Five Hours At The Drive-In

This Friday Carrie and I were struck with the genius idea of taking the family to the drive-in. It was late enough for Owen to go to sleep shortly after the movie began and if he was a little whiny, nobody was too bothered. So we packed up the kid and the pillows, made some popcorn and went to see Star Trek. Owen went down before we missed too much of the plot and only stirred during the more intense of the explosions.

Every movie at the drive-in here is a double feature but you don't know what the next movie is going to be until it starts. It ended up being Angels & Demons, about the only other movie out that we had heard of, so we stuck around. We weren't going to waste a night out even if we technically had the kid. It was great fun and we kicked ourselves for not thinking of it sooner.


Owen getting comfy while we wait for the show.

Oldie But A Goodie

We found this when we were cleaning up our files. It made us laugh at ourselves. We thought you guys might like it too.

Of Babies, Cats and Zombies

Mobile babies are actually surprisingly similar to zombies - they're slow and not overly smart, but dang if they aren't tenacious little things. Nala has noticed this fact and upon seeing Owen in her vicinity either gets out of Dodge or fortifies herself.


Baby? Okay, I'll be seeing you guys.


I'm inside my favorite thing stuffed inside my second favorite thing, and I have a lamp. I can wait this baby out all day.

Going The Distance

And then we stop him from actually getting the cat food. Anticlimactic, we know.

All About The Color

I know this is our 3rd Bisbee post and Ed and I realize that's a lot of Bisbee. As it turns out, Ed, in his infinite wisdom, missed some pictures that I really liked from the trip. I'm just a sucker for pictures of a cute baby (and husband) against a colorful backdrop.

Dad Stuff

As Owen gets older he becomes more fun in the way that you imagine a kid will be fun when you haven't had one yet. When I was thinking of them being a baby, I was actually thinking of them when they're about a year old. I knew there would be a time when they would be helpless, but baby horses can walk after like 15 minutes, I figured you'd be able to roughhouse with a baby by three weeks or so. Not the case. But we are getting to the point where I can start doing the Dad stuff I had pictured, like having him on my shoulders. This is a fun stage; this is the stage I'm going to remember as him being a baby.

The Good And The Stuff Of Nightmares

We meant to get these photos up right after we put up our last set from Bisbee, but our modem went down the other day and it has taken until today to get resolved. Here are some of our favorite scenes we saw around the random, random city called Bisbee.

The Good:

This was an awesome mosaic we would pass each time we went from our car to our place and it's full of fun little glass nick-nacks. If we could, we would try something like this. I don't think it's in the cards though.


Another tastefully (in our humble opinion) done mosaic found in the city.


This was on one of the walls in town. It reminded us of Bansky. We like Bansky.


Another fun Banskyesque stencil. She's flipping off a bobby on the other side of a pretty disheveled entryway.


This was one of our favorite little surprises. I'm not going to tell why we loved it, but I am going to say that you have to read the fliers.


Those are bottle caps.


A fun use of recycled materials.

The nightmare makers:

Creepiest. Park. Ever.


Even creepier than the park.


We were warned to watch out for tarantulas. This did not sit well with me. Carrie told me that during her time in Central America she found that they were actually pretty docile unless provoked so there wasn't really that much to worry about. As we were drinking some wine one night, we saw this. I understand I don't need to be worried about the tarantula, but I am going to get a little worried about the bug that just kicked the hell out of that tarantula and is dragging it home to eat it. That bug concerns me.

Bisbee

We got to our place in Bisbee and were extremely pleased to find such a serene setting. Bisbee itself was a mixed bag and difficult to categorize under one heading. It was the rootinest tootinest damn town west of the Mississippi for a while. Doc Holiday, Wyatt Earp, and all those guys used to frequent the area (Tombstone is nearby). Prohibition dried it up and made it a ghost town for a while. Then the hippies came in and made it an artist commune. Now it's all burnt out old artist hippies and tourists, which fosters a sort of palpable love-hate relationship among the locals. The random displays of art are amazing - we'll put up a post of some of the stuff we saw later - we got a lot of ideas for house.

It was a relaxing trip, even with Owen. The casita was charming, the hammock: heaven. The cool breeze and the wine made it perfect to reflect on the last 30 years and build plans for the next.


This is the front of the casita. It's all done in Santa Fe colors. It's on the side of a cliff so the house behind it is actually entirely above it. On the other side of that path is the roof of the next house, which we could easily see completely over. This place made San Francisco look like East Texas.


In order to accommodate the slope of the house, the shower was designed for someone about 5'2". Carrie didn't seem to have any complaints.


Owen after a bath (no complaints from him either). This is now one of my favorite photos of him.


Mom and Owen playing in the garden. This is my favoite shot of the two of them together.


