Four years ago our friends Ryan & Laura got us hooked on Black Friday. Before that I just knew it was some crazy day when everyone mobbed the stores. I just didn’t get it. Now I am the mob. Well, I am not crazy like the year Ryan went to stand in line at Best Buy on Thanksgiving after dinner to get those flat screen TVs, but I sure do enjoy my Black Friday now. My friends, with whom we spend Thanksgiving, think I am odd when I show up for dinner Thursday with my backpack full of newspaper ADs, a couple pens and highlighters, and a notebook.

This year we didn’t really need anything, but there were a few big ticket items someone else wanted us to pick up for them (vague on purpose since the recipient of one may read this). Two years ago Claire was so young that she mostly slept through Black Friday, weighing down our arms as we stood in lines all morning. Last year there was no way I was taking a 2 1/2 shopping. We asked our former school nurse to watch her over night, and that was perfect. This year Donna wanted to take her with us. Oh boy. I tried to get the regular babysitter to take her but she was busy with family, I wanted to call another younger sitter, but Donna said no. I even tried to leave her with friends, but Donna just said we’d take her with us. I wasn’t thrilled. I told Donna it was her fault if Claire flipped out, and that she’d have to deal with her. Donna agreed.

3AM comes early when you’re up at 11PM. I must’ve missed the alarms and it was after 3:30AM when Claire and I rolled out of bed. She was wide awake. Donna wasn’t. We dragged Mama outta bed and was out the door a little after 4AM. Our first stop was Walmart for those big ticket items. We pulled in and people were streaming into the store. The sale wasn’t until 5AM, but it was a 24 hour store. People were getting into lines and huge piles of sale items were being guarded by employees. At first, an employee had me in the wrong line for 15 minutes before I loved to the (much longer now) correct line. At 5AM a wave of rushing, ripping and groaning rolled across the store as people broke into the piles of good stuff. Black Friday had begun.

I stood in line for that big ticket item for 2 hours and it killed me to not be running around the store with everyone else. Donna and Claire were hiding with our buggy in the bedding aisle, near where a display with $30 bed sets was devoured in minutes. I began texting her to make sure to grab everything else on our list so we could run when we were done. I thought I was getting a good deal on these big ticket items, but later in the day I saw them in two other stores for the same price! Ugh.

We moved from store to store throughout the day. Occasionally we stood in line, and mostly the customer service wasn’t too terrible (except a few ladies in Walmart who spoke no English and had no idea where the sales were in the damn store!). We picked up 20+ DVDs that we didn’t need, and I got an awesome 16G USB drive for like $30 (the day after I saw the same one at Radio Shack for $150. WTF!)

In the morning we left the house in the dark, and by the time we headed home it was dark again. This was 14 hours later. Even though we really needed nothing, we spent a grand and partied like rockstars all day long.

In a world that is further and further more thrust into the panopticon, we now have a proliferation of speed cameras in and around Phoenix. I hate them. I drive fast. Look, if I am safe and go a little faster than the next guy, then who cares? I get the problems with zooming down the highway and flipping your truck because you’re an idiot, but when you’re driving out along the Mogollon Rim at 65 and come down into Prescott and the speed limit immediately shifts to 45 then it’s not fair. Forget it. This sucked, and it happened to me.

It wouldn’t have been that bad if 1) I didn’t have a ticket a few weeks earlier when Claire was sick and I was rushing to the doctor’s, and 2) if I didn’t already go to traffic school within the last two years. Damn.

Look, I am not unsafe, but if I always obeyed every traffic law then I would be more stressed out. I can’t help if I am running late sometimes because I have an unpredictable 3 year old. Sometimes she’s ready to run out of the house in the morning, and other times she’s like dragging a golem through the process of leaving for school.

I fear our world is going to be and more thrust into the public spotlight, and, of course, there are things that I do willingly to thrust myself there, but I still enjoy certain liberties that are slowly being stripped away.

Jogging the Canal, originally uploaded by nooccar.

Every so often I think (read: I know) I need to exercise, and recently I became friends with an exercise freak. She bugged me (read: ecouraged me) all of the time to get out there, but part of my problem (read: excuse) is that it’s damn hot in the summer. Well, two things happened recently. 1) It’s cooler in the fall/winter. 2) She began teaching an online jogging class.

I know how funny that sounds, and I’ve gotten some odd looks. Well tonight I began my class officially. I did a run through last week with the dog, which I loved. All weekend I promised my daughter, Claire, that I would take her on a long walk up to the park where there’s a pond. I figured we could walk the canal after that and then come home the same way the dog and I walk.

