Author: Rudy

No rain when I got up at around 6:30. I got Max from his bed and we sat and read stories. I made coffee. Everyone else eventually found their way to the living room.

Tim, Max, and I once again went to Bashas to pick up some doughnuts for breakfast. We also picked up some more things while we were there. Max is quite the hit here — people give him a big smile and compliment him — I think they are all grandparents who wish their grandkids were here with them. The bakery lady gave him a free cookie to eat while we shopped. By the time we got home there were sprinkles of rain. And by 9 o’clock it was raining steady. It did that more-or-less all day.

Tim got the steaks he bought ready by marinating them and trimming them. Max inspected; it will be a fine barbecue for supper tonight. The Max and I went for a walk outside, just to check out the rain. Max managed to find quite a few puddles to splash in so that by the time we got back home his runners and socks were soaked and his hands were frozen.

After lunch Alex and I headed into town to see a movie; “Mockingjay: Part 1”, another in the Hunger Games series. Although the movie was over 2 hours long, it was enjoyable enough that it seemed shorter than that and we didn’t even finish the whole bag of popcorn we’d bought. When we got home Max had just awakened from his nap. Tim read him some stories and they played on the iPad. We had happy hour at the table and then the cooks in the group started getting supper ready. Still, it rained. Tim barbecued the steaks to perfection out under the patio roof in the backyard. Supper was great!

Max entertained us for a while after supper — he’s been such a delight these past 10 days. He wakes up happy and he goes to bed happy. So, once again, after a bath and a bedtime story, Max went to sleep. And now the four of us had the evening ahead to try and stay awake until ‘next year’. At around 9pm Tim opened up a bottle of champagne and we had some of that with the tasty marshmallowy treats Alex and Sue made today. We tried to avoid playing table games by pretending to enjoy some schlocky “New Year’s Eve” TV specials.

So, Happy New Year everyone. We’ll take a cup o’ kindness yet / For auld lang syne. Twenty-fourteen has been a blast. See ya next year!

Well, it’s the second last day of the year. And it is supposed to be a nice day today. And it’s supposed to be cold and rainy tomorrow. So… we’d better do all our fun outdoor things today.

After toast Sue and Alex and I went for a bike ride. I got the short end of the stick and rode the crappy old mountain bike. I had to work pretty hard to stay with the girls. Then, when we were on our way back, about a mile from home I got a flat tire. It seemed to be a slow leak, so I pumped up the tire and cycled as fast as I could before it went flat again. Meantime, Tim and Max were tooling around on Max’s Strider — Max seems to be getting the hang of that bike! PLUS, they got to watch the garbage truck when it came by to pickup the trash bins and dump them into the truck. Exciting times!

At around 11:30 we got into the van and drove 20 minutes into town to have lunch (again) at the In-N-Out Burger place. Lots of fun there too. We sat outside under the patio umbrella and ate our burgers and fries and drank our milkshakes.

The girls dropped Tim and me off at the golf course at Mountain Brook for our 1:00 tee time. We were joined by another golfer, a nice man who lives in the RV park across the road. The beautiful sunny day and the threat of not nice weather tomorrow made for a busy day at the course. We needed the whole afternoon to finish 18 holes. But we had a very fun time. It was back to reality for me — the 95 that I (and Tim) shot today was more in line with my skill level than last game’s 87. But I felt like I made many good shots and I look forward to more scrores in the LOW 90s and maybe even lower.

The girls came to pick us up from the course at 5:30. We went home to wash up and change and then we all walked across the road to the restaurant at the Gold Canyon Golf Resort. We had a very nice dinner there — and after I finished my plate of scallops I was happy to help Max with his “Kid’s Burger and Fries”. Plus, because he was by far the cutest kid in the restaurant, the manager arranged for Max to get a big dish of chocolate ice cream for dessert — and I helped him finish that as well.

