Being Neighborly

When Damon and I lived in Orange County, we barely knew our neighbors...just the chatty guy next door with a much talked about but never-seen mother (very Norman Bates).  In New Jersey, we were immersed in the East Coast neighborhood culture, even sharing a deck with the people next door, and we became very dear friends with some of our neighbors.  I've embraced the neighborly behaviors here in Arizona, and I have gotten to know several neighbors quite well through walking Alstott or playing with Alexa.  Damon jokes that I will be running for office of our Association at the next election.

Our neighbors were wonderful during the ordeal with Granty, and as a result, I have gotten to know many of them even better (once again, good things happen because of Granty).  On Saturday night, Damon came home from work around 10:30pm and told me there were five cop cars two doors down.  Yikes!  It turns out their house was burglarized, and there have been two other break-ins of houses backing to the wash (open space...no back neighbors).  Needless to say, it's been a nerve-racking experience, and our alarm system and backyard lighting have been on non-stop since Saturday.  However, all of the neighbors seem to be banding together and keeping a vigilant eye on each others' homes.

The neighbors came through again tonight.  After I picked Alexa up from Aftercare, we swung by the house quickly to change into swimwear and grab a quick snack.  There was a package from Amazon.com at the front door, so Alexa went to get it, and I didn't realize that she hadn't closed the door tightly when she came back into the house.  Tonight, when we got home from swimming, our neighbor had left a note in the kitchen saying that she found Alstott wandering the neighborhood and our front door wide open.  Thankfully, everything was fine..whew!  When I called to thank her, she said Alstott had run away from some of the boys who were trying to grab him, but as soon as Alstott saw her, he ran to her immediately.  Apparently Alstott's also taken up the neighborly behaviors. :)

SWIM UPDATE:
I'm ecstatic to report that Alexa has had two sequential tear-free swimming lessons....finally!  Tonight she was not too pleased to be going to swim, and after a little prodding to get her onto the pool deck, she was all-smiles as Coach Anthony splashed her with water.  Yeah!  Even though it's only been two lessons, I think we might have turned a corner with swimming lessons.  BFF Gabriella will be joining Alexa for lessons on Sundays (Coach Nick has no idea what he's in for), so I'm hopeful that good old-fashioned peer pressure might convince her to shed her fears.  Fingers are crossed!

Alstott - the ferocious guard dog.
Keeping guard of one of our most valuable assets....
(still trying to find the perfect spot to hang this poster)