Monsoon misery

Last year about this time, people warned me when we started entering "monsoon season." They told me that we would get more rain and it would be 'humid.' I was a little skeptical since I had just come from Lake County, Illinois, which gets its name from the hundreds of lakes and ponds that add a lot of humidity to the air in the summer. Last summer, I would see thunderclouds forming by the mountain range every afternoon, but no rain and not much humidity. Natives told me that the monsoons skipped us, though we did have a record number of consecutive heat advisory warnings. We didn't get so "lucky" this year. I walked out with Jacques at 7 a.m. on Saturday morning to 38% humidity and near 90 degree temperatures. I could barely breathe, though that might have been due to a lingering cold, too. Now for those of you who think I am a total wimp to complain about 38% being "high", I went to a Heat Index Calculator to see how humidity affects how we perceive the temperature:

* 90 Deg F with 60% humidity (typical Chicago day) feels like 100 Deg F.
* 95 Deg F with 75% humidity (typical St.Louis/Memphis day) feels like 128 Deg F
* 110 Deg F with 20% humidity (typical monsoon Phoenix weather) feels like 122 Deg F.
(source: http://www.crh.noaa.gov/jkl/?n=heat_index_calculator).

I had to look up the term "monsoon" to see where all this humidity is being created, since we do live in a desert. Turns out, the wind changes course in the summer and comes from the south and south east, bringing humid air from the Gulf of Mexico and the Gulf of California (The strip of water between the Baja peninsula and Mexico). So this humid air comes traipsing into our area, gets hit with the intense heat eminating from the desert and blasts up to higher altitudes, congregates among the mountains, along with any Phoenix resident with a summer home along the Mogollan rim and forms splendid thunderclouds tens of thousands of feet high. Occasionally, it will actually rain in Phoenix. My cousin, who grew up south of Tuscon, said that in her neck of the woods, it would rain every afternoon. However, they are at a slightly higher elevation. Most of the time, it rains in the mountains, which is still good for Phoenix. There are huge cisterns up in the mountains collecting rainwater and snowmelt for the valley. The water is directed into canals that circle and criss-cross the valley so that we can have green lawns, water fountains, and swimming pools in the desert. Of course, the water is practically undrinkable without filtration. Eric can tell you more about the canal system in one of his posts since he and Kyle went to tour the Salt River Project that manages water needs for Mesa.

In the "olden days", people used swamp coolers to keep their houses cool. Air would blow through a tank of water into the house and the extra humidity would cool the house down as the water vapor evaporated. Swamp coolers become useless during monsoon season, which is why I am glad that I have a real air conditioner. The current practice is for restaurants to have misters on the perimeter of their outdoor seating with some sort of overhang to keep the sun off of their guests. Outdoor malls have misters throughout the walkways pouring out mist to help keep people cool in the summer as they walk around in the daytime*. It uses the same concept as the swamp cooler and works okay in the early summer, before monsoon season.

* This is a theory and probably only happens in the morning. Most people I know, if they can help it, stay inside during the afternoon, including me.

So basically, I am telling you that Phoenix is no place to be in July or August and anyone with a summer home in the mountains or elsewhere in the country or a camper will flee town for higher elevations, which are a minimum of 2 hours away heading generally north. Here are some additional statistics:
> Our pool water was a balmy 94 deg this evening. It felt good compared to the 100+ temperature outside.
> At 10 p.m., it is still 95 deg F. Jacques does not get an evening walk until the sun sets.
> The low tonight is supposed to be 85 deg F.
> Tomorrow we are expected to experience a "cool spell" lasting a day in which the temperature is not expected to reach 110. Woo hoo!

The kids and I have an escape plan, too, which was hatched with my sister-in-law Michelle's help (Knitting in Transit). She is getting married at the end of July and all the family is gathering to celebrate. The kids and I are taking a four-week Tour de Midwest visiting family in Memphis for almost a week, stopping for a few days in the Chicago area to have reunions with family and friends and rest up for the next leg of the journey to the Twin Cities area, where Eric will join us for the wedding and some time with his side of the family before we head back to the Oven state, I mean the Grand Canyon state. By then, we should only have a few weeks of extreme heat before it starts cooling off in September. Thanks, Michelle!