When I got home I got to read Max his bedtime story. After he went to sleep the rest of us sat in the living room and visited. If only people would ask us, we’d have answers to most of the complicated problems in the world today. Still, even experts like us get weary — and so, after some of Sue’s cake for dessert, we trudged off to bed by 10:30. But we can sleep in tomorrow — it’s supposed to rain!

Sue sent Alex, Max, and me out to Bashas to pick up some things for breakfast. We came back with doughnuts for everyone. A big pink one with sprinkles for Max. It was a hit — even better than homemade porridge!

Sue announced that we should ‘aim to leave by 9:30’. We were going to take a trip to the Boyce Thompson Arboretum, a 320-acre nature park located about 20 minutes east of Gold Canyon. Ed and Val told us about it — said it was worth the trip. The forecast for today was sunny and not too cold, a perfect day to go to the park. And what did we expect to see? Lots of ‘pokey cactuses’. Ever since Max and I went on that hike up behind our house and I showed Max how NOT to touch those cute teddy bear cholla cactus plants, he reminds me of that mistake. And he is very wary of touching any and all plants here in Arizona.

We got to the park almost at the scheduled time and set off for the 1-mile trail walk around the park. Lots to see! Great for kids Max’s age. The highlight was near the start, when we sat down at a water fountain and a hummingbird came down and performed for us, flying right at us, then backing up, and then taking a bath in the fountain.

After about 2 hours of sight-seeing it was time for lunch. We drove home and had the usual: sandwiches and chips and a monster cookie for dessert. Then Max headed off for his nap, the girls went to the pool to read (and watch the big Amish family take over the pool!), Tim did some phoning, and I took my six-iron to the driving range.

When I got home Sue was working on getting supper going. The rest of us took a trip out to the Goldfield Ghost Town not far from our house. We knew it was late in the day, but we really only wanted to do a quick walk-around and maybe take a little train ride around the town.

By the time the sun was painting Superstition with reds and oranges the temperature was cooling down enough for us to head home. Supper was well on its way, and a new cake was sitting on the counter.

After supper we all watched Max run around for a while. I skyped with my Mom for a while. And after Max had his bath and got tucked into bed, we watched “The Trip to Italy” on Netflix.

I woke up when I heard Max’s noisy battery-powered toy car driving around in the living room. It’s quarter to seven — time to get up.

I made coffee and tuned in CBS Sunday Morning on the TV. When Max heard the opening trumpet fanfare he said it was soon time to go to church. We are all creatures of habit!

Sue did NOT make french toast as per my request. No, there would be no more bacon frying up our house this morning. We had ordinary toast with peanut butter and jam. Or, in the case of Tim, we had JAM with a bit of toast to hold it up. And Sue and Max had PORRIDGE!

After breakfast Alex and Sue went for a long walk. I watched a bit of NFL Sunday before the first game began at eleven. Today is the final slate of regular season games for the NFL this year — and there are still a few playoff match-ups to be decided. Max was feeling a little grumpy — fussing with another tooth trying to work its way through his gums.

When the girls got back from their walk they got lunch ready. Everyone felt better after that. Max went for a nap. I got a bit excited when it looked like ‘my’ teams would win for a change. My Giants, who are out of the playoffs anyway, were beating the Eagles. The Cardinals looked like they had a good chance against the stumbling 49ers. The Lions were in pretty good against the Packers. Even the Seahawks were down 6-0 to the Rams at halftime. Of course, all of that quickly reversed itself as the afternoon went on, and all ‘my’ teams LOST! I’m starting to understand what it must feel like to be a Bomber fan!

Tim and Alex were going out on a date tonight — leaving us to spend the evening with Max. He set up a bit of a camp in the kitchen. He played with his sticker book. Sue did a puzzle with him until the Cardinal game was over. Then we bundled up, took the flashlight, and marched off to the Hitching Post for supper. Chicken tenders and fries. Max ate heartily. And in between bites, he SANG heartily. And when we let him guide us home after supper, that flashlight shone at the stars, the moon, passing cars, cactuses and Christmas lights — everything EXCEPT our path.

