Saturday, March 29, 2014

Proud new owners of a 2014 Ford Fusion Hybrid...

So 3/17 we did not get to see Shombay, the daddy lion, out with his cubs.  I guess they let him out before the zoo opened in case there were any incidents.  So we stayed for a little bit at the zoo to see the cubs with mom and then we headed for the Childrens Museum.  Unfortunately, it was closed because they are closed on Mondays!  I felt so bad for Nathan.  I ended up taking him to Arthur Pack Park to ride his big wheel. We had our corned beef and cabbage for dinner.

I went back to the zoo on 3/19 while Nathan was in school. This time I got to see daddy lion out with his cubs.  He put up with so much!  Those cubs would not leave him alone and they were biting at his fur and tail.

Aunt Lisa and Connor arrived at our house that night.  The following day we went to Tucson Botanical Gardens.  There were quite a bit of cacti blooming which was cool to see.  I also took them to Sauce and Frost for lunch...their favorites.

3/21 we headed to Phoenix.  We went to the Sox spring training park and watched them lose to the Cubs!

3/22 we went to Wildlife World Zoo.  It was cool to see a young white lion, although I did not get very good pictures of it.  Also saw baby monkeys, meerkats and otters.

3/23 we went to another spring training game to see the Angels and Indians (Angels won).

On 3/24, I dropped the gang off at Phoenix Zoo and I headed to the Desert Botanical Gardens.  I am so glad I went because there were a lot of cacti in bloom (as well as wildflowers).  I then met up with them at the Phoenix Zoo.  We drove home that night.  Nathan was so talkative in the car on the way back.

We did not do much on 3/25.  I tried to catch up on things at home.

On 3/26, I took Lisa and Connor to the Desert Museum.  Not much was in bloom there, but we went to the free flight show and got to see some other cool stuff.  We picked Nathan up from school that day and found out that he had an awesome day!  The teacher said he was so good that day.

So Lisa and Connor left to go back to Chicago on 3/27.

Daddy decided to spend his last vacation day with Nathan on Friday, 3/28, so he pulled Nathan out of school again.  I was not that happy about it, but he took him to the Childrens Museum and to Pima Air & Space Museum.  I stayed home and did a lot of cleaning.  Unfortunately, I started feeling pretty sick toward the end of the day with another horrible headache.  Luckily, I felt better the next day. Stress and dehydration?

Today we got a call from Oracle Ford that our 2014 Ford Fusion was ready to be picked up.  So, we traded in our 2002 Pontiac Grand Am and picked up our new car.  We got $1800 for our Grand Am. We ended up with 3.09% financing for 63 months on the new car, including an extended warranty. We are covered for pretty much everything for like 6 years, including oil changes.  The financed price is $26,103.80 and our payment will be $449.97.    

Sunday, March 16, 2014

Marching into March

On March 8th, we met our friend Megan from Athens on 4th at the zoo.  She really wanted to spend some time with Nathan.  We had a good day.

On March 11th, I took Nathan to the zoo to see the lion cubs again.  After seeing the cubs I took him to the desert museum.  We saw the raptor show and some baby hummingbirds.

Nathan had a bad day at school on 3/12.  He got wrote up for his behavior.  He spit in another kid's food.  I asked him why and he said he is mean to the other kids because they do no want to play with him.  I told him that is not the way to get them to play with him.  I told him if he is nice to them then they will be nice to him. I reminded him that these kids have been in class together for awhile, but he is newer to the class so they are still getting to know him.  His teacher seemed pretty concerned about his behavior and so I am afraid that if he does not improve then they will eventually kick him out. She says he just does not do very well in the larger class size because he always wants attention.  

Nathan had a better day at school on Friday, 3/14.  Of course there were fewer kids there that day. Next week is spring break and he will be out of the school the following Monday, too.  I hope that he behaves in class once he returns.  After school I took some pictures of Nathan for St Patty's Day coming up.

We had a long, interesting day yesterday, 3/15.  We drove 4 hours over to El Centro, CA to see the blue angels air show.  We got there and there were supposed to be ATM machines, but there were not any.  We did not bring much cash with us and most of the places only accepted cash, including the food vendors.  The show itself was slow and boring at times.  There were many times when no planes were in the air and I do not remember it being that way at the thunderbird show here in Tucson a couple of years ago.  The blue angel part was pretty cool.  They also did a reenactment with a Japanese plane and the Pearl Harbor bombing.  They also had a star wars theme going with many people dressed up the part to take pictures with them.  Getting out of the base took like an hour and a half.  For being a military base, they were not very efficient.  They made us drive like 3/4 around the base just to get out.  For the longest time we just sat there trying to get out of the parking lot.  We did see a couple of owls on the way out.  They were just watching the cars drive by.  We got home around 10:00 pm.  Honestly, I don't think we would go back to that air show again.  It was cool to see the blue angels, but I liked the thunderbird air show here in Tucson a couple of years ago better. They will be having one again next month so we plan to go to that.

Tomorrow is St Patty's Day.  Nathan and I are going to the zoo.  The whole lion family is supposed to be out, including the dad.  After that we are supposed to go to the childrens museum.  Then I need to make our corned beef and cabbage for dinner!

Wednesday Lisa and Connor will be coming to visit for a week and a half.

