Wednesday, July 31, 2013

My Little Boy's Last Day at School

Today is Nathan's last day in Ms. Carrie's class.  She has been such a great teacher.  She even made scrapbooks for her students and they were waiting for us today.  However, she is out of town right now and had to miss his last day.  Fortunately, I brought my camera in on Monday and got a picture of them together. Ms. Carrie also helped to get Nathan switched to a different class next year.  I no longer have to worry about problems with him and Cassidy.  The sad part is that Nathan's friend Noah moved to California.  His dad got a new job and their family decided to move.  Noah is a good kid and he and Nathan got along so well.  I hope he will make some new friends next year.  The new year starts already on Monday.  Tomorrow night we meet his new teacher.  Once again he will be going to school on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays.  Today is also Dress like your Hero Day.  Nathan wore his blue polo today like daddy's.  He is also wearing his "smell good" which is daddy's cologne sprayed on his shirt.

On 7/23 I took Nathan to Reid Park Zoo.  I think he is getting bored going there as well as the Desert Museum.  It is not as exciting for me either, but since I like to take pictures I still like to go.  I just can't wait for it to cool down.

On 7/27 we went up to Phoenix again.  We went to the Phoenix Zoo.  I wanted to see the new Andean bear cub.  He was adorable, but it was challenging getting good pictures with the fencing.  It was so hot and humid that day.  We went to lunch at Macayo's in Tempe.  They have a train themed restaurant and it is related to our favorite Mexican restaurant here in Tucson.  Afterward, the boys dropped me off at Butterfly Wonderland.  I became an annual member and this was not my 2nd trip there.  I love taking pictures of the butterflies.  However, I was even hotter in there that day than the first day, probably because I was already battling the heat that day at the zoo.  Paul and Nathan went to the railroad park and they got their hair cut at Great Clips.  Paul and I were both feeling exhausted that night, but luckily Nathan seemed to be doing well. It was not the greatest idea on my part to go to the Phoenix Zoo during the summer and then also battle the humidity at Butterfly Wonderland.  Summer just needs to be over now!

In a few weeks we will be going to San Diego for a long weekend.  We have also already booked a trip to go to Albuquerque for the Balloon Fiesta in October.  Now we are just praying that Paul hangs onto his job and that we are not being foolish for spending the money on these trips.  

Sunday, July 21, 2013

Another weekend gone

My baby, my Grand Prix, went over 100k miles on 7/13/13 as we were coming back from Scottsdale.  Now both of our cars have over 100k miles.  I hope they both last awhile because we would like to hold off on another car payment for as long as we can.  Of course I miss having a new car.  We need to buy at least one new car in the near future and we need to replace our cooling & heating systems in the house, but all of this is on hold still because of the uncertainty of Paul's job.

Yesterday we went to Sabino Canyon.  We got to play in the water and sand.  Last night I went to a Macro Photography class at the Desert Museum and to their Summer Saturday Evening.  I was a little disappointed because the animals were not very active...they were all getting ready to go to bed for the night.  They also had some exhibits and paths closed.

Tomorrow I hope to talk to Nathan's school about the upcoming year starting in about a week.  I found out on Friday that somehow Nathan and Cassidy got put back in the same class for next year.  They were assigned to two different classes per his current teacher's recommendation.  When I questioned it, they said I could move him to the other class, but one of my requested days, Friday, is full for that class.  I told them to just keep in the same class then.  After thinking about it over the weekend I am a little upset about it.  I turned in his application a long time ago, one of the first parents to do so, with my requested days.  Additionally, I was reassured weeks ago that Nathan and Cassidy would not be in the same class.  Now we are the ones who have to be inconvenienced because of this kid.  I doubt anything will change after I talk to them again, but I also want to find out if Nathan's friend Noah will be in his class next year.  That may also help me determine which class to put him in.

Friday, July 12, 2013

Yay for the weekend

Today we found out that they moved Cassidy, the boy who causes trouble in Nathan's class, to another room.  That is good for us because he was a bad influence on Nathan.

