Exciting Times

Thursday last week was an exciting day here at Dogpound South. Late in the evening Miss Ella and Alle Kitten along with their parents Clayton and Lacey arrived for a short visit. Ella started things off with a bang running through the crowds at the airport to jump into her Gramma’s arms.

She was pretty excited to be in Arizona but I think she was more excited to have been on an airplane for the first time, her little sister was more reserved, after all she had begun her flying career at a mere 3 hours of age, so this flying thing was old hat to her.

Friday we had plans to chill and then head down Tombstone way on Saturday but reality reared its head and we figured 6 hours of driving might be too much for the kids so we changed the plan and headed over to the Mesa Market on Friday for a look around. It seemed like the same folks were in the same places they were last time we were there, some selling and others buying. The clientele is pretty mature in this area so the kids were a bit of an oddity although there were a couple of other little ones, obviously also visiting their grandparents. You can tell the ghostly white skin of a northerner who hasn’t seen the sun since September. The rest of us are tanned and wrinkled like old leather.

Once we toured a bit of the market we headed back down the road to Dogpound South and just enjoyed the rest of the day in the sunshine.

Mom and Dad enjoying some of that cheap American beer and Ella playing with some of Gramma’s dirt.

Although we have had cool weather for a large part of this early winter the sun came out and we enjoyed mid 70F (24-26C) weather for the entire time the kids were here.

Saturday we loaded up in our borrowed van (thanks Mike and Kathy) and headed over to our neighbours pool (thanks Mike and Kathy) for a swim. Ella is a real little water bug and spent the best part of the afternoon in the pool. I was in there for about three hours myself as everytime I would go to get out I was met with “No Grandpa” and who could resist that little person wanting to play for just a little longer.

It was another beautiful day and the weather was just great for playing in the pool, although without my usual long sleeves and hat I did manage to get a little more sun than usual for me.

Sunday we loafed around in the morning and then headed up to the TACC arena for their 5D barrel race just after lunch. Lacey had a friend who was racing her horse there so we enjoyed hanging out there and Ella managed to convince Taylor to take her for a spin on “G” while she was there.

She had a great time helping me feed our own horses and making numerous trips out into the turnout to make sure they were all well petted.

After we got done with the horse stuff it was time to head off to the pool again for another swim. (thanks Mike and Kathy)

Then home for a rest on Meg’s bed while enjoying another great warm sunny day.

Sunday night we had a BBQ and Lacey’s friend, Sue and her husband Gregg, came over and joined us for dinner and some time spent around the campfire.

Monday was sadly a going home kind of day so once everything was all packed up we headed off to Sky Harbor to drop off our precious cargo and start them on their journey home to the land just north of summer. When we got home we found this reminder on the cement of our deck and it would probably be there when we sold the place if it weren’t for the wind and rain that will surely wash it off.

Thanks for coming for a visit kids and we can hardly wait until you return down the road to Dogpound South.