The Great Escape

July in Arkansas isn't any cooler than the 105 temps we saw in June, so we headed on the road to Michigan, with quick stop-overs in St. Louis and Chicago.  In St. Louis, we couldn't get a room at the Drury, so settled for the Hilton.  I was praising Shatner's Priceline the whole way there, for getting us a 1/2price room, on 4th July weekend, with 3days notice.  My words of praise turned to shouts of "curse-you-Shatner", when we saw that our room was little more than a twin bed, in a closet, behind the front desk.  Have you ever seen a hotel room door open into the hallway, rather than opening into the room?  Still, would have laughed, except the bathroom door rammed into the ceiling light when you opened it, which constantly woke Jack, and the hotel was packed due to the softball world series (do they really need one of those?), so we couldn't change rooms.  

We left St.Louis in the dust, and headed for Chicago, to celebrate our nation's independence from G.B., and get Jack some much needed running around time.  Our stay with the Mays was awesome, and Ollie let Jack mess with all of his toys, including cars and trains.  We enjoyed riding in the third-row seats like an extended family, and the boys immediately wanted to head for the trampoline.

The cookout at the Johnson's was great, and we enjoyed a laugh about the top 40 tribe moments, evaded the pink-eye, and climbed on the swingset.

We got a chance to hear tales of jet-set travel in Europe from Kristen and Scott.  Here they are enjoying a campari and soda.

The next morning Jerry came over to make pancakes, and we headed for MI to go on Jim B's boat, to cruise and watch the fireworks.  In the photo below you can see the old Coast Guard station at the Grand River entrance to Lake Michigan.  The main building seems to have been renovated, but the boat house needs quite a bit of work.  Buying and renovating this place would be on my "to do list" if we won the lottery.

Talking with Jacqui's mom about the plume-line, the constant movement of the dunes, and the musical fountain

Which cooler has the beer?

This photo needs a bit of back-story.  On the way to MI, Jacqui said all we need to do is drive to Bon's and change Jack before we get on the boat, because Bon was nice enough to take care of all the food and drinks for everyone.  Bon even called to see what kind of beer you like.  It's already on ice in the cooler.  Great! I said, "I'll just pack a few extras just-in-case".  Woaaa, there mister, you don't need any "extras", I was told.  When we got to Bon's, and Jacqui wasn't looking, I added a few beers to Jack's milk cooler (just to keep the milk containers from tipping over).  Turns out, "just-in-case" came in handy again, because the ladies forgot to bring the beer.  Usually not a big deal, but we're talking about 4th of July, on a boat, from 3pm till 10pm.  That sort of ups the ante in my book.  No worries, we had a great cruise, great food, Jim B. provided the patriotic soundtrack (Connie Francis, Jim Neighbors, etc.) and we enjoyed the fireworks show.

 We enjoyed our time on the water so much that Jacqui suggested we rent a boat for the day.  We had some fun cruising and eating lunch in a cove, and really opening up the throttle, once we got onto Lake Michigan.  Jacqui had that thing flying, and now I know she loves speed.

The main purpose of the trip to MI was to attend Jacqui's cousin Meghan's wedding.  Meghan married a guy from Pennsylvania that she met in North Carolina.  This guy, Clayton, lived in my hometown in MA, while he went to grad school.  Small world. 

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We got to spend some alone time hiking and going to the beach while Bon watched Jack taking naps.

We pass this site every time we go for a hike in the dunes near Bon's house.  Would be happy to hear what you think it is supposed to represent.  What does holding the flag over an angels head signify?

We got to spend time with family friends the Petersons, before they kept Jack overnight during the wedding.  Jack learned more about dogs, and the Petersons learned about Lightning McQueen.  Colin may have learned the difference between the front and back of a diaper, information which will serve him well in the future.  I took Jack out on the beach to watch the volleyball girls, and he had a big cry because I wouldn't give in to his request "just let to touch it" during the game.  We kidded Bon about taking Jack on a 2hour beach walk (with no drinks) that we will from now on refer to as "Bon's Bataan death march". Jacqui's dad came down to spend some time with her and the boy, took us to breakfast, and for a walk along the jetty.

I've added a few photos here from last month.  Below, you'll see photos of the construction of Arkansas' Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art.  There is one part of the building that looks like an armadillo (there's lots of these around the area).

Looking at the site from the viewing platform along the hiking trail

We mentioned we have been spending some time at the Springdale Aquatic center.  Jack really likes it though he hasn't quite figured out why the ground in the sunny area  is hot and the shady area is cool. 

I'll buy this round

 Here is a photo of Jack sweating like a hog at our campsite (tent packed full of stuff including a partially deflated air mattress).

enjoying the Lake Ft. Smith pool

We noticed a verbal explosion on the MI vacation. Jack's describing and commenting on everything, but mostly the Cars Movie, the Cars Movie Book, Lightning McQueen (aka: the 9-5 car, MY RED CAR), Mader Truck, Flying Purple Car (Holly Shiftwell), Mack The Red Truck, dinosaurs eating everything and trains crashing into everything.

We got a notice from school that indicated that Jack hit one of the biters, I mean classmates, in the face with his Lightning car.  As a result, he has lost the privilage of bringing it to school.  It's been a challenge to get it away from him before he goes to school, because he almost never puts it down.  Bad timing on that, because I'm scheduling a meeting to discuss Jack moving up to a class of older/other kids and improved curriculum.