Claire wanted to bring her wagon to carry her water and doll. Dante hates the wagon and won’t ride it it. Claire won’t really ride in it either since she’s pretty active. She runs a lot and never gets winded too. I ended pulling that damn thing 2.5 miles while she walked the dog, ran around, and had a good time at the park. I finally convinced her to let me pull her when we hit the highway on the other side of the canal, but as soon as we were off the frontage road, she was out of the wagon and running down the sidewalk with the dog. Even thought it was kinda fun, I think next time the daughter and wagon get to stay home.

My father isn’t the most social or warm person in this world, so the times in my youth where he was focused more on his children were those memories that held tight in my mind. Two large parts of this included camping/fishing and skiing. He’s already been dragging Claire off to the slopes for two years now, but we’re not typically anywhere near Pittsburgh in the milder months.

This became my quest. Take Claire camping & fishing. I really miss the GREEN of nature from my youth, so anything to get out of the desert was great for me. We’ve just not gotten around to taking her and when she was younger she was too young.  Her babysitter had been up to Christopher Creek, and the photos she posted online were great. I was ready to go!

Last week we headed north, and we were impressed at how close some of this beautiful nature really was to us. It only took 90 minutes to get to Christopher Creek campground under the Rim. The forest ranger told us it may snow that night, and the temperature would be in the low 40s at best. I’d packed the car, and realized we didn’t really bring coats, hats or gloves. Ooops.

Claire was dressed in an old pair of jeans, Merrell shoes I’d bought her, a Grand Canyon sweatshirt we rummaged from day care, and my Smart Wool cap. She ran around the campsite while we unpacked and put up the tent. I was eager to get to the creek for some fishing, and the ranger didn’t really gave a good idea of where to fish. We decided we’d walk down creek and look for a spot. The four of us (Dante too!) headed down the creek. I had the fishing stuff, and Donna had the kid. Dante was a real good sport about walking over rocks and through water. We found a hole around the creek bend and dropped our lines. Donna took some photos of me teaching Claire how to fish with the new pole I bought her. Donna and Dante sat against some trees so Donna could read while we fished. I enjoyed myself, and Claire was relatively and surprisingly quiet. She didn’t really dig the whole fishing thing because we didn’t catch anything.

At dusk we headed back to cook some hotdogs and marshmallows. Donna made up a fire and we unlocked the food from the truck (bear & elk are common in this area). Claire wasn’t really into the whole idea of Smores, but she liked the marshmallows. After a bit, Claire announced she was ready for bed. Donna took her into the tent, and Claire went right to sleep. Donna beat me in a game of Continental before we headed into the tent ourselves.

When we moved to AZ we bought this perfect little "tent in a bag", which was perfect for two skinnier newlyweds. Now that there are four of us and we’re thicker, this tent was squished! It’s 6′ X 6′, and I quickly realized that I need a new tent. I didn’t sleep well and was up at 6AM. We cooked coffee in a french press and boiled water for oatmeal before deciding to hike down the creek a few miles. We packed up a backpack with jackets, an axe, tons of water, snacks, a compass, etc… and off we walked. I had Dante and Donna had Claire. We found a few people who pointed us towards a scenic walk south along the creek. The weather was beautiful even if they now called for rain, and after about 2 1/2 miles we climbed onto a huge rock to have a nice lunch.

One thing that was a bit of an event was that Claire would not go to the bathroom in "the hole" (outhouse), so we were a little concerned she wouldn’t "go" until we got home in the next day. After modeling what she needed to do, she finally went! It was really funny, but after that first time, for the rest of the trip she’d just drop trou wherever she was! Later on a trail, near a road, she just began pulling down her pants to pee!

After our nice lunch, we walked back up the creek, grabbed our gear and drove out toward the general store. The cashier pointed us up the Rim to Woods Canyon Lake, and she said they’d stocked the lake with trout. As we rolled up to the lake, the clouds rolled in. I tried to get Claire to fish some more, but she wanted nothing to do with it. Donna, on the other hand, saw some crayfish (the call ‘em crawdads here!) in the lake. She grabbed the net and began catching crayfish, which she wanted me to use to fish. We didn’t really catch anything and eventually it began to pour. My rain coat was in the tent back at camp, but I wanted to catch my kid a fish so I stood there fishing in the rain while my women waited under a pine tree.

