A Good Home Leave Part II

The second half of home leave brought us to Springfield, Missouri where my in-laws could enjoy quality grandchild time. This was also their opportunity to show me their favorite parts of Missouri. But before we could kick back and relax in the "Queen City of the Ozarks," we took a road trip to St. Louis for a mix of birthday parties, mini family reunions, and good old American sight seeing. We got to enjoy the radiating humidity at the St. Louis Museum of Transportation and the muggy drip of the St. Louis Zoo. While they stole the kids for a day at the air conditioned Magic House, I treated myself to an oppressive steam bath by wandering the colonial streets of St. George. HUMID. But enjoyable too. 

Back home to Springfield, the kids left little time for relaxation. They were too excited to ride Grandpa's speed boat, work in his wood shop, and camp in the back yard. They were keyed up for Grandma's tea parties, movie dates and MANY trips to the parks. Deets and Margo obsessed over their Uncle Danny, eating their way through his cooking. 

After all these years, I finally had my in-laws to myself. Obviously I ached for Mark's hugs and company, but I never had quality one-on-one time with my in-laws.  It was a great chance to get to know them better and watch them shine in their hometown element.  I hope it was a good opportunity for them to know me better too. My time in Missouri left me wanting "just a few more days." I felt empty and anxious as the kids and I passed through airport security for our first of 3 legs over 48 hours to get to our new home. But I left feeling totally supported and loved despite the massive miles between us. That's what I call a good home leave. 

 

Transportation Museum, St. Louis MO
Knobs and dials too hot to touch. 

Doing science experiments with cousins at the hotel.

Sharing a St. Louis Zoo popsicle that matches the pond.

Gloriousness of boating in Table Mesa.

Trying not to pee my leggings.

The sweetness of reunions!

Playground master. 

I tried not to look up, fearing what was crawling up there.
I looked up.

My best friend putting me to work.

Two men and their rope.
Firefighting training center.

Taking lead for a fire rescue.

All day long. Seriously.

Beer with a view- at THE Bass Pro.

More please.

Just a small woodcarving habit.

 Outside Uncle Danny's restaurant.

And inside his bar. The pic is of Deets at 3 months.
This exact seat is reserved for him July 7, 2021.

Biding our last minutes few minutes together.

Chores on Douglas Mountain

Deets and Margo take their mountain chores seriously. They patrol the land looking for noxious weeds such as the Common Mullein, aka Miner's Toilet Paper. It's a very satisfying weed to pull out of the ground with it's shallow roots and soft, non-spiky texture.  They love watering the plants with Grandpa's super-soaker and hoisting up the newly filled bird seed feeders high into the trees. Almost immediately they get to watch giant blue jays gorge themselves. Margo and Deets helped with cleaning out my parents camper in exchange for taking naps/sleeping in it- they were both mortified to hear that we do not plan to use a camper when we move to Africa next month (as much as I LOVE sleeping on the ground...)

Probably the most entertaining chore of all is refilling the hummingbird feeders. My parents have several around the house and they go through about 3 gallons of boiled sugar water each week. With no wonder- at any time there are about 4 or 5 hummingbirds at each feeder, wings flapping up to 70x/sec and heart beats raging high as 1,260 beats/minute. Some are nice, others are bullies, dive bombing the others to gain position. Sometimes they dive bomb people too, so it's been an exercise in calmness and tranquility for me. I strongly dislike birds, but I have appreciated the challenge of capturing their movement mid-flight. 

Filling up the bird bath

Golden Gate Canyon State Park, Colorado

Years ago when I lived in Denver and obsessed with racking up miles on my bike, I would ride past Golden Gate Canyon State Park, 14 miles from the nearest city with only a cursory glance. Now back in Colorado without a bike but with bonus children, I decided to visit the park that I so often ignored. The park had something like 36 miles and 12 trails to pick from and I let the kids choose. They picked a 4 mile hike (out and back) along the Coyote Trail. We party crashed a group of birders, viewed a historic moonshine house, and the remnants of a liquor trolley that was quickly abandoned to nature after the repeal of prohibition. We hiked past cairn instagrammers and owners with cute-ugly dogs off leash. The children chased me down half the mountain with their proton-packs, obliterating the shadows and carrying on hefty conversations regarding their favorite meats to consume. Besides Margo accusing me of getting us lost when we completed our hike in the parking lot 200 feet further south than our start, attitudes were high all day. We even managed to stop off at the visitor center afterwards to feed the trout and terrorize the park employees. 