We'll leave you with one last story.  Crime recently came to the Clabber Creek neighborhood.  There have been some incidences of theft from open garages, defacing vehicles and  an attempt at stealing a Harley.  We even had a brush ourselves.  I noticed a purse, and a steel case containing poker chips and cards, leaning against the side of our house.  It's in an area that is a bit sheltered from the street (near some bushes).  While I was on the phone reporting it to the police, Jacqui was violating the crime scene, going through the purse, and noticed the wallet had no cash, but did still have credit cards and a drivers license and a bra.  This incident has caused me to take a poll.  How many of you (women) carry an extra bra in your purse, and why?  As you may now know, I'm a fan of "just in case", but how does that apply to a bra?  I figure there was some neighborhood strip poker going on (maybe they moved from the Glenn).  I asked the cop for his opinion, and he suggested somebody just "forgot it there, you know, probably drinking".  That's a lazy explanation in my mind, but they are not known for the best police work here.  Maybe they'll get some clues when they send it to the CSI crime lab.

That's it for now.  Next up in August will be Ramadan in Maine (August 1st) and celebrating my parent's 50th with the whole family at the beach. When we get back, you may hear about the watermellon festival, catfish at the Backwoods Barn, and our tomato harvest.

Holy Sh*t it's hot here in June

This is the temperature guage in my car.  Yes only 105, but it feels hot enough to melt lead.

I can't recall a day in June that hasn't been in the 90's and we've still got July and August to deal with.

I haven't watered the grass once and it still looks ok.  It's a type of hybrid that takes the heat very well. All the other plants here need a tremendous amount of water though, and we're not getting much help in that area from Mother Nature.  Dry as a tic's eye, as they say down here.

Speaking of Ma Nature, I hear the corn in Illinois isn't measuring up and lots of fields didn't even get planted.  Look for late harvest wheat surplus as that seems to be the planting option.  The old adage of corn needing to be knee high by the 4th of July tells me that production is going to be WAY down which should add more supply side pressure to feed prices,  and will surely flow through to fuel and meat.
What else have we been doing?  On Thursday evening we head down to the local park (Gulley Park), have a picnic and listen to music.  Most of the bands are country-oriented, bluegrass or folk music.  Jack likes to run down and look at the instruments.  He's a fan of drums right now, but really likes guitars and girl singers.

We had a few good races on Beaver Lake in the J24 and I believe we dropped to 2nd place overall for the season.  Next races aren't until late August so that will be on hold unless we can put together a few private races between friends.

We went to look at the progress on the Crystal Bridges Museum that's being built here.  It's going to be one of the largest, if not THE largest collections of American art in the US.  It's funded by Alice Walton (of WalMart).  I have photos of it, but the camera's battery is dead so I'll have to download those for you next month. 

We went to a wine tasting at the performing arts center a few weeks ago.  Had a few good wines, some laughs and even met some new people.  We're  trying to connect with a couple we met there who have a kid around Jack's age.  They seemed like alot of fun.  So, we'll see.  I heard the comic Louis CK say something funny, but true.  As you get older, it feels wierder and wierder to make new friends.  Tough to explain, but it's a bit like dating, but not in any kind of good way.

I have a funny story to tell you.  We tried to ignore the relentless heat and go camping down by the lake in Fort Smith for Father's Day (my idea).  I imagined cool lake breeze blowing through the tent and Jack and I gazing up at the stars.  Jacqui requested that I pick up an air mattress for the tent (sacrilage) but I complied and even had an electric pump to inflate it. However, just as I laid-out the mattress, Jack approached from the rear with a GIANT rock and heaved it onto the virgin vinyl bed, yelling Hi-Yah! Like a Russian throwing the shot-put, he lauched the thing with such force, that it made, not one, but two, holes in the mattress. Did I mention that it was 94 degrees? I quickly patched the hole (I had not identified the second hole underneath yet), stuffed it into the tent, and inflated it. I then loaded all the sleeping bags and other items into the tent and we headed out for the trail on a hike.  The route was the begining of the 165 mile-long Ozark Highlands Trail. We hiked five strenuous miles and it was hot and muggy.  We knew though that the state park there has a good pool with lots of stuff for kids Jack's age to play with, so after the hike, we hit that before heading back up the hill to the campsite.  I started a fire to cook dinner and hopefully roast some marshmallows (yes, I know it was still 94 degrees).  Knowing that fires can take a while to get going, I also started up the coleman grill and threw on a few sausages while Jacqui followed our son around as he got filthier and sweatier.  I wish I had a photo of him walking around in just his diaper with sandals and carrying a dirty rock that, due to his sweat, was turning him into a muddy mess.  I noticed that the air mattress had deflated due to the second hole, but patched it, re-inflated it, and stuffed everything back into the tent.  Did I mention that it was still 94?   We ate our food in silence, with perspiration pooling in our plates, and, I imagined what kind of damage our relationship might take with the three of us in that tent.  All I had to say was, "Ya know we could probably just leave all this stuff here and be back home in about 45 minutes to sleep in airconditioned comfort".  Ten minutes later we were on the road, laughing and making plans to come back in the morning to break down the camp and try that again in the fall.

The rodeo was in town recently and I kept Jack out of school to go the the Rodeo Parade.  It was a bit too hot to stand in the street by the reviewing stand where we were last year, so we found a shady spot around the corner from the finish line and watched everything go by.  It seemed funny because they had to walk through this little neighborhood.

This year there was a concert after the rodeo.  Jacqui and I took Jack, and we met up with some friends there.  Nothing too crazy happened, no loose bulls, and we didn't see anyone's skull get crushed like last year.  After the rodeo, Jacqui took Jack home and I stayed and saw Eastin Corbin perform his hit "I'm a little more country than that" along with a bunch of other songs that kind of all sounded the same. 
 
Well, that's about it for now.  I've got to get outside and blow-off some fireworks to compete with the neighbors.  Hope you like the stories, and we'll hopefully have more to share in July, after spending time in St. Louis, Chicago and Michigan over the holiday.