Memorial Day

It wasn't my turn to have the girls for Memorial Day, but it kinda worked out that way.





Mo got it in her head that it was time to go to Daddy's, and there was nothing to be done. It was the only thing that made her happy. Luckily, the Artist Formerly Known as Frau Lobster doesn't get caught up in this somehow meaning she prefers me.





Because she doesn't. She prefers rhythm and regularity. If I show up at my Ex's house, no matter why or when, Mo is ready to get in my car. That's what you do. When her Mom shows up at my house to pick the girls up, Mo drops whatever she's doing and bolts for the door. If her Mom didn't prompt her to say goodbye, it wouldn't happen.





And she seems to have decided that it was the weekend and she should be at Dad's.



The first time this happened was only a couple months into the divorce and we didn't know if it was okay to give in to Autism or not. And that time was flat out shocking to me because in the latter years of my marriage, I'd gotten to be a very remote and stormy sort of father figure. Those first weekends and evenings where I had the girls on my own, Mo looked at me with what can only be interpreted as skepticism.





'You're going to take care of us?'





This time it didn't shock me, except that she's done okay for the most part with the other 'fourth' weekends. Whatever, it's not like my kids are ever not welcome at my house. I wouldn't even keep this house if it wasn't for them. But wherever I'm home, they're home as far as I'm concerned.






Memorial Day. Well, nobody I'm related to is buried here. A couple of friends, but I'm not sure I could find their graves.

So we went to 18th and Vine. To the Bird Memorial. What better memorial to visit?

Em was excited to go at first, then got a pickle up her but when we got there.

I had some ground buffalo I bought at the Whole Paycheck market, and I fired up the grill for lunch today. Even had rice cheese to melt onto the patties. And this time, I remembered to use a smaller measure. Instead of making 1-1/2 pounds into four patties, I made 2 pounds into eleven.

Then we hit the pool.

Last year, I bought a pool membership because Mo is a fish. And it helps me keep from being even bigger and fatter. At the end of the summer, though, my membership didn't look like that great a bargain. The season is so short, and individual admissions were so cheap, I figured I'd about broken even.





This year, they fixed that. They built a huge aquatic center and doubled the cost of the membership. And more than doubled those single admissions. $135 for the year is a lot, but at $15 per trip without a membership, I'll only have to take the honyocks once a week to come out ahead. It's still more than I can really afford, but I'll figure it out. I'll eat Ramen twice was often or something, because this can't 'not' happen.

And wow. They really did it right when they did this pool expansion.

The old pool is still there, and it was enough to keep me and my kids busy the whole summer last year, but ti's now like 1/4 of facility. Mo went off the diving board into the deep end once, and other than that, we didn't use the original 'pool' at all.



We were too busy with the lazy river and the waterslides.

The river is a mote with a fairly stiff current. They require you to be on an inner tube, but they also provide tubes. Mo didn't want to stay on one, that turned out to be an issue, but hey.

She did love the river when she would just sit back and chill. The problem was when she'd get excited and squirm out. Then she couldn't get back on the donut.

There are three slides. The yellow is for tubes only, and they do have two-person tubes, so me and Mo went down it. And lost it on the final turn, ending up face down and off the tube in the end.

The blue tube is open on top and it's the slowest. Mo wanted to stop on it, and while this is against the rules, it's physically possible. The white tube is closed 360, and it's wicked fast. Spiderman couldn't stop on it. It's flat-out scary.



The girls didn't want to leave. Including Em, who's been trying to make bargains with me along the lines of, 'Dad, we really aren't going to the pool so much this year, right?'

She can poo the Charlie Parker memorial, but she can't deny the power of water slides and a lazy river.



They both agreed that Daddy was messed up in the head when he said it was time to go.