Zach’s Perspective
Four wheeling in the desert with the boys was so much freaking fun! Me and Kev drove out to the desert in his Jeep with Freddy and Teddy sitting in the back seat strapped into their boosters with the wind blowing through their hair. The rest of the crew followed us in Scotty’s minivan. The boys were beside themselves with excitement as they took it all in “there’s a giant cactus” Teddy yelled, followed by Freddy yelling, “Dad, Dad, I see a snake” and then, “Uncle Kevin look at that giant jack rabbit” and that was all riding down the highway before we even got to where we were going.
The smell of the desert brought me back to one of my first visits to Arizona when I fell out of the vehicle while we were four wheeling and dislocated my shoulder… I scared the living hell out of Seth that trip, but I also built bonds with his brothers that made me feel like part of the family. Kevin drove us out to one of his favorite remote spots in Apache Junction. It was perfect for four wheeling! Lots of open desert and a narrow goat trail winding up and around a little hill, not to mention desert wildlife… and yes plenty of snakes slithering around. It was a six year old boy’s freaking dream. After about forty minute drive, Kev pulled off the road and stopped, the other guys pulled next to us in the minivan, and we all got out and looked around. Kev, (baby) Scotty, and Maddy jumped in the Jeep and went out with the two boys first while the rest of us just leaned against the van and watched. For the next couple of hours, we took turns going out, well everybody but Freddy and Teddy, they stayed in their boosters the entire time bouncing around, laughing, and loving life. I took lots of pics, and videos; at one point I facetimed Max and Brody while Kev plowed through the desert so they could join the fun, the smile on Teddy’s face and his nonstop giggling told them all they needed to know.
We were all tired and dusty when we finally headed back to Kev and Randy’s for the party. Me, Kev, Maddy, Teddy, and Freddy rode in the Jeep and stopped off at Scotty and Brad’s house along the way to grab everybody’s swimsuits. When we walked in the house, we found Uncle Brad and Ali napping together on the couch… it was so damn cute; I snapped a quick pic before the boys ran in and woke them up. “Hey guys” said the sleepy Brad while he instinctively looked down to check on the little guy asleep on his chest. And mouthed the words, ‘I LOVE this kid.’ It was clear my brother in-law missed having little ones around.
We grabbed our suits and all jumped back into the vehicles. The boys rode to the party in the Jeep, they never wanted that day to end. Brad and I drove the rented minivan with Ali in the back (he passed out again as soon as we put him in his seat). Brad and I talked the whole way, I realized that the two of us had never really spent much one-on-one time together. He was a good guy and reminded me so much of his brother. By the time we got to Kev and Randy’s, the party was in full swing; I texted Seth to let him know we were all there. About a half hour later he and Mauricio showed up… as always, Mauricio made a dramatic entrance. He took over the speaker system by blaring ‘Good As Hell’ by Lizzo and announcing“Gentlemen, and ladylike gentlemen, I introduce to you, fresh from the salon, Princess Brooklyn and Princess Izzy!” Then, out strutted Brooklyn and Izzy working the cool deck around the pool like a catwalk. Oh my god, I could not stop smiling and laughing as my now long-haired daughter strutted around in a princess dress (as per usual) with rainbow colored, glitter enhanced fingernails & toenails like the tiny supermodel she believed she was. She freaking glowed, so did Brooklyn! All the overattentive gay men in their lives clapped and cheered the two girls on, even their brothers and cousins cheered from the pool.
I couldn’t help but think back to when we adopted Freddy and Izzy and the judge told us he was concerned that the kids would suffer because they didn’t have ‘the influence of a mother.’ To that I say bull shit. Every kid in that pool was surrounded by a shitload of people who loved them, protected them, gave them new life experiences, and helped them grow into confident, independent, happy, kind, well-adjusted human beings. None of those kids would EVER wonder if they were loved, they would damn well know it. I truly believed that every single person at the party would literally take a bullet for any one of those kids.
The house and yard were bubbling with chaos, all our Phoenix friends and family were there including Asher, Alejandro, and Trevor. Alejandro, ever the charmer, came over and shook my hand, Trevor did the same… we all completely ignored the fact that we ran into each other naked at The Resort the night before (oh yeah… and we saw the three of them going at it). Asher did his damnedest to avoid us and keep a low profile after the little show they put on at The Resort, but Princess Izzy was having none of that. While she was working the crowd, doing her hair toss, checking her nails and feeling good as hell, she spotted Asher sitting at one of the high-top tables around the pool and yelled at the top of her lungs, “ASSO!” Nothing else mattered to her at that moment, and she started to run towards him. The entire place was watching as she made a beeline for her friend.
