, after a challenging day...
Meanwhile, beaten and struggling to go on...I took Cody, David (Andrea's son) and their friend, Cameron to dinner and to the movies to see Killer Elite starring Jason Statham and Rober DeNiro. It was the first grown up movie that I have seen in the theater in 14 years. I was a little too distracted to stay too in tuned, although there were some classic Statham moments, like when he beats up two bad guys while he is tied to a chair! The boys enjoyed it!!
So, it is another late night, as the bambini marched outside, just after 11:00, candles in hand, to light up the Nitcho another night...to say a special good night...
No comments:
Post a Comment