Week 10: ZZZZZZZZZ

This week, I was hit with the cold that my children received. Looking back, it was starting to creep into my system on Sunday, but I was too much in denial to recognize it. Once again, my exercise has been minimal this week. as my cold symptoms ramped up, Eric left for three days to attend his Grandpa's funeral, which is never good for any kind of diet. I tend to get more stressed out, have less sleep and rely on food as my comfort. Seriously, in the past, I have consumed a half gallon of ice cream in two days when he has been gone. This time was not as bad, but I did overdo it on the sweets during a swim lesson party hosted by the kid's swim coach. She is a really nice woman who teaches lessons from her pool around the corner, making swim lessons at two different times tres convenient for me. There were a LOT of sweets and I was feeling tired and harassed by children who have been quick to take offense, slow to listen and slow to forgive. I blame it on the heat, which is another factor in weaknesses. I had to wait until the kids were awake in the mornings before I felt comfortable walking Jacques with Eric gone. By 7 a.m., it is in the 90's. By 8 a.m. the temperature usually is around 100. The heat sucks any energy you have, so most of my walks with Jacques have been very short and not very fast. The heat also creates cravings for cold, sweet dairy products, especially around 3 p.m. I have moved my orange-banana protein shake as a lunch meal, adding a little bit more ice to make it a smoothie rather than breakfast because it is so refreshing.

Good news:
* I didn't gain weight.
* I didn't really binge at any time. I am getting full with smaller portions.
* A pair of shorts that Eric bought for my birthday two years ago that I couldn't snap are now snug. I am wearing them this week to remind myself to bypass hunger a bit and leave the table not satisfied (as opposed to hungry).

The result for this week: no weight loss, 34 to go.

Week 9: Getting extra luggage from our flight

Apparently, everyone except Eric took on some extra, unwanted luggage on our six plus hour flights from Philadelphia to Phoenix: cold bugs. Three of the kids picked up sore throat/coughing bugs, an additional child withstood that attack only to succumb to 24 hour stomach flu and I picked up some kind of intestinal disorder bug that hung around for a week. The result is that my workout schedule involved walking the dog. Slowly. For short distances. Actually, our first day back, I managed to jog 1.5 miles with the dog before stomach issues eliminated workouts. I am having to walk the dog both times during the day because Eric aggravated some foot problems with all the walking we did while on vacation and is on crutches right now with doctor's orders to stay off the foot for a few days. While I wasn't eating much because of pains that would eventually send me to bed in a fetal position, I think the lack of exercise was also not great. I ended up sleeping a lot during the week and eating a B.R.A.T. diet (Bananas, Rice, Applesauce and Toast) to help my stomach recover. At this point, we are mostly fit as a fiddle. However, illness did not contribute to weight loss, which is okay anyway because illness-induced weight loss is always temporary.

Positives: My husband told me that my waist looked smaller. He is so great at encouraging me! When I returned to working out, I hadn't lost as much flexibility/endurance as I was afraid I had due to traveling/sickness.

The result for this week: no weight loss, 34 to go.

Week 8: An additional blessing

I knew something was up when I put on my dress for the wedding and it was loose, even when I sat down. The last time I wore it, it was not loose and when I sat down, I could hear the seams begging for mercy. Generally speaking, God gave me a lot of opportunity to not eat a lot of food, hardly eat any sweets and gave me LOTS of opportunity to exercise, even if it was not always aerobic exercise.

The result for the last two weeks: down 1 pounds total, 34 to go.

All glory to God, who, with his might power is able to do infinitely more than we can ask or think. Glory to Him in the church, in Christ Jesus through all generations, forever and ever. Amen!
Ephesians 3:20-21 (NLT).

New England Vacation Part 3: Remaining highlights

Here is a continuation of my highlights:

12. Best house tour: The Orchard House, childhood home of Louisa May Alcott. It was the best preserved house, followed closely by Paul Revere's house. You could tell the woman giving the tour was a really big fan of the Alcott family.

13. Biggest suprise: Elizabeth demonstrating a hammer she had made using a forked stick, a stone and long stems of grasses twined together. Thanks goes to "Sneaky Uses for Everyday Objects" for supplying her with that information. I think I am going to have to read that book as well as it's two follow-ups so that I can be more like "MacGuyver."

14. Best non-family interaction: Meeting up with old friends from Trinity Community Church.

15. Most informative NPS employee: This is a toss up between the woman who was hanging around the Old North Bridge in Concord, the man portraying Mr. Hartwell at Hartwell's tavern along the Paul Revere route and the gentleman at Valley Forge describing some of the issues surrounding the army and Von Stuben's work in making them a United States's Army rather than a collection of state militias. Very few NPS guides lacked knowledge or enthusiasm for their subject matter.

16. Worst tour: I am sorry to say that it is Constitution hall in Philadelphia. There is a tour every 15 minutes that takes you to three different rooms in Constitution hall. It is too rushed and with crowds, it is almost impossible to really look at the rooms.