“Izzy! NO RUNNING BY THE POOL” Seth yelled. The toddler listened but did her best to move quickly towards her friend (without getting in trouble). Asher jumped off their stool and knelt to greet the little girl who made him feel like the sun rose and set around them. They hugged each other tightly; I could see Asher’s emotions taking them over. He eased his grip, then leaned back and took in her princess-ness and fawned all over her… she ate it up his praise like it was a pile waffles buried in whipped cream and strawberries.
“You look beautiful” Asher said.
“Yeah. I do” she smiled back.
Eventually Asher made his way over to us, we did our best not to make it awkward for him. Finally, Seth just said, “I hope you guys had fun, that took a lot of courage to try something new like that.” I was surprised that Seth went that route, but I understood… he knew that was a major risk for Asher, and he didn’t want to scare him off new experiences and taking risks. Then Seth changed the subject to Izzy and her Princess Day with Auntie Mo, and how excited she was to see Asher. That was it, the incident at The Resort was over, and Asher’s world didn’t end; life went on. Eventually Alejandro and Trevor pulled Ash into a conversation with The A’s on the other side of the pool (there was little doubt what the A’s were thinking).
Mauricio was standing near us watching the five boys talking, “Auntie Mo better go over and protect the little cubs from the big bad wolves” he said before heading over to join the fivesome, Asher was in good hands.
Brian and Olivia were a little late to the party, Izzy spotted them as they walked through the French doors out to the pool area. “Unco Eli!” She yelled in excitement.
“That’s not Uncle Eli, that’s Uncle Brian” Brooklyn said.
“No. Dat Unco Eli” Izzy said running to her uncle. Well, everyone tried to convince her that it wasn’t Eli, but she was having none of it. Seth even got Eli on facetime to show her… that just convinced her was twins like Abbi and Olli. Of course, Eli and Brian encouraged that (Nothing’s more fun than messing with a little kid’s head). It wasn’t worth going to battle over… Eli and Brian were officially twins now.
Meanwhile, Seth and I had stuck up a conversation with several of the guys when someone sat on the foot of Seth’s lounge chair and said, “well, hello stranger.”
“CAM! ELLIOT!” Seth shouted with excitement as he jumped up to greet our old friends. “What the hell are you guys doing here?!”
“Elliot has an accounting nerd convention in Phoenix this week and I decided to come with him and visit my parents” Cam said. “Scotty saw my mom at the grocery store and told her you’d be here.” We kept in touch with all our college friends, but not like we used to. Ever since the kids came along, we’d been… well preoccupied.
“Whose who?” Elliot asked as he looked around at all the kids playing and splashing (or just being princesses). They had met everyone but Ali at Eli and Riley’s wedding last year, but they had all grown a lot since then.
Seth pointed all our kids out, Izzy and Brooklyn were still working the crowd showing off their nails, Ali was sitting with Uncle Brad eating cookies, and Freddy was playing volleyball in the pool with his uncles. Teddy had just gotten out of the pool and was running towards us shivering looking for a towel. “And THIS is Max and Brody’s Teddy” he said standing up to wrap the poor, freezing kid in a towel.
“Are Max and Brody here too?” Cam asked looking around.
“Nope” I injected. “Teddy needed a break from his baby sisters, so he came with us.”
“We heard about the twins!” Elliot said. “That’s so awesome! Do you have pics?”
Seth pulled out his phone, “Hey Teddy, this is Elliot and this is Cam, they used to live with us and your daddies in college. They were asking about your sisters, you wanna show them the pics?” Teddy was all over that. He dried off then scrolled through the pics on Seth’s phone telling the guys all about his sister Abbi and his sister Olli (that’s how he referred to them every time he said their names). A crowd gathered around Teddy, everyone was ooing and ahing over, the pics of the babies, but the stories their proud as hell older brother was telling were the true entertainment. I ended up Facetiming Brodes so he and Max could watch Teddy in action. When Teddy heard the guys laughing, he ran over to my phone and told them all about four wheeling in the desert… he was having so much fun. I was glad he wasn’t homesick.
After a few minutes he yelled, “Hey dads! Watch me swim” into the phone as he ran away and jumped back in the pool. Max and Brody stayed on the screen and talked with us for a while and of course everyone passed the phone around to see the babies.
“I wish I knew you guys were gonna be here, we could’ve made plans” Seth said, “I’m sorry I’ve been a shitty friend lately and haven’t called since Christmas.”
Elliot scoffed, “we’re just as bad, phones work both ways, and it’s not like you have nothing going on.” The four of us talked about college, Eric and Hunter had visited them a couple of weeks before and were doing well. Eric had fallen off the wagon about a year ago, but it was short lived. Hunter stood by him, he got sober again, and he’s been working the program.
