Recently in Family Category

We have now lived in Arizona over 14 years. A lot of our family still lives in Idaho and Utah. As a result we find ourselves making the trek from Arizona to Idaho quite often (more often than I would like that's for sure). We have gotten to where we have a fairly well mapped out path from point A to point B and back. This path is the result of trying just about every different roadway that goes between these three states. And what I have learned from all of this is that there really is no good way to get from Arizona to Idaho without subjecting yourself to a lot of small highways or back roads. I don't so much mind driving the back country but it does have its drawbacks. For example there are large stretches of road that have absolutely nothing on them. Driving from Flagstaff Arizona northward for example takes you across Indian Reservations that barely have phone service let alone rest stops or places to get something to eat or drink. Even cellular service is spotty. Digital phone service is impossible and analog roaming is even questionable. This situation remains in effect through part of southern Utah as well at least until you can get near the Interstate when there are at least some cellular towers to give you adequate phone service.

Today is the first official full day of vacation. I know I should really count yesterday since that is when we left Arizona but since that did not occur until after the baseball game and technically I am classifying going to the Diamondbacks as work (I love my job if that's the case), then today would truly be the first full day of vacation. And since this is my blog and my life I feel like I am empowered to define things however I want to. Wow, that sounded kind of like the time I got a new ball and decided I got to make the rules to the game or else I would take my ball and go home. That didn't work out too well as the ball went flat and we all had to go anyways so hopefully this time that attitude will work better.

We completed our packing and we were finally ready for our vacation. On Diary of a Diehard I discussed a little of what goes into summer vacation at our house. The planning is more representative of a large scale battle plan for a world war than it is for a family to go on vacation. I think a lot of that is as a result of having a house full of women. With just Dakota and me to represent the male population we are quickly outnumbered by the estrogen gang. Discounting the computer equipment for a moment, there is a substantial difference between how women pack for a vacation and how men pack for the same amount of time and same location. Take for example my son Dakota versus my daughter Whitney.

After my computer store excursion I had to go into stealth mode. Trina had returned from out of town and I was already in trouble for the handiwork she did know about. You would think that a wife would be grateful that her husband would do things around the house but not my wife. Of course her ideas for home improvement and mine seem to be diametrically opposed. She sees things such as landscaping, house painting, and minor repairs as at the top of the list. I am more inclined to think of rewiring the house with optical cable, running Ethernet over power line, or adding home automation devices as home improvement. I mean seriously who doesn't want to control their lights from the comfort of the computer or be able to set the thermostat from the Internet? Still I guess she does have a valid point. Our house is filled with technology goodness but my backyard still has not been fully landscaped since we moved in 14 years ago. I blame the electronics industry. If they would come up with cool landscape technology I would be all over it.

Growing up the Fourth of July was the highlight of our summer. We lived in a relatively small town in eastern Idaho. We were a mere 90 minutes from Jackson Hole Wyoming or a little over 2 hours away from Yellowstone Park. Being that close to the Wyoming border is not especially impressive or noteworthy and would normally best be left unsaid. There was a brief time each year that was of importance to us. That time was around the Fourth of July. In Idaho we were allowed to have some types of fireworks but it was limited. We could have sparklers, cones, and ground blossoms. In Idaho we were not permitted to have firecrackers, bottle rockets, roman candles, or anything that went airborne. Wyoming had a much more liberal look on fireworks. I often wondered what it must be like to be in the state legislature in the cowboy state. That had to be kind of like being a sheriff in the wild west. They seemed to pass just enough laws so that the citizens didn't kill themselves but they did not seem to mind arming the people with weapons of mass maiming. As a kid, that makes you just about one of the coolest adults on the planet.

I should learn never to open my mouth. First it would mean a lot fewer nights spent sleeping on the couch. Second I would probably find myself in a lot fewer weird and unusual situations. In this particular context I would have had a much easier day and I wouldn't be in nearly as much pain. A few days ago I noted that Trina and Whitney had left town leaving Tiffany, Dakota, and me at home to fend for ourselves. I also noted that part of the challenge that I had was to find something for Dakota to do so that he was not so bored. Yeah, that was a really bad thing to say. No sooner had I written that then the entire universe started to crumble around me. Ok, maybe not the whole universe, just that little piece that Trina left me in charge of during her absence.

With Trina and Whitney out of town that leaves me home with Tiffany and Dakota. Tiffany is now working full time so rarely do we even see her with work and then going out with her friends. That leaves me and Dakota at home. There is nothing quite like having an eleven year-old boy around to make you realize how old you really are. That kid has nothing but energy. The depth of that energy is diametrically opposed to the shallowness of his attention span. Approximately every 5 minutes he has to tell me how bored he is and how there isn't anything to do. That wouldn't be so bad but I am really trying to get some work done and the last thing I need is to stop and try and find something for him to do. And it's not like just anything will relieve the boredom. Oh no it has to be highly entertaining. There is no way I could possibly suggest that perhaps he could clean his room or possibly empty the dishwasher. No chores are definitely not on the list of fun things to do. As a result he is practically driving me crazy. So tonight I decided we all needed a break.