We were all wet, and I didn’t bring Claire clean socks or panties! The nice woman in the store found Claire some socks in the back, and we bought some dry wood. Back at camp the rain had dissipated somewhat, so we began dinner while I dressed me and Claire in our rain suits. I mostly put my rain pants on so I could sit down! We threw some corn in the fire, roasted some dogs and sat soaking went and happy for a few hours. We were soaking wet, and that night the tent felt wetter than ever.

The next morning Donna was up packing at 6AM, and we were off to Phoenix at 7AM to get home in time for Claire’s first bowling league. 

Claire Kyrene Lanes, originally uploaded by nooccar.

A couple months ago I saw a Dora ball and other information at Kyrene Lanes where I bowl Sunday evenings. The worker told me they were starting a kid’s league on Sunday mornings. I immediately signed Claire up, and this Sunday we showed up for the league. We were the only ones there. The manager said 3 other teams signed up, but no one else showed. She told us that she was fine with us bowling with one team in our league, since Claire’d been looking forward to this for a few weeks. I wholeheartedly agreed, since she also gets a Dora ball and bag when she finishes her league in February.

This week it was just the two of us since Mama had homework. I had several instructions I had to give Claire at the same time. I had to pick and choose what to tell her and what to omit. A few of the biggest things were 1) stay behind the silver line when it wasn’t your turn, 2) keep your fingers away from the ball return. Both of these rules were broken. Two others needed to quickly be taught. 3) Use your fingers in the balls, and 4) you only get two turns before someone else gets to go (this confused her every time I got a strike).

Claire bowled a 77 & 61. Not too bad for her first time bowling.

A week ago our washer broke, and this Saturday after swim & gym we decided we needed to get one asap since no one wants to work without underwear. We headed off to Sears, saw a Kenmore we liked, and bought it. The lady said it would be delivered Sunday. Claire was asleep and we were hungry so we walked the mall towards Kona Grill. She immediately woke up and the three of us ate lunch.

In no way did we expect to stay at the mall very long, but suddenly we were in and out of stores. As I walked around, something odd happened. I felt like I was propelled backwards about 25 years to Century III Mall when I was a teen. The 80′s fashions were all around me. The kids were dressed like I dressed 25 years ago. The hightops were back. The neon clothes. I just wanted to know where the music is!! Where is it?

I was freaked out because suddenly the 80s were back. We went into Claire’s (get it, Claire’s?) and I asked the manager "When’d the 80′s get back?" Without missing a beat, she said "About 3 months ago". I asked where the music was, and she just shrugged with a knowing look.

About SIX HOURS later, we left the mall, and came back to the realization that it is 2008 and we’re old. Damn reality.

I couldn’t resist posting this pic of a cute baby giraffe!

This is wild. Talk about things coming around. I’m not going to run out to buy concert tickets, but there was a time in my life when my parents were building our grape arbor. I’d skate all night long with friends and my cousin, I had my first ear piercing, and New Kids on the Block were HOT! I loved listening, and, in secret, I still do. I love tossing on "Right Stuff" or singing in my fake high voice to "Didn’t I Blow Your Mind?". Now it’s been 15 years. YES, FIFTEEN YEARS. Yes, I am getting older, and they are back. I remember when Meatloaf returned. And now I am going to remember when NKOTB (as they were later called to look cooler) returned.  So here’s the video. Enjoy.

When I was young I remember spending long summer days at my cousin’s house. We’d run around out in the grass, sweating and playing, in and out of the house. The doors would be propped open and the parents would all be inside, or on the porch, just watching. The grandparents would be cooking, preparing food with one of their daughters, or just hanging out and smiling. Into the night we’d run around with baseball bats swatting lightning bugs and watching the stars high above our heads.

As we headed towards adult hood, I moved away to Arizona. Kimmy headed to California. Sean went to Ft Lauderdale. Meghan went west to Colorado. Brian got married and stayed put, while Jaime just stayed put.  The summer had ended.

Yesterday my wife and I took Claire over to Donna’s cousin’s house. We’d never been there. We shoved Claire out the back door into the fenced yard with play ground set, basketball hoop, and huge dirt pile with shovels, sifters, and buckets. She was joined by Mark & Sammie the 4 year old and 1 1/2 year old. Meredith, the almost 2 year old joined my just turned 2 year old. It was relatively warm, humid afternoon. Dziadziu Leo was cooking burgers and walking around, while Babci Marilyn sat inside or worked in the kitchen. Donna & I hung out, as did Markie and TJ when they came home.

And as the kids ran and played hard, and covered each other in dirt and sweat, I suddenly realized that summer wasn’t over. I just moved into fall as my own daughter entered her own summer.