I haven't posted in a couple months so this is what has been going on in the Alves home. Explanation in line with all my different photos.
Zach had spring t-ball. Not sure if he'll be playing again next year. He gets bored too easily. Maybe in a couple years he'll be ready for it.
Just taking the kids for a walk after work.
We went to Vegas for Easter. Here we are at some pizza place getting our lunch on. The mirror on the wall as huge and it made it look like the place was twice as big. A little trippy when we walked in.
Hanging out at Margaritaville on the strip.
A couple years ago we took the kids to this playground and Zach called these the chips, since they look like Pringles. So I wanted to take them back to this playground so I told my sister in law lets go to the one with the chips. She takes me to a playground insisting it's the one with the chips. I asked her where are the chips and she pointed to the mulch (wood chips) all over the place. I got a good laugh about it then we drove a couple miles to the playground with these chips.
Jasmine watched the kids for a night while Natalie and I went out for dinner and a show. The Wicked Spoon was highly recommended. I was not impressed. The fried chicken is better at KFC, the Jerk Chicken is better at Buffalo Wild Wings, the prime just flat out sucked. The only things that were really impressive were the jalepeno, the bread, and deserts. I won't be going back there again. Of course a couple days after we left a coworker told me he had the most amazing steak ever at the Orleans, so that is for next time.
Walking back from the Cosmo over to Treasure Island for the show. We say the Mystere show. This was my first cirque de soleil show and it did not disappoint. It started off weird like The Lion King and I had me wondering what the heck we signed up for but it got good, really good, really fast. I'm definitely going to be seeing more shows every time we visit.
Over at my sister in law Kim's apartment. I told Zach I want to take a picture and he told me "wait" while he posed.
And there he is again posing.
Shopping at Frys. These kids love the shopping carts there.
Another after work walk with the kids.
This is what our sunset looks like most nights. We get a nice view of the hills on the east side of Lake Pleasant on one side of our balcony and Daisy Mountain and Gavilan Peak from the other side..
For mother's day we went out to California. I got to watch the kids for a day while Natalie had her girls day with my sister.
Adri has become known as the baby whisperer.
One of Dean's favorite new games if peekaboo, aka, where's Dean.
Seems like just yesterday this little turd was in diapers.
Another after work walk to the playground.
My dad got the kids these scooters for Christmas. They forgot them at my sister's house and just got them back when we took our mother's day trip out there. The kids love these things and say Grandpa is the best at buying presents and he got them just what they wanted.
About a month ago I had to get new tires on the truck. Zach volunteered to go with me so I bought him some pizza at Gio's while we waited.
Zach is a very curious and observant kid. We we worried about him when he refused to talk a couple years ago but he has a lot going on inside his head. I changed my swim shorts a couple weeks ago from a blue pair to another blue pair that is very similar and two hours later he saw them and asked me why I changed. 99.9% of people would not have noticed. Well here he is watching them change the tires and asking a bunch of questions. We got atx tires and he really wanted to take them off-road. When we got home he ran inside to tell Natalie all about our new tires.
The day after we got tires was Zach's last t-ball game. Afterwards we went off-roading through the desert to test out our new tires and take the kids shooting. As you can see I'm all over my kids when shooting making sure they have it sighted in correctly and don't make any mistakes. Kids need to learn firearm safety early.
Adri did very good with my Ruger 10-22. She hit the target on the first try.
Zach couldn't even get the scope sighted in so he never got to fire a shot. Maybe we'll try again in another year.
About a month ago we had the first of a series of fires in the area. This is the wash I like to walk and hunt in behind our house. This happened between 3-4 in the afternoon as all fires have which makes me very suspicious. The next fire started right against Anthem RV, where our trailer is currently parked, and a couple days ago there was one just south of New River Road that close I-17 for a couple hours.
This if from probably close to a half mile away and you can see the water canon. The water was probably shooting out 100-150 yards from this thing. I know what I want for Christmas.