17. Loudest moment: This is a toss up between the times the kids became embroiled in arguements and the time at Valley Forge when they shot off the cannon. Kyle, in particular has three volume levels--off, loud and screaming. I think this will change as he gets older, at least I hope so.

18. Most annoying situation: This is another toss up. On the one hand, the teenage couple trying to go up the extremely narrow staircase in the Bunker Hill memorial arm in arm as if they were attached at the hip was very annoying since there is only one staircase for both directions that barely allows two people to pass. They were obviously passing people who were going down as they were trying to reach the top. I asked them to please go single file and they obeyed immediately. I must have been using my "mother's voice" on them. On the other hand, there was the CNN extensive advertisement-disguised-as-a-news-program discussing the upcoming "Woman's Viagra" pill during breakfast at the Residence Inn while my family and I were trying to eat. I am hoping that the subject matter was so foreign to them that the program might as well have been spoken in a different language.

19. Best place to stay for a family of six: Hands down, Residence Inn is wonderful. Eric and I had a room with a door which allowed us to watch a movie or talk after putting the kids to bed (though they rarely fell asleep right away.) They have free breakfasts and offer dinner meals which are free, though they are not always the best tasting food. The Marlborough, MA Residence Inn is much better than the Cherry Hills, NJ Residence Inn.

20. Most beautiful sight: All of the green trees, green grass, and budding flowers that I don't see in Arizona. I love the mountains of Arizona and ruddy rock I see in different places, the saguaro cactus standing tall and the smoke ash trees which bloom purple in the spring. However, it was so wonderful to see tall trees full of big, green leaves and so many flowers that would wilt within hours of being transported to the desert. I also loved seeing the fireflies twinkling around fields at the wedding reception, which was held outdoors. I miss them.

21. The one thing I don't miss from the east: humidity. Our last day in New England was the hottest and muggiest of our vacation. I loved the cool 70's of Boston and having to deal with rain. However, take that same humidity level and up the temperature by twenty degrees and I consider it as uncomfortable as Arizona in the 100s. I like to have my sweat evaporate rather than cling to my arm like two teenagers going steady.

22. Best way to end a vacation: a wedding party celebrating a commitment two different people are making to love and honor each other above all others, allowing distant family members to gather together and catch up on their lives.

New England Vacation Part 2: Half of the highlights

Yesterday, I gave you a little summary of our trip to New England. For the next two days, I am listing highlights from our vacation in no particular order. In the spirit of "This is Spinal Tap", I am giving you an extra highlight a day because ten isn't quite enough.

1. Most like "The Amazing Race" moment: Running from one end of the Minneapolis airport to the other trying to catch our connecting flight to Philadelphia. Our flight from Phoenix to Minneapolis was delayed getting to the gate. The arriving gate was at the opposite corner of the Minneapolis airport from the departing gate and they were announcing the final boarding call for our Philadelphia flight as we emerged from the first plane. The kids were awesome, especially John. It helped my weight loss plan in two ways--I got exercise and my lunch ended up being a ciff bar and 1/3 of a snack case. Those snack cases are airway robbery but it is better than virtually nothing.

2. Funniest moment on our vacation that did not involve kids occured at Paul Revere's house. After slipping through a gaggle of teenagers hanging out in front of the gate, we had an interesting conversation with the ticket agent (TA).

Eric: Two adult tickets and four children's tickets, please.

TA: Sorry, no school groups allowed .

Me: We aren't a school group.

TA: Well they are all wearing the same colored T-shirt (same color, four
different designs with no school identification on any of them).

Me: That is a coincidence. We are a family, not a school. Four kids usually
does not make up a school, though these days it does seem to make a large
family. (thinking to myself-- now is NOT a good time to mention homeschooling).

TA: Oh, okay.

Note: There were probably about 20 school groups that day getting a tour of
the Boston Freedom trail, all wearing the same color shirt for each school with
the school logo prominently displayed. Paul Revere had sixteen children born to
two different wives . He probably wouldn't have been able to tour his own home
because he would have been mistaken for a school group.

3. Scariest moment of our vacation: Driving through the bad side of Camden, NJ when Eric made a wrong turn. Fortunately, it was daylight and we turned around pretty quickly and got back on the right road. If you ever end up in Camden, New Jersey, DON'T go down Federal Road.

4. Most enjoyable time with the kids: Walking along the path between Brook's house parking lot and Hartwell Tavern along the Paul Revere trail and watching our kids pretend to be Colonial Minutemen (or should it be Minutepersons since the girls were also participating?) shooting at the British regulars, which would be Eric and I.

