Christmas is almost here...already!

 Wow, this year flew by fast.

11/2, I went to the Reid Park Rose Garden, Reid Park and to Pima County Cooperative Extension Gardens.  

11/4, My First Light bloomed.

11/5, My First Light and June Noon bloomed.  Nathan and I went to Wildlife World Zoo while Paul went to a NASCAR race. 

11/6 My June Noon bloomed.

11/13, I went to Reid Park Zoo.

11/16, I went to the Desert Museum to see the Raptor Free Flight show and drove through Saguaro National Park.

12/1, My grandma passed away.  She was 105.  I went to Catalina State Park that day.  On the way home, there was a full rainbow, a sign from my grandma in heaven.

We left for Chicago on 12/6 to attend my grandma's funeral the next day on 12/7.  The funeral was at Faith Baptist led by Brother Bill.  There was a good turnout, including Michelle, Dave and Katie from Mount Vernon.  Paul was a pallbearer.  The lunch was a Papa Joe's in Orland Park.  The next day we met Michelle, Dave, Katie and my parents at Olive Garden in Orland Park for lunch.  Paul had to work back at the hotel room.  My mom bought Nathan a pug birthday cake so we had a little impromptu birthday party for him.  We met John and Lisa, my parents and Michelle, Dave and Katie at Ledo's for lunch on 12/9 before our flight back to Phoenix. 

12/14, I went to Green Things Nursery to photograph the poinsettias and to Tucson Botanical Gardens.

Nathan turned 14 on 12/15.  It was also his last half day of school before the winter break.  He chose to go to Vivace for dinner to have...steak!  I got Nathan a ping pong paddle, a Free Guy shirt, a Saving Private Ryan dvd and some candy. Paul had bought him Sluban Army apache bricks at the Pima Air & Space Museum when they went to the paper airplane contest.  Nathan also picked out a small cookies & cream cake at Walmart.  Nathan also got his Q2 report card.  He got straight As (Geometry 91, English 90, Literature 93, Science 90, Social Studies 91, Coding 99 and PE 97).  He had to take his final exams early since he missed 3 days of school to go to GG's funeral.  However, he did great on them.  He got a 90 on Geometry, 90 on English, 95 on Literature, 87 on Science, 87 on Social Studies, 100 on Coding and 100 on PE.  For the First Semester final grades he got a 92 in Geometry, 92 in English, 94 in Literature, 87 in Science, 90 in Social Studies, 99 in Coding and 97 in PE.         

Paul took Nathan to Funtasticks and Olive Garden on 12/16.

One quarter down

August 11, I went to Green Things Nursery, Pima County Cooperative Extension Gardens and Tucson Botanical Gardens.

August 15, I went to Reid Park Zoo for the debut of Gwen the sloth.  

August 16, I went to the Desert Museum because a lot of their cacti were blooming.  It was a really hot day, though, so I didn't stay long.  

August 19, I went to Pima Prickly Park.  

Paul traveled to San Diego for work 8/21-8/24.

My First Light and June Noon bloomed on August 29.

My First Light bloomed again on 9/9.

I went to Pima County Cooperative Extension Gardens on 9/11.  

Paul turned 53 on 9/20.  We went to Vivace for his birthday on 9/16.  We went to Guadalajara Grill on his actual birthday.  

Grandma and Grandpa celebrated their 40th wedding anniversary on 9/17.  

9/30, we went to Apple Annie's to pick our pumpkins.  I tried to take pictures of the sunflowers, but it was a windy day.  They didn't seem to have as many as last year either.  But I would like to go again to see if I can get better pictures.  

I went to Pima County Cooperative Extension Gardens on 10/5  

Nathan passed his geometry readiness test so he is actually the only student at his school taking geometry this year.  He said they haven't had a geometry student there in several years.  Plus, he got an A the first quarter! Nathan also made honor roll the first quarter!  He got an 89 in social studies, 83 in science, 99 in coding, 96 in PE, 93 in geometry, 95 in literature and 95 in English for a 92.857 (3.714) GPA .     