The fire appears to have started next to one of the Javalina dens. I'm not surprised. I pulled some fireworks out of the bushes there a few months back. Some pyro kid's stash. Pre-fire these trees were really thick, branches to the ground, and you couldn't see anything through them.
One of my favorite cactus in the area got a little charred. It's amazing how resilient these cactus are.
Another one of my favorite Saguaros i the area.
Memorial day. The kids were in the pool almost all day. I'm so glad we aren't vegans in this house. I had the smoker and the bbq going. Burgers aren't enough. Had to have some smoked chicken as well.
This year has been extremely odd. It has been much cooler than normal since November. We didn't finally break 100 until something like June 9th and then dropped back into the 90s. We hit 111 one day last week but then dropped back just above 100 for the rest of the week. So since it's been cool I was out hiking in late May and early June after work. Here are a few pics from my hikes. I started at my house and hiked down to New River Rd, almost all the way down to Carefree Highway.
Every hike I ran into these wild burros. I wouldn't have seen the thing if it wasn't huffing at puffing at me. I think it was trying to lead me away, like it had a baby burro in the area. Everyone talks about what beautiful animals they are. I don't disagree, but I hate the fact they are here and federally protected. They aren't native, destroy our environment, and compete with native wildlife. Only two animals I know of that are invasive that are protected, wild burros and wild horses. Both have become a problem recently. The horses were all dying in last year's drought and the burros are over populated (20,000 in this area) and they are trying to figure out how to control it.
Every Saguaro is unique. No two are the same. This one decided to grow out instead of up.
Down by New River Road looking to the North-West.
This is a huge Saguaro. The picture doesn't do it justice. Every large Saguaro is a bird apartment. Look at all those bird homes.
The last time Natalie found me like this she was not amused. But when Zach does it it's somehow cute.
My niece and her family recently left Colorado and are staying with us indefinitely while they figure out there plans in Arizona. So now Dean has a cousin living with us just a few months younger than him.
I made the kids virgin drinks and taught Adri the daiquiris symbol from Wedding Crashers.
Dean bean walking around with Natalie's coffee mug in his mouth.
When I was in Vegas one of Natalie's friends complained about my hair. I really hate conformist. I am my own person. I left a religion that told me how I have to dress, what color shirt I can wear on Sunday, what I have to drink, what movies I can watch, what music I can listen to, etc. Her friend happens to belong to that church so when she said something about my hair being too long I decided to grow it longer. Natalie might think it's a silly reason to grow out my hair but I can't stand people telling me how to live my life. Religion strips people of their identity and I'm having no part of that. A little mid life rebellion. So at first Natalie thought it was silly but now she loves my longer hair.
Adri's 9th birthday party was Jurassic Park. She is obsessed with that movie for some reason.
Adri has a crush on the kid right there on the side of the pool. He bought her that pizza float.
And here he is putting bunny ears on Adri.
Natalie took the kids to California in early June so she could help my sister with the Gala. I had a week alone to work, study, and hike. I was studying for my SSCP which gets me out of my last class for the semester. I finally took the test last week and passed so I am done for a while. This was the most intensely monitored test I have done. I had to have my palm prints scanned a dozen times. Multiple times to sign in, again before going in, coming out of the testing room, and again to sign out. ISC² has some crazy security. They also only gave me a provisional pass for the first couple days while they did a psychometric and forensic evaluation and they wont' give me my actual score. I have to apply to become a ISC² members which takes about 6 weeks.
Adri and Ryder playing ninjas in California.
Natalie and I at the Gala.
My cousin Ashley with Dean Bean.
The day after the Gala we had cousin day. Not everyone made, probably not even half, but we still had fun.
Here we are holding signs for all the missing cousins. The shocker of the day was that a cousin from Fallbrook made his way up while others that live not even a mile away couldn't be bothered to make it.