Tomorrow we are going to the Butterfly Wonderland in Scottsdale.  Not sure what else we will be doing in the area.

On 7/6, we went to the races at Tucson International Raceway.   Nathan had a lot of fun.  They also had a fireworks show.  We left after the fireworks which was during the half time intermission.

7/7 was the Queen of the Night event at Tohono Chul Park.  Last year I went for the first time and I went again this year.  My pictures this year did not come out so well because the flashlight I was using had a yellowish tint.  I was trying to steal other people's light, but that did not work too well.  I tried to go the next morning after I dropped Nathan off at school, but the flowers were already closing up.  It was hotter than heck already, too, but their prickly pear lemonade sure was refreshing.  I went to Sprouts the other day and got some Simply Lemonade and some prickly pear juice.  I have been making my own prickly pear lemonades at home and they are so good!

On 7/9 Nathan and I went to DeGrazia Gallery in the Sun.  They posted on Facebook that a bunch of their cacti were blooming so I wanted to go take pics.  Nathan wanted to eat at Firehouse Subs for lunch so we went there afterward.

On 7/10, I went to Tohono Chul Park and Tucson Botanical Gardens.  Both had posted on Facebook the day before that they had beautiful cacti blooms, but I did not see much when I went.  I also decided to go to the zoo since I still had time.  It was a little boring.  I am waiting for the new lemurs and the grizzly bears.  I guess they just got the grizzly bears today, but they will not be on exhibit for at least 30 days.  There is talk about putting a hippo/s in the old elephant exhibit.  I am also hoping for some tiger and/or lion cubs soon.  For lunch that day I ate at Pita Jungle, one of my favorites.  They are building a 2nd location that is closer to our house.  




Friday, July 5, 2013

The future?

6/19 Nathan made an awesome heart with his train tracks.  He said he made it for mommy, daddy, Bella, Tulla and grandpa!

We went to Breakers Water Park on 6/22 using some Groupons.  Nathan had a lot of fun.  He loves to play in the water.  We still need to get those swimming lessons, though....

On 6/25 Nathan and I went to the Desert Museum.  We got to get up close to the new mountain lion cub.  I also got to see some of the torch cacti.  In the aviary the parrot said hello to Nathan twice!

Yesterday was 4th of July.  We did not do much.  Paul did some landscaping in the morning.  We went swimming after that.  Then we went to IHOP for lunch.  For dinner we had Sonic.  That night we watched the fireworks from our back balcony.  The Marana fireworks were disappointing this year.  They stopped without a finale and we were not sure if they were done or not.  Later we learned there was a fire.  They started them back up after some time had passed, but the finale was mostly all white fireworks.  Nathan did not get to bed until 10 and he slept on our floor again because he was scared in his room.  Lately he has been scared to sleep in his room at night and I think it started when the monsoons started for the season.  He says he is afraid of the dark, but he has the ceramic Christmas tree lit up in his room at night and we keep the hall light on.

Today Paul had to work :(  Nathan had another 4th of July party at school today.  I spent the morning at Pep Boys getting an oil change for the Grand Am.  Our battery was only a year old, but it needed to be replaced, too.  Luckily, it was under warranty.  I can't believe how fast we go through batteries in Tucson.  Just like I can't believe that we need new A/C for our home already.  We have pretty much decided to put that on hold for awhile as long as we can this summer.  We paid for more freon to be added and we are hoping that our current units will last us the rest of the summer.  The reason we are holding off is because we are unsure about Paul's job.  Aetna took over recently and there are some changes going on as expected.  We want to make sure that Paul is not going to lose his job right now before we make any big purchases, especially for this house if for some reason we may have to move again.        

This morning we measured Nathan for the heck of it.  He was 38 inches when he turned 3.  Six months later he is now 39.5 inches.  He has grown 1.5 inches!  Everyone comments how tall he is.  I think he is about average.  However, I am hoping that this is an indicator that he will not be as short as mommy when he gets older!