Kimmy's Garden, Pt 1

            Today, felt like a San Diego day...cool temps, light breeze - if you closed your eyes, you could imagine the soft sound of the surf hitting the beach...
             We rolled out of bed and made it to Mass, joining Angie, who had somehow beat us there, but saved us plenty of room in her pew.  We went over to Viro's with Lupe, Manny and Monsi and Angie to and had yet another fantastic breakfast (and Erika made us all cappuccinos today!!) and a nice visit with Rosa, Vito and his Mom and Dad.  I know that Kimmy would have loved to see Vito's Mom and Dad, she always enjoyed their visits here to Tucson.
            With are bellies full, and Cody's energy at a peak, it was time to revisit the desert trails of Fantasy Island.  Our neighbor Brian wanted to go, which was great, because I knew he would take Cody through all of the technical parts and give him a good workout, while I stayed on the bunny path with Tonio and Autumn.  Here was the fun part...we surprised Autumn and gave her a mountain bike a week early for her birthday!

                    She was so surprised and excited!!!  It has 6 gears and great treads for the desert.  This mad a huge difference for her today.  However, I did fail to show her how the brakes worked, and the first time she tried to slow down by pedaling backwards, she got a great surprise!!  I was shouting 'use the right handbrake!  The right, not the left!!'  When she came to a stop, I explained that if she hit the left brake handle first, she could go soaring over the handle bars into the unforgiving jumping cholla!  She did fantastic!!

                     Both bambini wanted to stop and take a quick rest at Kimmy's bike and were both happy to see that it still looked great.  Here, Tonio takes a call on the bat phone.  This phone is just on a table out there in the middle of nowhere and someone drew a batman symbol on it.  The kids thought that was pretty funny...and cool.
                    Cody and Brian logged at least 14 miles of desert riding today, and yet, when we got home, Cody immediately grabbed his scooter and headed to our neighbor, Alex's, house to ride!!  Andrea dropped off Lexy, who had a contribution for Kimmy's garden that we are slowly reviving.

                    Portulacas!!  Kim loved the vibrant colors of the flowers on these beauties.  I've been watching and watching for the portulacas to return to the stores, checking Lowe's, Home Depot and Civano Nursery and asking each time.  I was told that they were late to return.  But Andrea found some today at Civano and the girls helped me beautify Kimmy's garden with them - they are perfect!

                                                The portulacas filled this pot nicely!!

                               Adding more depth and color to Kimmy's garden - with Jesus watching in the background...everything is filling in nicely!

                 You know, this was Kimmy's favorite time of year...she loved to remove all of the dead plants and freshen up her garden.  She would choose flowers that attracted hummingbirds.  And she would coordinate colors and heighths to fill in the spaces.  Then, she'd sit out there in the early morning and sip her chai tea enjoying it all...

Lexy and Autumn has a great time - ate chicken tacos, ice cream...had Hadley over and made music videos (which Lexy wanted me to post, but Autumn refused, citing her creative rights to the material..or something.).

And so, as we wind down, Autumn asked me 'so, did you have a good day?'...Yep.  It was a good day...thank you.

Love,

  Dave