Back home, the Sunday night game was already in the second quarter when Sue got Max into his PJs and read him his bedtime story. And before the game was over, the kids came back from their evening out, shopping bags in hand. I tried again to get some of my downloaded shows (“The Trip to Italy”) to play on my AppleTV but the streaming was too slow and we gave up. Oh well, it was 10:30, bedtime for most of us.

Bacon and eggs this morning! and sausages too! Saturday morning at the Nikkel house.

After breakfast Sue and Alex went for a walk. Max and I went out soon after to watch the garbage truck come around and empty all the garbage cans which were sitting at the end of each driveway. Very noisy. Very interesting. And then Max got on his Strider bike and we ‘cycled’ around the block, looking for interesting cactuses and maybe even some barking dogs or meowing cats. Found a few. We ended up heading up the big hill because Max wanted to see that big (Chinese stone) statue that one of the homes has guarding the front door. And if we see a reindeer that’s “moving his head around” that’s a bonus. We got to the top of the hill and headed back down. But Max is easily distracted — his curiosity keeps him from going in a straight line. So it took us a while to make it down. And by the time we got back to the house the others were waiting (anxiously, impatiently) because now I was going to risk being late for our tee time at Mountain Brook for twelve noon.

The girls dropped Tim and me off at the course — and then went to shop groceries and back home for naps while Tim and I slaved away at the course. The weather was quite cool (we actually covered our bougainvillea bushes with sheets for the night to keep them from freezing) but the sun was shining and as long as we were out of the breeze it was pleasant. We were joined by Shawn, a chiropractor from Phoenix, who was clearly a better golfer than the two of us. He teed off from the black tees, and then we two teed off from the whites. I started off okay but was a little embarrassed when on Hole 2 my tee shot dribbled off the tees into the scrub ahead of us. I re-shot my tee shot and scored a 6 on that par 3. Not a great beginning! But I hung in there and concluded the front nine with three pars in a row! A 43 on the par 35 front nine. My best nine holes this winter! This won’t hold up!

After a beverage break we continued on the back nine. Once again my start was less than auspicious — a six followed by a seven. But there followed a TWO on a par 3, then a par, then another TWO on the next par 3, and then another par. And when all was said and done I finished with 44 on the back nine, for a total of 87! I BROKE 90! And looking at my scores for the last couple of weeks, I’ve not even broken a hundred more than a couple of times!

The girls and Max were waiting for us in the van in the parking lot when we finished our game — great timing! We drove back home and had happy hour and appetizers. Then Max and I went to Walgreen’s to pick up a DVD rental while the rest of the team worked on getting supper ready. Pasta and barbecued shrimp. Yummy. We all ate heartily. All that excitement (and sunshine and wind) sure works up an appetite.

After supper Max and I did a puzzle. The others cleaned up supper and played on their devices. After Max was tucked in we had a Skype call from the Penner family — live from their celebrations at Mart and Virlon’s house. And then it was time for night snack!

A little after nine we finally got that DVD going. Let’s see if we can stay awake for a good part of it!

Against their better judgment, Alex and Sue thought today would be a great day to go shopping. Which they did. Right after breakfast. An ‘all-day’ shopping trip to the Chandler Fashion Mall. My guess is they either had lots of things to return or they will have.

After the girls left, I took Max to the play structure in the park not too far from our house. We started out with Max on his new Strider ‘bike’, but after about a block of that I ended up carrying the bike while Max doddled along behind me, completely distracted by every house with Christmas decorations on the yard. And there are quite a few. And now that I measure the actual distance using Google Maps I see it is 1.3kms to the park. So that’s a pretty long way for those little legs to walk — there and back, plus a whole lot of motoring around at the park in between.