And a family photo in front of the Peace Wall. Many thanks to the hippie chick who risked life and limb standing in the middle of a windy (twisty not gusty) street to get this one. Also, a new favorite of the three of us.

Bisbee Bound

This coming Monday is a certain somebody's big 3-0 birthday. (I'll give you a hint: it's not the cat). So in order to celebrate, we decided to ditch town for the weekend. We rented a cute little casita in Bisbee, Arizona. The casita is yellow, it has a small kitchen and it has a hammock. That's about all we need these days to make us very happy.

It's a little hard planning an extravagant 30th birthday bash with a baby in tow. I always imagined our 30th birthdays would be spent drunk in Vegas, Europe or some other fabulous place. Instead, for our 30th birthdays we have a (future) mortgage and a really cute baby.



Sometimes reality turns out to be a lot more fulfilling than the picture you had in your head of what the future was going to hold (although maybe not as swanky). Have a great weekend!

Flotation Device

In anticipation for our pool we've been having Owen practice having a good time in a pool. Carrie got this flotation device the other day and Owen really seems to like it. This one requires a pretty close guard, but it beats holding him the whole time. His favorite part is when you're on one side of him and duck under the water and reemerge on the other side of him. While you're under his little head is on a pivot and he's shaking with excitement. It works out so well that we have a water baby.


See: fun.

Mmmm, Tastes Like Wicker

Owen is getting weirder and weirder. I love it.

First Birthday Party

We're a little late to post Owen's 1st birthday party pictures but we wanted to wait until we had some of him with his cake. We had his birthday at McCormick Stillman Railroad Park. The plan was a bbq and some train rides. Unfortunately it turned out to be the one day that Arizona had weather so we spent most of the time fighting with the wind. Nevertheless, we still had a great time and Owen was surrounded by people who love him. What more could you ask for?


The gang lounging in the grass waiting for the birthday boy to open his gifts.


Owen was a little trooper and had a great time opening his presents. Great Grandpa Cooper gave him a card that plays music. Owen loved it and started dancing.


He was pretty entertained playing with the wheels of his new little, red wagon from Grandma and Grandpa Wilhelme.


Little tentative at first about his cake. Take notice of the train cake at the bottom; it took me 3 hours to decorate (with the help of my mom). Dang good cakin'!


Owen finally got into the cake after a little coaxing from his dad.

Soon afterward, the birthday boy was tuckered out and feel asleep in Grandma Wilhelme's arms. A very good 1st birthday indeed. Thank you to all who came down to celebrate with us!

We Bought A House - It's Pink

If it seems we haven't been on here as much as usual, that's true. We've been house hunting and it would appear we found one. It's a foreclosure so we got it on the cheap, but it's not bad on the inside compared to some of the places we saw. It's a 5 bedroom 4 bath 2200 sq ft place on a corner lot in Scottsdale. Did I mention it's pink? Hell yeah! And the best part? It has a pool. Goodbye stupid heat. Hello refreshing night swimming.

We just had our offer accepted tonight so there is still plenty of opportunity for this to go sideways, but provided that doesn't happen, this is where we're going to be spending the next few years. BTW 5 bedrooms = room for visitors.


It's on a quiet corner, has a place for a front patio, no garage, but a drive through driveway. And per the sign taped to the pole, there is a huge sale somewhere nearby. I like the sound of that.


The backyard, or at least the back of the house. As I mentioned, it's a foreclosure so we're not going to show the pool just yet (it's on the green side), but you can see where it is to the left of the photo. It also has fans, misters and a bar for lounging in comfort.


Here's the kitchen. Carrie and I are thinking about putting a fridge and maybe a stove in here, but that fan is so awesome we may hold off. We haven't made up our mind yet. On the plus side, the hole where the stove goes has a gas line sticking out of it and I have to admit, I love cooking with gas.


This is the front entrance as viewed through the kitchen and future site of a kick ass island.


And here is what will become the formal dining room. Through the French doors is the kitchen for spatial reference.

So that's sort of a tour. The bedrooms are big and okay. Two on one side of the house, three (I think the original three) on the other. 4 bathrooms, but you have one in the master, one for the other two at that end of the house, one for the two rooms on the other end of the house and one by the back door so people can get changed and cleaned up after being in the pool without walking through the house.

It's good stuff, but it's going to take a little work. Wish us luck, or better yet, come down and lend us a hand.

Evolution Of A Thrillseeker

I love my new wagon. It's so much fun to push Huggy Bear around. He looks so happy.


Whoa, this is even more fun than pushing Huggy Bear around. The two of us could really cruise around in this thing.


Actually, Huggy, I'm gonna need you to wait here till I get back. Okay Dad, to the nearest mountaintop; let's do this.

The Boys with the Ladies

I just think this is a sweet picture - Owen and Eddy with the grandmothers.