Friday, March 7, 2014

Spring is here!

So we went to the NASCAR race in Phoenix on 3/2.  Once again, #4 (#29 prior) Kevin Harvick won.  I think he has won 3 times since we started going to the races there.  We had a good time.

On 3/4 I took a picture of Nathan taking a picture with this "camera (aka viewfinder) of the sunset.  I submitted to some of the news channels on Facebook and my picture was featured on the 10:00 news!

On 3/5, I went to Reid Park Zoo to see the lion cubs.  They had not been out prior because one of the cubs was still sick.  It was a great day.  I got some good pictures this time.  I wish I could go every day to see them!  After the zoo I went to Tucson Botanical Gardens.  There were some cacti blooming already and one of the irises was in bloom.  I saw the most beautiful hummingbird, but it quickly flew away before I could get a decent picture.  After the gardens I saw some poppies on the side of the road.  It was a great day for photography and a sure tell sign of Spring!

Tuesday, 3/4, was Fat Tuesday and I could not resist getting a paczki from Bashas.  I did not get there until Wednesday and they only came in a box of 6.  I ended up eating 3 of them in the last couple of days and I think the sugar overload made me faint this morning.  Fortunately, it was not bad.  I was making Nathan's lunch for school and woke up on the floor.  I had bumped my head.  Otherwise, I recovered quickly after fainting, unlike the last several times that I fainted and felt sick the rest of the day.  Time to get my sugar back under control...other than that Shamrock shake I still want to get!

Saturday, March 1, 2014

March already

On 2/7, I went to Sweetwater Wetlands for the first time.  I saw a few birds and ducks, but not a lot.  One of the birds I saw was a Black Phoebe.  It was cool.  I think the most exciting thing, though, was seeing a bobcat.  I don't think I had ever seen one in the wild.  I guess he is a regular there.

On 2/8, we took Nathan to Reid Park Zoo.

On 2/9, we went to Sabino Canyon.  We took the tram up and ALL of us walked the whole way down this time.  I saw some lesser goldfinches and we met the friendliest roadrunner.

We also took the dogs to the vet on 2/9 for their 6 month check up and to get their teeth cleaned.  All looks good, but Bella has put on about 6 lbs since last time!  I had switched foods because Tulla was itching like crazy and I increased Bella's food intake according to the recommendations on the bag.  I get to feed her a little less now which is good on the budget because that grain-free food is expensive!

Bella turned 6 on 2/11!  I bought her a new care bear toy for her birthday.

I took some Valentine's pictures of Nathan on 2/13.  We also got a heart shaped pizza to share for lunch. Paul brought home 2 dozen red roses!  He and Nathan also bought me some jewelry at the Tucson gem and mineral show.  Paul bought me some green gemstone earrings trying to match the ring that we had made last year.  Nathan bought mommy some garnet earrings.  Paul also bought me a Starbucks gift card.  I forget which of these gifts were for Valentine's Day and which were for our anniversary.  He did good this year, though.  Whereas I did not get him anything for a change...I could not figure out what to get him.  

For Valentine's Day we went out to dinner at Olive Garden.  We tried to get there early, but it was still packed.  Our service was so slow that they gave me my entree for free.  It was still a nice dinner, though.
I also tried a new idea this year for Valentine's.  Each day from February 1st until February 14th I put a heart on Nathan's door with something that I love about him written on it.  He really liked it and he and Paul thought that I should do the same thing for daddy...so I did.

On 2/15, we ordered a new car from Oracle Ford.  We are buying a Ford Fusion Hybrid.  It will not be here for another couple of months, though.

Paul and I celebrated our 11th anniversary on 2/17.  We all went to dinner at our favorite place, Athens on 4th Avenue.  We go there at least once a week now.  For dessert, Nathan and I went home and made chocolate covered strawberries.

On 2/19, I went to Reid Park and Reid Park Zoo.

We went to the NHRA event in Phoenix on 2/21.  It was a long day!  But, we got to meet John Force and his daughters Brittany and Courtney.

Nathan and I went to lunch at Pita Jungle on 2/25.  Then I took him over to Arthur Park so he could ride his Harley big wheel.  When we were getting ready to leave another boy showed up on his big wheel.  They were having too much fun together so I let him stay for awhile.  The ironic thing is that his name was Nathan, too.  We were at that park for like 2 1/2 hours that day!  I was going around the park taking pictures of all of the round tailed ground squirrels.

Nathan and I went to Breakfast with the Lions to meet the new lion cubs on 2/27.  There are 4 cubs this time.  There were 5, but one died shortly after birth.  5 is a big litter so losing 1 is not uncommon.  There are 3 boys and 1 girl.  They are very cute.  They are out with mom in the mornings now and dad comes out in the afternoon.  It will be cool to see the whole family together when they get a little bigger.  Right now I want to take as many pictures of them while I can when they are so tiny.  I was not very happy with the pictures I took that day.  I tried to go back the next day, but they were not out.  One of the cubs ate too much grass the day before and got sick.  I heard they are still not out today.  I hope the little guy will be okay.  I am anxious to see them again.

Today it is raining so we are staying in.  We are supposed to go to the NASCAR race in Phoenix tomorrow.  I hope it does not rain on us!