We spent the morning there. The sun was shining so even though the thermometer said it wasn’t very warm out, it wasn’t unpleasant. A couple of parents stopped by and helped their little sweet peas teeter-tooter, swing, and slide. Max ended up sitting on the ground with his new bike lying beside him while he baptized it with sand. I sat on the bench and watched. Eventually I thought we should head back home — surely Max must need to go pee by now. And then, on the way, we got distracted at the car wash — and had to watch a guy wash his dirty dune buggy on the trailer behind his truck. And finally, when that was done, we continued on our way only to be met by a familiar face riding a bicycle toward us. Daddy! what’s he doing on a bike? Nevermind, what are WE doing out here? It’s 12:30, W-A-Y past lunch time! Tim hurried back to barbecue the hotdogs while I did my best to keep Max focused on getting back to the house in time for lunch.

After hotdogs Max went for his nap. Tim and I watched a bit of golf on TV. When I woke up Sue and Alex were sitting on the couch next to me, back from their shopping trip. Success! All around.

After a little snack it was time to get everybody ready for supper out. The kids took us out to the Mexican restaurant for our Christmas gift. Good times there. Too cold to sit outside in their patio, even with heaters going. So we sat inside and were entertained by Max.

The ride home included a few detours to look at all the Christmas lights (again). And Max was adamant that we find some of those ‘cool reindeers with their heads moving all around’. (There must have been some big sales for those wire mesh lit-up reindeer at Walmart this fall!)

Back at the ranch, after a quick bath and a bedtime story, Max was down for the count. The rest of us enjoyed some dessert and watched another episode or two of “The Trip to Italy” on TV. And that’s the end of another successful day!

(No photos today — Sue took my phone with her to the mall all day, and so all I have to go on is my photographic memory.)

 

Good morning. Merry Christmas. Time to open some presents.

Max got a big sticker book for Christmas. And a new ‘bike’. And then we had crepes and bacon for breakfast. Already it was a ‘special’ day!

After breakfast we hopped into the van and drove out to the parking lot at Silly Mountain. And while Tim and Alex and Sue made it all the way up to the top, Max and I got about halfway up. Max did pretty good and got lots of big smiles and ‘Merry Christmas’ wishes from other hikers who passed us on the way.

After lunch we lazed around and napped a bit. After Max woke up Alex and I walked him up the big hill behind our house while he ‘rode’ his new Stryder bike. We almost missed our ‘happy hour’ snacks that Tim prepared for us.

Sue made salmon for supper. And then, after reading Max his bedtime story and tucking him into bed, we cued up a Netflix movie on TV and watched “Love Actually”. Well no, not ALL of us watched it. I dozed off pretty much as soon as the movie started and finally dragged my weary butt into bed before it was over. Too much excitement for one day!

The best part of the morning is seeing Max’s big smile when he comes into our bedroom to see that we’re finished sleeping. The best part of breakfast is watching Max finish his fruit and cereal. He’s a hearty eater. He’s a very loveable little boy. He makes mornings more fun!

After breakfast Sue and I went for a long walk. I needed to get a photo of a Santa hat on a cactus to include in a reply to an email we got from some friends in Germany who sent us Christmas greetings including a photo of THEIR christmas tree. Got one. When we got back from our walk I had a shower and we all had an early lunch. And then Tim and I had to hurry across the road to the golf course to make our 12:30 tee time at Sidewinder.


Christmas Eve. What a good day to go golfing. No one ahead of us, no one behind us. Just the two of us — the golf course was ours. And the sun was shining–probably the nicest day we’ll have. And the game started off just as fine. In fact, I had a TWO on the par three hole #4 when my tee shot landed just inches from the hole. But the Lord giveth and the Lord taketh away. When our three hours were up Tim shot a 99 and I had a score of 103. Not great but not bad. And I was up a couple of balls on the day — and still playing with the ball I’d started with.

Max and the girls had gone to a nearby park when we got home but got home soon after. Then Tim and Alex took the van to pick up Chinese food for our supper while Max and I went on a short hike up the hill behind our place. I showed Max how not to touch the ‘pokey’ cactuses — and had quite the time getting those barbed needles out of my thumb.

