Arches, DUI's, and sweet little girls

 After two weeks on the Arctic Slope I am finally home. I had two shows in Moab this weekend so Andria and I decided that we would go as a family.  The weather in  Moab is perfect this time of year and I was ready for a break from the cold. 

    The show on Friday night was great but it was also very long and after playing for four hours I was ready for some sleep. It was about two thirty in the morning when I finally walked up to the cabin door. Andria was standing up rocking Amelia back and forth and as soon as I walked in, she tossed Amelia into my arms and said, “she’s all yours.”  We tried everything to get her to sleep but to nothing was working. I even tried to drive her around in the car for an hour and a half. Granted forty five minutes of that was spent taking a DUI test on Moab Main Street because my “license plate light plate was out “the cop smelled alcohol in the car.” I imagine I took the best road side test of all time. No matter how hard he tried my eyes stayed on that little black pen that he moved in vertical and horizontal lines for fifteen minutes while Amelia was crying in the car. He finally believed that I was telling the truth when I blew point .00000000. I guess his sense of smell was a little off that night. Anyway when we got back to the cabin Amelia was still wide eyed and bushy tailed. I finally just decided to let her wear herself out I put on the bed. She started moving around like crazy and it cracked me up. When Amelia heard me laugh, she laughed and when Andria heard Amelia laugh, Andria started laughing. So our little Lewis Family had a synergistic laugh-a-thon at four in the morning.

     The next day we went to Arches National Park and hiked up to Delicate Arch. I carried Amelia in the Baby Bjorn, Everybody on the trail loved Amelia. We are learning that she really likes to be outdoors and she smiles more then any kid I have ever known. Her smile really is infectious. She makes others happy just by looking at them. When we went out to eat later that night there were all kinds of people that remembered her from the trail. We bought her a little baseball cap and the mental picture of her crawling around on the sandstone with the big red arch behind her will forever be a cherished memory.

     I love having a family. Amelia is a well traveled kid. She has been on a lot of road trips with me when I have played in out of state shows. Bur this trip was different. Amelia seems so much older and is developing her own little personality. She is us getting bigger and able to do more things. She interacts with people and can move around. She dances, well, jerks around a lot when music comes on the radio, she even gets up on her tiptoes {this action looks a lot like a cat arching it’s back.}  I know she wont remember any of this when she is older but this weekend was really special for me and Andria. I suppose this weekend will count as the first of many family vacations.