“Shit, why didn’t anyone tell us?” Seth asked empathizing with his friends struggle.
“Because he was ashamed, and embarrassed… we just found out during their last visit. Hunter said that Brody was the only one who knew, he called Eric every morning trying to keep him sober” Cam replied. That sounded like Brodes, there for everyone, anytime, and never claiming credit. I felt bad that I wasn’t there for Eric, but relieved that Brody was. “He’s doing great now, though.”
We talked for a long time and as the guys were getting ready to leave, Elliot suggested, “Hey, We’re only here until Wednesday and my schedule is booked solid. but I have free time after 7:00 on Tuesday. You guys up for dinner?”
Seth rolled his eyes, “We got the kids. They eat earlier and that’s about bedtime.”
“Go” Brad said eavesdropping from a couple of chairs away. “We’re off all week, we can handle the kids.”
“You already took them last night” Seth said to his brother who was sitting there with the cookie-covered Ali on his lap.
“And had a freaking blast. Just go” Scotty chimed in. We took the guys up on the invite and made plans before they left.
We let the kids play in the pool a little longer before Kevin dumped the low country boil onto the brown paper he had unrolled over the kitchen island. We all picked out shrimp, sausage, potatoes, ears of corn and gorged ourselves on it. After dinner Kev and Randy made a bonfire out in the yard, the kids made s’mores and the adults kept talking and taking in the amazing view of the desert hills. It was a perfect homecoming celebration for Seth and our family. That night in bed, just as we were about to fall asleep spooning, Seth whispered, “I love our life, but I wish we all lived closer.” I had to agree.
I’m not sure how long I was asleep when I woke up to find I was in bed alone. The house was dark and quiet as I wandered around looking for my husband. I peeked into Maddox’s room to see him in one bunk and Ali in the other, both dead to the world. Then I peeked in the girls room down the hall where Brooklyn and Izzy were in dreamland, I walked past the living room to see Brad and Scotty’s door was closed, I checked in on Teddy and Freddy sleeping on air mattresses in the little office… No Seth anywhere. I looked out through the French doors in the family room and saw him swimming in the pool under the moonlight. I quietly opened the doors and went outside and sat in a chair at the shallow end of the pool. The thing about the desert winter is that when the sun went down it took the warmth with it. During the days it was in the 70’s, but at night it was barely 50 degrees. Seth kept swimming laps, it was a good five minutes before he came to the end of the pool and rested his arms on the edge, taking a break. God that man was hot! The moonlight reflected off his wet, dripping shoulders and his defined biceps as he shook the water from his hair. He opened his eyes to see me sitting there watching him. “Hey, did I wake you up?” He asked with a smile.
“I woke up and saw you were gone so I went looking for you. What are you doing up?”
“Nothing. I couldn’t sleep and decided to take a quiet dip in the dark… I can’t do that at home” he said with a grin as he ran his hands through his hair pushing out the excess water. He hoisted himself out of the pool… it was then that I realized he was skinny dipping. His naked body moved towards my chair and he kissed me, dripping water all over my sweats. I playfully reached for his soaking cock and fondled him.
I laughed out loud, “oh my god, you shrunk!”
“Shut up, it’s cold out here” Seth said defending his tiny tool. “Warm it up” he teased with a shiver in his voice. “Or you could strip and get in the water with me, it’s warmer in there.”
“Hell no, what if someone wakes up?” I whispered while Seth pulled me up from the chair and tugged at the hem of my hoodie trying to get it over my head. I pulled it back down trying to keep it on, so instead, he grabbed for the drawstring of my sweatpants. I was usually the instigator, but I found it hot as fuck when Seth lit the spark… he was on his home turf and feeling cocky. We wrestled back and forth as he tried to strip me and I tried to keep my clothes on, our struggle got more serious and we were right at the edge of the pool when that horny little bastard pushed me and we both tumbled in with a splash… and yeah, I was still fully clothed. “Dammit, Seth” I scoffed as I lifted my head out of the water.
