June 15th through September 30th (so, the whole summer) is the Valley area's Monsoon Season. This means dust storms, out-of-nowhere clouds, crazy rains, occasional tornados and flash flooding. Oh, and humidity. So when you hear the "it's a dry heat" argument, just know: it's a bunch of bunk during much of the summer. While the rain is actually falling, the cooler temps are wonderful, but when it stops and the heat creeps back up, look out.
Heat + humidity aside.... We love it. We love rain like an itch loves a scratch. If you ask me now, I'll say I want clouds for my birthday. The wet forecasts are the days we PLAN to be outside, contrary to the rest of the country!
Caught this 6AM, 70-degree thunderstorm from our front porch over my coffee cup before the guys were up. So lovely.
The rain returned that afternoon, and Nolan had a ball running around in it!
The clouds make for beautiful sights the sun sets on those evenings, and I have been happy to catch a few in photos. No filter on any of these.
This panoramic shot (standing on our balcony) shows a thunderstorm to the far west, a dust storm to the north, and clearer skies to the east. Crazy.
I'll probably be putting sky view shots on this blog forever!
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Mikel and I enjoyed a long-anticipated date night a few weeks ago to a restaurant called Chelsea's Kitchen. Several people have told us about it, and they all say you really have to sit outdoors on the patio. In the summer, this doesn't sound very appealing, but thanks to a monsoon rolling through as we arrived, it was actually fabulous!
It continued to a sprinkle a bit through dinner, but because we were seated under a huge umbrella, we stayed perfectly dry.
A light drizzle. We even opted to go to a later movie than we had planned, just so we could sit there a bit longer with our dessert and coffee. It was really special.
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Very sadly, our beautiful mesquite shade tree completely fell apart in a recent string of storms. My grief over this is probably disproportionate to the actual situation, but you have to understand -- that thing was our only shade tree.
Before:
Oh dear..... :
What a mess. ...Thankfully it wasn't our huge saguaro cactus!
After. Pitiful. :(
Our landscaper Moises says to give it 1-2 years to grow back. I think that sounds conservative, but hope he's right. Boo.
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On those rainy (or -- let's be honest -- sunny) days, here's what we're doing lately to stay entertained at home:
All things trains, planes, cars, trucks, buses and 'Things That Go' are the craze.
The salad spinner usually buys me at least a few minutes.
We read a lot of books. This is our usual scene (don't miss Khaki on the lap and Scarlett as a neck pillow). Nolan's favorites are Little Pea and my old children's Bible, which he calls Jesus Loves Me ("DeeDah Mee Mee").
We do a lot of high chair time...
I made our first homemade batches of play-doh (so easy!)
We hone our inner Joni Erickson Tada.
We snack. Nolan will eat anything that can be dipped in maple syrup, and some days (especially when groceries are running low), I give in.
Speaking of giving in, he may get to watch a bit of Thomas or Curious George...
The pups don't stay out for long... This is their usual spot, right by the back door, keeping an eye on "their" yard.
The Barnes and Noble 1.5 mi from us has a great children's area, including a train table. We take advantage regularly.
Recently, I also grabbed a copy of "Interrupted" by Jen Hatmaker. Her book "7" kind of wrecked my thought life for a while (still is... in a mostly good way), so I'm sure there will be more thoughts on this book coming down the pipes.
Super thankful that my rock solid Roch girlfriends are reading this at the same time and exchanging musings back and forth because there are a lot of them floating around. So wish we could be sitting around someone's living room instead of emailing, but I'll take it.
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111 days to the first day of winter.
We can make it.
