Here and There

NORTH AND SOUTH: A bit of a departure in our normal routines this week. ... While CJ and Annabelle were  grinding through ground school in Seattle Wednesday morning, Christian and I were winging our way down to Las Vegas. 

While a trip to "Sin City" might be expected to be chock full o' gambling and glitz, our mission was to babysit a pair of delightful Dobermans, while their people (Rick and Rachel) head to Cooperstown to watch Edgar Martinez inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame. 

While we're down south doing doggy duty, Kennedy is up north with the kids, making sure they're fed, getting them to school and staying on top of their study schedule. In addition, I had a copy of the ground school textbook sent to Vegas so that we could help the kids study via phone between now and Monday, when their final exam will be given.

Christian and I flew out on Wednesday morning, after dropping the kids off at school. We breezed through the TSA lines in no time, only to learn our flight had been delayed - twice. We'd have 3.5 hours plus to wait at the airport. Sigh. At one point during the wait, I texted Annabelle and told her she needed to hurry up and get her pilot's license because we were tired of waiting for our commercial flight.

We finally got on board our plane at about 12:30.  For the first time ever, we flew on Spirit Airlines, a budget carrier. Our bird was an Airbus A320.

The flight was fine, with only a minor bit of turbulence in spots. 

Stepping out into the 105-degree heat was a bit of a shake up after leaving showery Seattle with temperatures in the 60s. 

About the time we reached the Dobermans, CJ and Annabelle were getting out of school, and, for the first time ever, they had to take a taxi, just the two of them, home. The night before we'd arranged for the ride by calling the Seattle Yellow Cab service (unfortunately Uber and Lyft don't transport minors). A little nervous about the kids climbing into a car with a stranger, as a safety measure, we'd used a Google Maps feature that lets you track other Google users, so that we could watch (on a map) their trip home.

The taxi arrived at 3:30 sharp to pick them up, which was great. We watched their progress via Google Maps, and what wasn't as great was the route the taxi driver took to get them home. Talk about circuitous. It was pretty darn obvious that the driver was trying to stretch it out to jack the fare. 

That said, they did arrive home in one (well, two) pieces, so that's $20 well spent. 

AROUND THE GROUNDS:  The summer months continue to produce some stunners around the MPA grounds. We just love this (thistle, I think) plant that pops up every July. It comes up from seemingly nothing, and grows to a height of 6-feet plus. 

There are definitely more blossoms this summer than there have been the past two Julys we've spent in our current location. 

Meanwhile, inside, we continue to enjoy the company of a couple of extra critters this summer: Stevie the gecko and Bexley the friendly feline.

And now for Mr. Meow Meow. ... 

I suppose it's only fair to give at least one of the long-term resident pets a shout out. Here's Laika, eagerly awaiting the kids' emergence from Aviation High School.