By the time we were back from our walk the food was all set on the table. Yummy. Good eating for our Christmas Eve meal. And then we all got back into the van and went for at least an hourlong ride to look at Christmas lights. Max’s favourite: those lit up reindeer with their heads ‘tuwning awound’. I did my best to accommodate him until Max’s head was the one nodding up and down. When we got home he didn’t want his bath nor a night snack. Just straight to bed, all tuckered out. The end of a perfect day. Well no, we’re not quite done yet — first we’ll eat quite a few too many of those tasty chocolate-covered peanut butter balls Alex made while we were out golfing. And a bit of TV. AND THEN, around 10 o’clock, our Christmas Eve is complete. Let’s hang up the stockings, set out the milk and cookies, and go to bed.

Today was a bright, sunshiny day — perfect for a visit to the Phoenix Zoo. Knowing that Max would need his afternoon nap, we decided to see if we could get out of the house nice and early. And by shortly after nine we’d finished breakfast and were on the road. We’d never been to the zoo here before. We got there just before 10:00, right about the same time that about 20 school buses emptied their loads at the front gate. But we managed to ‘leap-frog’ the teachers with their classes of children and the zoo was big enough that we got to see the things we really wanted to see without any delays. So we saw giraffes, tigers, lions, monkeys, elephants, and a sleeping rhino. And deer, birds, and snakes too. And the best part of the zoo may have been the merry-go-round.

We finished the zoo visit around 11:30 and headed back for home. Along the way we stopped at a burger restaurant and had lunch outside on the patio there. Then home, just in time for nap time. While Max, Alex, and I slept, Tim and Sue went to the Fruit Market in Apache Junction and to the grocery store to pick up things we needed for supper. I took two golf clubs and went across the road to the driving range to hit some balls. After about thirty minutes or so Tim and Max joined me there. The three of us went for a long walk and ended up at the kids’ play structure not too far from our house. Max had a great time climbing and sliding until we decided it was time to go back home.

Snacks around the table– and supper soon after. We watched a Mickey Mouse Christmas movie until it was time for me to read Max a bedtime story and tuck him in. Then we watched an episode of “the trip to Italy” and some CBC National News before Sue and I bid goodnight to the kids and excused ourselves to the bedroom.

After breakfast we were off for a morning of shopping. First stop, a Target store, hoping to find a nice hat for Max. Although we didn’t find a suitable hat, we DID have fun playing on the giant red balls outside the entrance.

Then we continued on to the Santan Village Shopping Center, a big outdoor mall. While Tim and the ladies went shopping Max and I played in the playland in the courtyard. Lots of other parents and grandparents had the same idea. Max has as much fun watching other children as he does playing himself. So we did a lot of that.

And after we’d checked out the pet store and Max had proclaimed that he ‘wuved’ every little dog behind the glass, we found the others and had lunch at one of the many restaurants in the complex. Max, sporting the new hat his parents had found and bought for him, ordered macaroni and cheese.

We managed to make it home just in time for ‘nap time’. And while the girls went for a bike ride around ‘the loop’, the boys listened to some Joe Cocker tunes (he died today) and then caught up on some shut-eye. When the girls got back and we’d all been awakened, Opa and Tim and Alex and Max went for a ‘hike’ up the hill behind our house to check out the sunset while Sue worked on supper. And while there was a bit of a haze in the air, and some clouds in the west kept the mountain from getting as red as it often is, we enjoyed not only the view but the walk as well. Just enough ‘exercise’ to warrant another visit around the supper table.

After supper Max entertained us for a while until he was off to bed. Alex made one of her delicious Christmas desserts (marshmallow squares) for dessert — and I got to scrape out the plate. Then we dug out the games we’d borrowed from Ed and Val and the four adults played “Apples to Apples” at the dining room table until sleep overcame us and we all headed off to bed as well.