Updates on the Deans

Back again:>

The boys and I went to Tucson, though Tom -- happily enough -- did not go to Singapore. We spent nine days in the sun, exploring the town and its environs. The boys enjoyment of the trip was heightend, I suspect, by the fact that I had lost my voice almost entirely and was unable to do more than whisper fiercely the whole time we were in Tucson. We went to Mt Lemmon, Summerhaven, Sabino Canyon and the Desert Museum with Mom. We explored Agua Caliente, Colossal Caves and Biosphere with Dad. The boys ate good food at the Eclectic and on 4th Avenue (where Jason discovered that he LIKES salsa -- first on steak, then on eggs...) and not so good food at the Dinosaur MacDonalds. We visited Bookman's Used bookstore twice and Jason was thrilled to bits to discover piles of Pokemon books -- he 'inhaled' them at such a rate that towards the end of our stay, he had read them all. He was left, in the end, to raid his Grandmother's bookshelves. There he found a biography of Laurel and Hardy, one of his favorite comedy duos, and he sat down with that. I know that he finished at least two chapters of the book and that he enjoyed it -- I heard him laughing as he read.

We also discovered, quite by accident, a little shop called 'The T-Rex Museum' on Oracle. It is run by a Palentologist -- 'I created the place I wanted to go when I was a kid' he told me and the boys thoroughly enjoyed digging up fossils, panning for treasures, breaking rocks with rock hammers and watching a dinosaur movie while eating popcorn. There is a store attached to the museum -- a true shopper's nightmare as it is LOADED with dinosaur goodies. It was a definate hit.

We had a lovely time -- loads of sun and, on the last day, the boys even took a brief dip in Mom's pool. Despite warnings, or perhaps because of them, Xander went in over his head. He was briefly terrified but he reached out and grabbed my hands when I told him to do so and I pulled him out. After a few moments of recovery, he decided that he had done well, had been very brave and had survived... so back in he went though this time, he was a bit more cautious and only went in up to his chest:>

And then, it was the 12th and time to return home. We were ready -- we all missed Tom though the boys both told me that they thought Gramma Pat oughtn't to live alone, that she should come and live with us. 'I worry about her' Xander told me gravely.

The trip home was not the best but not the worst either. We were supposed to board the plane at 4:30 and depart at 5 pm. We boarded at 5:30 and departed at 6. Something wrong withe the toilets so the plane was left with only two working ones. The boys, however, were wonderfully well behaved -- so well behaved, in fact, that the two ladies sitting in front of us complimented them at the end of the trip.

Once off the plane we stopped and changed the boys into their nightclothes -- I suspected that they might fall asleep in the car on the way home. The trip from the plane to the baggage claim was long, made longer by the fact that my independent youngest decided that he was going to 'CARRY MY OWN BAG!' -- which he did... slowly. He wore it as a backpack and trudged fiercely down the aisles, pretending to be a slow moving Earth Pokemon. It wouldn't have been a big issue except that his older brother was in high speed mode, eager to see his father, eager to get home to his cat. I hung suspended half way between the two, reeling Jason back periodically, then dragging Xander forward. When we did arrive at the baggage claim, Tom had already arrived. He watched the busy boys while I waited for the luggage -- which never appeared. In exasperation, I finally checked the luggage holding section BEHIND the carousel -- and sure enough, there were the bags. They had been on the carousel too long and had been pulled. Sigh.

Home once again, we unloaded luggage, put a sleeping Xander in his bed, allowed Jason to hug his cat briefly before he and then we fell into bed. What a long trip -- but at least I have my voice back!