Dean Bean was a little late on this but here he is enjoying naked gardening day. I have some pretty funny pictures and videos of him running around the yard naked without a care in the world.
Arizona life in summer. Pool day.
A couple weeks ago Natalie took the truck in for a recall on the airbags. While she was at the dealer I got an e-mail about some promotions on new trucks. Ford really effed up when they sold me my F-150. They told me if I have a 10% buffer between my max tow and my trailer weight then I'll be fine. They are morons. This is a mountain state where you love 4-7% performance every 1000 feet and in reality you want about a 40% buffer. On top of that my tanks can weigh about a ton if all three are full. I towed last year maxed out. My truck did fine for the most part but I have a lot of anxiety towing maxed out and I don't like getting slowed down to 45mph on the hills.
So I e-mailed Ford back about an upgrade to an eco-boost or F-250. The problem with the 250 is it is 9 inches too long for my garage. The F-150 gives me 6 inches of clearance on both ends. I did some research and a test drive and decided to trade in the truck that week. My torque has now doubled, my towing capacity went from 7,300 to 10,700, and my new truck is really fast. I went from a 6 speed to a 10 speed turbo charged that can hit 90 by the time I'm at the end of the on-ramp, I never feel the truck shift, and the acceleration is more uniform. I did lose some of the features I didn't care about so much in the last truck like power seats, self dimming rear view mirror, lights in the bed of the truck, heated seats, etc. But I got the interior and exterior color I really wanted this time. They actually had to get the truck from Tucson because I was not going to settle on the color. I knew what I wanted and I got it. I also now have AC vents in the back for the kids and they have a 120v outlet along with usb in the back. This picture is right when I took the truck home. I took it back a couple days later and they switched out my rims and new tires from the old truck ( I wanted my atx not their cheap street tires), put the side rail on, and sprayed the bed.
You can see here I got my rims from the last truck and tires. Much better than what the truck came with. My sister came out for the week and we took the truck to Lake Pleasant.
One of Dean's favorite things to do it play with the hose. He has learned to check the temperature of the water first. It probably comes out 140 when I first turn it on.
Hot day in Arizona. Moscow mule and the pool.
Dean has started his own exercise routine.
A month ago I couldn't get Zach to take off his floaties without crying. He wanted until he is 9 to learn to swim without them. Then one day something clicked and he decided he liked swimming lessons. He didn't even wait for me without getting out of the pool, jumping back in, and taking a lap. He went from being scared to not even caring if I am paying attention before he is gone. I still don't let him swim without his floaties unless I am right on top of him thought so if I want to relax he has to have floaties. Well the other day not only did he take a lap but he decided he is going to climb up the waterfall. I think he was tired this time because it took him three tries but before this video he climbed right up.
July 3rd I was sitting my lazy butt on the couch watching tv when my friend texted me telling me he was headed to the park for fireworks. I completely forgot they are backwards in Anthem and do fireworks on the 3rd. It was already 8, I was in my pajamas feeling lazy, and I didn't really feel like getting up. But I've been a lazy parent when it comes to fireworks. I think I have taken Adri 3 times in her 9 years and the rest of the time I'm just too tired. So I decided to get my butt up and go.
Dean had been sick this week. A couple weeks ago he turned a new leaf and decided he can sleep in his own bed. Not only does he sleep in his own room but he actually stays asleep more than 10 hours. I actually get sleep now. However this Sunday he woke up from his nap with 102.7 fever and diarrhea. He spent the week in our bed so we can monitor him and it's been hell again. July 3rd was the first day he didn't have a fever and he was already asleep in his bed when George texted me. We didn't know if it would be a good idea to wake him and take him to a loud firework show, especially since he hates loud noises, but he had a blast. He kept pointing at the fireworks, until of course I bust out the camera.
Had a lazy day yesterday playing Sega with Zach. Plugged in a bunch of game genie codes for the original Sonic The Hedgehog.
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