5. Quotes from the kids:

* John, upon studying the Liberty Bell: "It looks like a real bell!"

* Jessi, after hours of seeing nothing but trees off of the interstate in Massachusettes on our way to Boston: "It's a good thing Massachusettes doesn't have many people. It sure makes traveling easier."

* Kyle: "Pow", "bang" and other various exploding noises. He is a man of few words, but many sounds. The most frequently repeated conversation with Kyle was the following: "I have to go to the bathroom!" Eric: "Why didn't you go to the bathroom five minutes ago before we left?"; Kyle: "I didn't have to THEN!" This conversation usually took place in the middle of nowhere with bathrooms at least a half hour away.

* Sad to say, I can't remember any particular memorable quotes from Elizabeth, but that could be because she is in a "face making" stage at this time. When she is upset, she will scowl and grimace and glower, sometimes combined with a "harumph". When she is excited, she will make all kinds of wonderful faces, usually involving smiles, and squeal and when I try to kiss or hug her, she will put on a look of mock horror and do her best to thwart me.

6. Biggest disappointment: Philadelphia Cheesesteak. Maybe my mistake was in choosing cheese whiz instead of provolone because a native told me the original was made with cheese whiz. Chicago's Italien Beef sandwhiches taste much better, IMHO.

7. Biggest frustration: This was a tie between driving through the outskirts of New York and discovering that some of the state parks in New Jersey and Philadelphia were closed on Monday. We had to drive along the outskirts of New York City to get from NJ to Plymoth, MA. It took us two hours to drive 15 miles even though we were miles from downtown. Part of the delay, however, was the two bathroom stops required by Kyle, who drank most of his water in the first hour of the drive. When we planned our trip we were originally going to do a driving tour on Sunday and walk around Philadelphia on Monday, but, after spending more than six hours in a plane the previous day, Eric and I thought the kids would want to walk instead of sit in a car, even for brief periods. Unfortunately, two of the parks I wanted to visit--Brandywine Battlefield and Washington Crossing Park--are closed on Mondays and Tuesdays due to budget cuts. Arizona is not the only state to be cutting its state parks budget, apparently.

8. Most enjoyable time with Eric: snuggling with him after putting the kids to bed and watching "Young Frankenstein" for the first time and having conversations with him that were uninterrupted by the kids.

9. Best night: Without a doubt, my cousin's wedding reception. It was great to see cousins and aunts and uncles I hadn't seen for a while, and get to know their spouses. I also enjoyed dancing with Eric, dancing/cuddling with John and dancing/wrestling with Kyle. I also liked dressing up.

10. Best dinner: Yao's Chinese food in Princeton, NJ. It has been way too long (14 months) since I have had good Chinese food. I couldn't stop eating. The food at the wedding was fabulous, but it wasn't Chinese food.

11. Traveling statistics: We flew a total of twelve hours to get to Philadelphia and back. We drove a little more than 1000 miles between Philadelphia and environs, Boston and environs, and driving to the reception and back, which was another 12 or so hours in the car. The kids watched six movies during the travel days--one for each plane we rode, one on the way to Boston and one returning from Boston. They bought a momentos in each city and three of the kids chose books as one of their momentos. The kids earned four Junior ranger badges in four national parks, with the exception of John, who didn't want to work for the Minuteman Badge. We probably averaged walking 2 miles a day in each city.

Eric has posted pictures on Facebook that I have shared, since we don't necessarily share Facebook friends. We will be updating those pictures periodically.

Our New England Vacation--part 1

We took a tour of Revolutionary War sites in Philadelphia and Boston, adding a couple of stops in places anchored in other times. We visited most of the historic places in Philadelphia one day, the USS New Jersey and the Aquarium next door on another day. We took a day to drive to Boston, taking a scenic route on the way there to stop at Plymoth. We walked the Freedom Trail in Boston, as well as a tour of MIT thanks to Eric's former co-worker, who is a professor there. The next day, we took Paul Revere's route backwards, which, coincidentally enough, is the path that the British regulars took after "the shot heard 'round the world" caused them to return to Boston after failing to secure Colonial munitions supplies and failing to arrest John Hancock and Samuel Adams. We returned to the Philadelphia area, stopping at Morristown, NJ, which was one of the wintering spots of Washington's Army after Valley Forge. The morning of the reception, we went to Valley Forge, met some old friends who moved to the area a couple years ago and then left to get ready to go to the reception. It was a wonderful trip and I will be sharing highlights from our vacation over the next few days.