The Snow Cap and CARS!!

Disclaimer: Ok, I will preface this post by acknowledging that anytime you stumble across something cool it is always WAY cooler than being told about it and seeking it out. I will try to downplay my enthusiasm about just such an encounter so that any of you who take my advice and go to Seligman, AZ will not feel oversold.

Ike had a conference in Las Vegas this last week. We already had grandparents scheduled to be here, so I took off with him...Vegas is four hours away. I don't know how much any of you have traveled in northwest Arizona but there is not much there. Beautiful country, yes. However, if you live halfway between Vegas and Prescott, the closest mall is either Vegas or Prescott. The closest Costco is either Vegas or Prescott. In fact, Prescott has the only Costco north or Phoenix until you get to either Vegas or St. George. Flagstaff? Nope, no Costco. Costco=Liveable, I don't think I'm alone in this sentiment. Anyway, we head 50 miles north on Hwy 89 (nothing) and head out west on I-40. We saw a billboard for A&W and decided to get drinks, this is why we got off of I-40 and found ourselves on Route 66 entering Seligman, AZ. As we drove, looking for the A&W we commented that we felt like we had found ourselves in Radiator Springs, the town from the Disney movie "Cars". We then pulled up to the Snow Cap, a burger and shake place that was made from scrap wood and had spent the last few decades creating quite an interesting facility. The goal at the SnowCap is to make you laugh and make your kids fall down in hysterics...they succeed. We grabbed a couple malts and walked around back to find ourselves on the set of "Cars". Five or Six vehicles straight out of the movie. We planned our trip back with the kids immediately, noting that the hour and a half from our house would be the perfect amount of time to have them watch the movie in the van and then pull in to surprise them.

On the way back from Vegas we decided to stop again. We wandered the town a little bit and met Angel, the barber, founding member and first President of the Historic Route 66 foundation. Seligman is Radiator Springs. Angel is intervied in the "Extras" of the DVD. John Lassiter, head of Pixar came to Seligman five years before the movie and interviewed everybody about what happened in 1978 when I-40 went through and replaced Rte. 66, bypassing Seligman. "Cars" is this towns exact story.

So, go to run-down sleepy Seligman and meet some of the characters that made the best out of a bad situation, add your business card to the walls/ceiling of the SnowCap (play where's waldo? and try to find Ike's EllisTeam card, hint: its white and blue) and introduce your kids to the real "Cars". This is no museum, they can touch them run around. Its a little addictive, I can't imagine we will ever pass by it again.

Incentive

Dallin doesn't like wearing polo shirts to school. Dallin doesn't especially love brushing/styling his hair. He would prefer socks were optional. I love it when Dallin wears polo shirts! I love his hair cut short and prefer that he wear khaki shorts/pants instead of jeans. The above picture would reflect that Mom was in charge of this particular day. The picture below reflects that after she took the first picture she told Dallin not to do his "that" smile and he fixed it on the second go around. I would like to take to take the opportunity to blame Josh for the above smile, he smiles just like this...actually, I think Chris originated this smile...poor Robyn...anyway, not wanting to have a daily battle over clothes and yet unwilling to send Dallin to school dressed as someone who just dragged himself out of the dumpster, we created a system. Straight "A's" (not A-minuses) and you get to wear t-shirts to school. "A's and B's" and you are wearing polo shirts. Bring home a "C" and you're wearing a shirt and tie. I must say, that this system works great, Dallin and Brick attend a school wearing pulling off straight A's is a feat. In fact there was one quarter last year where they each brought home a report card with straight "A's" and we took them to dinner at Red Robin, put the report cards on the fridge and basked in the glory that was clearly perfect parenting. By the way, they start the year in polo shirts and then we adjust with the first report card.
I went into Dallin's classroom last week to see how he was doing, I'm getting nervous, I think that those stupid t-shirts are in my future. He doesn't have straight "A's" right now, but his two "B's" are both 88s, I think he might rally and bring those up. Why would he do that? The pride of doing his best and really challenging himself? No, torturing me with the t-shirts is apparently incentive enough. I must now decide whether I will attempt to slyly replace some of the t-shirts I really despise with something more tolerable, or should I just take the bullet and allow him to really torture me. The fear of wearing a shirt and tie to school, and having me refer to him as "Alex P. Keaton" (he has no idea who that is) will definitely keep C's at bay.
This doesn't work with Brick at all. He has straight A's right now, had them all last year and couldn't really care less. He likes polo shirts just fine, t-shirt...ok, shirt and tie...sure, why not? Oh, and the shirt rules don't kick in until first grade, so Ty is currently just required to have clean clothes on.