Abandoned space ship - per Deets

Blood red currants 

Seeing the forest through the trees.

Grays and Torreys 14,000 foot peaks in the background.

At the summit.

Margo's battle cry. 

Playing Ghostbusters.

Finding the Pirate's Booty

For months my dad planned to do a treasure hunt with Deets and Margo once they arrived. An ever meticulous man, he prepared the materials. The route. The execution. The booty. A few nights prior we sat down to sketch out the maps, and finalize them on properly burned parchment paper rolled into a scroll. He made a series of 4 maps that were hidden in the brush, paired with dinosaurs, clues to the next set. We set out on foot on a Sunday morning just as the sun rose over the ridge, undaunted by the scattered bleach white bones of animals past. We climbed past resting unicorns, defied the dragons and territorial snakes, and expertly maneuvered the Knee-Gash Narrows and ending up in a cave hidden from view by a tangle of agonizingly pokey dead tree branches. Deets and Margo discovered their booty here, a box full of fresh memories and those minted from my dad's childhood: Silly Putty, face paint, chocolate coins, Slinkies and Topps Ugly Stickers. Obviously the kids loved it and have since been scheming to go on another hunt. My favorite part was watching Deets go from being intimidated in reading maps, to independently navigating them- an obvious and meaningful life lesson. 

Discussion of navigating through Knee-Gash Narrows and past the rattle snake.

The walking stick- another wildly successful purchase.

Onto the next generation-
I saw this unicorn myself back in 1987.

The fiery dragon.

Not so fiery dragon.
Or maybe it's a cartoon dinosaur?

Leading with courage.

The big moment.

Carefully exiting the cave.

Reaping the rewards.

Charles Darwin Ecological Refuge

I love a good muddy hike but perhaps I should control myself when I have no belt and one pair of pants after packing out the apartment. Nevertheless, a tropical forest needed exploring and animals needed seeing so we set out to visit the Charles Darwin Ecological Refuge about 20 miles north of Recife. I couldn't tell you which exit we took or the dirt road we followed and Google maps was downright wrong- but we got there anyway. All thanks to an amazing and kind, new friend- the kind of friend you wish you'd met years before. She suggested this hike couple of weeks ago as a personal favorite venture of Pernambuco- so a reservation was set with my responsibility being to find 10 people to join us. From toddlers to teenagers to moms, our group was surprisingly cohesive and enthusiastic for something different than the beach. We toured the forest, listening to hidden birds and crickets, the chattering of kids, and one person who couldn't contain herself from blasting out "isn't this great?!" at every new sighting.

After the hike we ended up at their HQ, where the animals get rehabbed and eventually let back into the wild. Some were injured from forestal circumstances, others came from homes that survived on meals of rice and cereal. The armadillo, for example. He was so overweight he could not roll into a ball and needed nutritional intervention. Fat or not that little guy was strong, aggressively trying claw its way out. We pet lizards and crocodiles, cooed at the sloth and enjoyed the slithering creep of a python upon our necks. We met an animal resembling a possum sized hedgehog that was so strong it could pull down the 20 foot tall palm fronds and shred them to pieces with its claws. I loved it, and walking back to the car it really hit me: I would be leaving this tropical paradise in a matter of days. Am I really ready?

Fully grown teeny frog.

Morcego/Bat

Weird bug- the guide had no name for it.
No filter, it really was that pink and blue.

Hot dog, pepperoni, cheese, and cracker sandwich.
Gross. She made it, didn't eat it.

Iguana

Teju lizard

The orange-gold spot on his back indicates its a male.

Hey, so smiley!

This guy kept making fart noises.
I swear. 

Ouriço cacheiro/hedgehog
He did NOT like his picture taken.

Too bad.

Fat armadillo.

Deets getting very hands on.

Margo too...

...until we tried to get her to wear it.