Daddy and Tatum go out on most Thursday nights when I have my girl’s group, REACH. I adore my book group and the girls in it. They are my tribe!
BUT, the other serendipity is Tatum and Daddy get to go out to dinner and eat whatever she wants! That is Tot’s favorite part; well, actually, her favorite part is hanging with the Daddy. He adores her, and it’s no secret I do too.
This particular night was Wildflower and it was quite cold. Daddy, being the chivalrous type, lent her his jacket. All good and all protected. That is what Daddy’s do.
She is also glowing.
The next day, Daddy had to pick up Tot from school since I had a commitment at GCU. He brought her home quickly because his job is very demanding right now. As he conference called, she worked with Coopy in the office. I love how Cooper watches over everything this we do.
Our living room has a special message. It’s symbolic of God speaking to us! All you have to do is be reminded to “Look UP!” Now, when you look up, you should know something.
I LOVE YOU.
This is what God tells us every day and we don’t even need to look up. However, it is His awesomeness that we are looking up at.
Or in this case…..
A red balloon. Yep, Like I said, our living room has symbolic messages.
This balloon did not want to stick around. Nope, it tried to escape.
Into yonder.
And it did not get too far. But it’s message is clear.
So, look up! And be reminded by this red balloon that….
We arrived home for Kartchner Caverns the morning of Valentine’s Day, so it was a challenge to get into the spirit. The focus was to unpack and to launder. Not too romantic.
But….again my honey did not disappoint. Neither did Tot, and I had a few goodies up my sleeve.
First, we, as a family, usually meet to go over our gratitudes for the day. At this time, Tatum had prepared a little song for us. She worked on it outside and carried it in the BBQ pail. Very inventive!
Now, here we go, Daddy first. An I Love You notecard and a quick little tune.
Now, my turn!~
Cooper is waiting for his. And remember the Tot and her singing?
Yes, she sings her emotions. She sings when she wants to communicate something to us. She sings when she wants to get out her frustrations, emotions, or thoughts. It is her form of communication. (along with drawing). And so this is how she told us Happy Valentine’s Day.
Now, I gave my honeys cards. (and of course a nice dinner of BBQ chicken and delicata squash ….and a glorious salad!)
I wanted Tot to have some new shoes too since she does put the spring in my step as I mentioned in her card (besides floating my boat!)
And of course….
Now, my real honey…..
He does hold the key to my heart.
And I wish I had more goodies for him, but I did leave love notes all over the place for the HHH.
Right before dinner, Daddy came out of the office. ……carrying….
Lovebug!! I love this!
The amazing kiddo!
She loves it, and I love him for spoiling her with this love! Now, me? WHOA…He knows I love flowers and birds. A bird puzzle does the trick. I cannot wait to dive in and explore them. I mean the puzzle…heehee
I saved the card to read with him later. He truly makes me feel like a queen.
I love us.
What a great end to a fun weekend. Our anniversary is on Tuesday (2 days). More love and celebration to come.
We got spoiled last night. Jeff, a friend of ours and past neighbor, treated us at his restaurant Sushi Ko. It happened to be the night before our two year anniversary, so it was a double blessing.
He invited us to dinner at his restaurant his treat. WOW!
Here is Jeff!
We sat down and he immediately brought us some beverages and monstrous menus. The first course was just some rolls and sashimi. Tuna, salmon, and rolls. Tatum was not afraid to try it all. In fact, for her entree, she did not want the “kids” meal of chicken teriyaki, but instead, a rainbow roll. How beautiful is this!
Crab and avocado stuffed each roll. You had salmon, avocado, yellowtail, ahi and shrimp. I mean..cmon!! Delish!
Doug ordered some spicy jalapeño rolls. Fish eggs on the outside. Sounds weird but actually delightful. We also had ahi seared on top of salad.
I gobbled up all the pickled ginger. I could eat piles of that.
We thank you Jeff. That was such a treat, and you spoiled us!
We are on our sixth Hay Arizona Adventure (HAA), and it did not disappoint.
First, of course, Cooper is not quite sure what all the ruckus is. He knows that we are packing, but really, he just wants to play ball.
And if he can’t play ball, he needs to be right in the middle of what we seem to be doing. Right now, we are packing snacks. Can I have one too?
Now, we are ready to drop off Cooper as we head out. Oh, such a sweet sorrow.
I have to give Coopy one last hug. I’ll miss the little guy!
Now, Daddy, great job packing the car. We are so excited for our drive because we can get Circle K cinnamon coffee.
We arrived a Kartchner around lunch time (it’s about 1 hour south of Tucson).
I have been wanting to check out these caves for a year or so It’s a hidden treasure we have in Arizona.
Our tour began at 1:45, and with Covid, there were only about 7 of us; a nice intimate group. We would learn about in 1974 how Gary (not sure of his last name) discovered these caves in college. He brought in his friend Randy, and convinced a science teacher, James Kartchner, to purchase this area. Now, there are miracles under our ground which are living rock formations. We couldn’t bring our cameras with us, but I do have a few pics.
We learned about soda straw rocks which grow at about an inch every 1000 years.
The massive amount of living rock underground is truly miraculous.
The white in the rock is calcium and the red is bits of iron. The humidity in the cave is about 95% which makes the growth possible. We learned that the stalactite (are hanging from above) and stalagmites (are growing erect from the ground). We also learned that the bats come to live in the cave when it is warmer, so there were none in at this time. They will come in and have their babies in the summer months.
Tatum, Doug, and I hung on every word of our 90-minute tour! The beauty of God’s creation. We arrived at our hotel, Start Pass Golf Suites, in Tucson later on that day.
We were ready to just chill in our room a bit, but alas…our room was not really a sweet suite. It was more sour, but we made the best of it.
After a good Chipotle take out dinner and some fun convo, we fell asleep fast! When we woke up in the morning, the gym was closed, so we walked up the hill and discovered a hiking trail!
We brought our camera with us, and right there, a Gila woodpecker greeted us in the tree.
Ok, now we are ready!
The views were glorious.
And the saguaros were plenty.
Even though we live in the desert, it still is beautiful to be in it. God’s creation is all around is. We even spotted a pack of coyotes traveling down the hill. They were hunting for some wabbits (or roadrunners) I’m pretty sure.
Tot enjoyed exploring all the wonders.
When we got back, we got ready to explore Tucson. The library was closed, but we found it to be quite pretty.
Later, we peaked in a room outside the art museum, and found it was a little hidden gem.
This is the kind of place that makes water look pretty. So all we got was a cappucino and a fruit cup. With whip of course.
But they did have this board game. I was so glad because Tot has been asking for it, and now we have cured her of this want.
The rest of the day, we swam, ate, and chilled. It was a perfect end to our Tucson HAA adventure.
At night, we had more take out. Ugh…it’s the best we could do. BUT, we played a game, talked riddles and jokes and laughed. Did this mean there were no hiccups? Well, The thing about the Tot? She sings her emotions. She sings when she wants to communicate something to us. She sings when she wants to get out her frustrations, emotions, or thoughts. It is her form of communication. So, she wanted to apologize and justify some unlovely behavior. And she did. Eloquently in song. I love her heart.
We left early the next morning to get the Coopy and celebrate Valentine’s Day. More to come.
I love my Hay family. Thank you for the adventure. May they continue!