Seth was laughing as he went back to trying to get me naked. Okay… taking wet clothes off under water is not fun! It took a few minutes and a lot of effort but eventually my sweats were in a wet, steaming pile by the side of the pool, and I was in the water naked with Seth. He came over and pushed me back so I was leaning against the side of the pool, then kissed me. I resisted at first but that was just a waste of fucking time, we both knew this was going to happen. Eventually we were standing in the shallow end full on making out with our hands groping each other’s naked bodies underneath the water. Seth’s hands found their way to my ass and he pulled my pelvis to his, smashing our cold shrunken bits together. My body was warm under the water, but my face was cold in the night, desert, air; my groin pressed against Seth’s helped warm it up… and some other parts too. After we kissed a while, Seth slid down my body and under the water. My face cold in the air, my body warm under the water, and now my manhood was hot in Seth’s mouth. Holy fuck, if you’ve never had an underwater BJ, I highly recommend you work on that. I wasn’t sure what to do with my hands, my instinct was to push down on his head and fuck his face, but at the same time I didn’t want to drown the most important man in my life, so I just leaned against the side of the pool and enjoyed it. Seth came up for air, the water dripping from his upper body as we kissed some more. He inched our bodies to the left a little, “What are you doing?” I asked in a whispered snicker.
“Wait for it” Seth whispered back with an impish grin. We moved another inch or two when suddenly, this amazing sensation ripped through my asshole.
“Holy fuck” I exclaimed in a whisper as Seth put a hand behind my head and pulled my face tightly to his and shoved his tongue down my throat while the sensation at my hole got more intense. He had pushed me up against the pool jet and it was virtually rimming my hole while his tongue probed my mouth. We made out with our arms wrapped around each other until Seth disappeared underwater again. Seth’s hot mouth engulphed my hardness while the spinning jet continued to lap and probe my hole like a hard, pulsating, tongue. Holy, fucking, shit I cannot tell you how intense it was, all I know is that I was losing myself to the ecstatic pleasure. Seth came up for air several times, each time he did his tongue made a trail from my cock to my lips… one continuous lick adding to all the new sensations and sending me into oblivion. On his last trip down I reached nirvana. My balls rode up into me as I shot rope after rope of hot cum down Seth’s throat. My hands held his head under water as he gulped down my seed, how the hell he didn’t drown is beyond me. His insides were flooded with my cum while his body was immersed in the warm pool water.
I had given in to the incredible climax bursting below water level and had forgotten that Seth couldn’t breathe. He, however, did NOT forget as he struggled against my hands to free himself from an imminent watery grave. He popped out of the water panting, and gasping, and whispered (loudly), “were you trying to fucking drown me?!” The that evil grin came back to his reddish/blue face and he shoved his tongue back down my throat giving me a tasted of my own cum.
“Holy fuck” I panted, “that was so damn intense.”
“Yeah, it was” he growled. Now let’s go to our room so you can return the favor. We both hopped out of the pool with our boners jutting in front of us. Seth picked up the towel he had brought out for himself and we dried off together before gathering out clothes. I had to wring mine out and ended up just leaving them outside and wearing the towel back to our room.
Once we were back in our bed, Seth laid back with his hands behind his head as I devoured his prick with tenacity of a charging javelina who had just sniffed out its prey. I didn’t stop until he fed me his cactus juice. It was a short-lived adventure but very fruitful. The night ended in spooning.
The next morning, we were the first ones up and rolling. I got the kids up and dressed while Seth made breakfast with a smile on his face and a whistle on his lips. Maddy and Brook were on spring break too, so Scotty and Brad had taken the week off. The ten of us ate breakfast, then got into the two minivans and were off to The Phoenix Zoo. Seth and Brad took the bigger kids in our rental while me and Scotty traveled with Ali and Izzy. Izzy wanted to go with Brook, but I think Brook deserved a little Izzy break… it’s hard work being worshipped by your little cousin 24/7 (poor Brooklyn).
At the Zoo, Izzy and Ali hung out in the double stroller while Maddy and Brooklyn showed Teddy and Freddy around “their zoo.” Ali was a brave little guy, but the Africa Trail was a bit much for our tiny ball of courage, the roar of the lions put a pout on his lips making Izzy laugh at her brother. “Dat just a big kitty. It okay.” Okay, so Izzy laughing in the face of fear made up for Ali’s tears. I watched the two of them as they explored the zoo together and was amazed at how Izzy was looking out for him and protecting him this whole trip. At home, she was a lovable pain in the ass bugging the hell out of her siblings and bossing Ali around, but on vacation she was Ali’s guide to the new world; she treated him the way Freddy treated her… he was her brother.
After a long day at the zoo, we went back to the house where the little ones napped and the older kids played in the pool. We ended our day by meeting Kev and his family at Party Jungle, an indoor amusement park. Uncle Scotty and Uncle Brad rode the Monkey Mayhem ride about a million times with Izzy and Ali while the rest of us played Laser Tag. OMG, Teddy, and Freddy took it so seriously, it was kids against dads… I had never seen those two so serious about anything… um the dads lost.
Our first day of vacation was all about travel and ended with some private time at The Resort for me & Seth. Day two was about reconnecting with family and friends. Day three was all about the kids.
So far, our family a’cation had been awesome!
To be continued…
