A NEW TRENCH & BALLET

Now, that's quite a combination for a blog post.  Digging ditches with a backhoe, and the classical human art form of Ballet.  Let me explain......... Our day started with doing all of the necessary things required, in order to get a 7 year old ready for the school day.  I was up at 4am, Patty at 5am, and it was non-stop until we all piled into the truck for the 35 minute drive to Laila's private school.

After dropping Laila off at school, we stopped at the Civano Nursery, getting a few ideas for future landscaping  at the Chance Ranch.  Once we were back home, I fired up the tractor, and dug another trench for irrigation, and water pipes.  This one takes water out to the island in the middle of the circular driveway.  Right now that area is all cactus and desert plants, but eventually, there's going to be other vegetation that will require a little more water than what Mother Nature provides.

About mid day, the cement contractor unloaded his backhoe for the early, this morning start of excavation for the the new garage.  I took the picture to show the difference in size between a full size backhoe, and my compact Kubota.  

With my new landscaping project completed, we were back at Laila's school when she got out of class at 2:30pm.  From there, we drove directly to Laila's ballet dance academy, where we discovered that the 3pm start time that we had been told was incorrect.  Her one hour ballet instruction actually started at 3:30pm.  I won't mention any names Dad, as Grandpa and Laila passed the extra half hour, playing a game of "I see something you don't see".

When Laila's class started at 3:30, we enjoyed watching Laila and the other 2 girls go through all kinds of movements, related to Ballet Dancing.  Some one's attention could be a little more focused, but in her defense, all 3 girls had several periods of distraction.

At 4:30, we headed home, with a quick stop at the grocery store.  Grandpa BBQ'd some burgers, and by the time Laila had done her homework, read to Grandma for about 15 minutes, and had her bath, we hit the 7pm bedtime benchmark, right on time.  In the motor home, we're not quite ready for bed at 7, so we put Laila in our bed for a couple of hours, then move her to the sofa when we are ready to call it a day.

Yes, Patty and I have been through all of this. x 3 boys, many years ago.  It's easy to forget how much is involved in the raising of children, and how centered most everything is around their world.  The difference now, is that we get to temporarily devote our energy to this precious little girl, and cherish every moment of  the time we get to spend with her.  When it's time for her to return to Mom & Dad, it's time for us to take a deep breath, and recharge our batteries for the next visit.