Nathan tried out for the boys volleyball team.  There were 3 days of tryouts (10/2-10/4).  He said a couple of boys were selected to pick teams two of the days and he wasn't chosen so he sat on the sidelines the entire time.  Doesn't seem like a very fair tryout.  He didn't make the team.  It really doesn't make sense because he was the only one trying out who had been on a competitive volleyball team before.  A few supposedly were on an intramural team prior.  Nathan said that even a 6th grader made the competitive team and he isn't very good.  Nathan did make the intramural team, but he decided not to participate.  The intramural games are all on Saturdays and are at different Legacy campuses that are far away.  He felt he should have made the competitive team and we agree. The coach was also supposed to contact us prior to practices to tell us when practices started and give us more information.  We were never contacted, but supposedly they started practices the Monday right after they got back from Fall Break.  The coach scolded Nathan on Tuesday for not going to practices, but he didn't even know they started.  He didn't want to be on the team anyway.  We talked to the Vice Principal/Athletic Director on Tuesday night at the High School Information night and told him that we were never contacted, but that Nathan didn't want to be on the intramural team.  I had corresponded with him twice about the tryouts and our shock that he didn't make the competitive team.  He just said that they support their coaches' methods and decisions.  Typical response.  

Nathan has expressed an interest in joining the flag football team next quarter, but he says no other 8th graders are really interested in playing.  They all want to do tackle football.  Then there is soccer the last quarter.  So we'll see what he decides. 

This past Tuesday (10/17) they had a high school information night at his school.  Mountain View was there so we talked to them a lot.  Thursday night (10/19) we went to an open house at Pusch Ridge Christian Academy.  We were pretty impressed.  It is further away and it costs like $7k/year, but there are some different financing options.  There are currently only 12 open 9th grade positions at Pusch Ridge and the admissions process is rigorous.  I think we are going to apply at both schools.  Paul is in charge of this, though and I am not sure if he will get it all done in time.  Push Ridge says applications should be complete by the middle of December.  We have a little more time for Mountain View.  

For Nathan' Fall Break, we went to Chicago 10/7/23-10/15/23.  Paul had to work in the hotel room most of the time, but he took Friday off.  Michelle and Dave came in town that first weekend so we went to dinner at Uncle Julio's near our hotel in Downers Grove with them and Grandma and Grandpa the Saturday Night that we got in town.  The Chocolate Pinata was awesome!  Sunday we all went to church together at Faith and then went to lunch at New Horizon.  Monday, Dawn and Nathan went to Cantigny Park with Debbie and her kids.  Nathan was happy to go to Olive Garden for lunch afterward because he likes their 6oz sirloin.  The boy wants to eat steak for every meal these days.  Tuesday, Dawn and Nathan went to Brookfield Zoo.  It was a free day (we just had to pay for parking).  That evening we met Lisa, John, Connor, Aubrie, Donnie, Austin, Grandma and Grandpa at Ledo's Pizza for dinner.  We celebrated Donnie's 54th birthday (10/20) and Grandpa's 75th birthday (10/18).  Wednesday, Dawn went back to Cantigny Park to check out the flowers and to Morton Arboretum.  The trees were just starting to change in the area.  Thursday I drove around a little bit.  I wanted to go back to 31st St in Oak Brook to check out a castle looking house Nathan and I saw on the way to Brookfield Zoo.  I found a forest preserve in the area so I went for a short hike.  It was a beautiful day and I loved the trees starting to change colors.  Then I drove around some of the housing areas to admire the huge homes, nice properties and surrounding Fall colors.  That night we met Tracy at the BD's Mongolian Grill in Bolingbrook.  Shane and Aaron didn't make it :(  The food was great.  I chose just the right sauces so I really enjoyed my meal.  Friday, Paul, Dawn and Nathan went downtown to Shedd Aquarium and the Museum of Science of Industry.  We saw ONE pufferfish at the aquarium.  Dawn and Nathan also saw one when we went to the Brookfield Zoo.  The most memorable part of the Museum was the U-505 submarine exhibit.  Dawn was pretty bored there.  The museum was always cool during the holidays when they have the Christmas trees decorated from around the world so that is the time that I like to go there.  Traffic getting to and leaving downtown was horrible...don't miss that!  We ended up going back to Ledo's Pizza for dinner.  Saturday we did family pictures with the grandparents and GG.  GG is 105!  She is not doing so great, but hanging in there.  We thought this may be our last chance to see her and so Paul decided that he wanted to get family pictures taken at JC Penney.  Afterward we went to Olive Garden for dinner where Carol Lambros, Terry Ganzer and Janet Hardy met us.  Paul realized when we went to pay that he had lost his credit card.  Back to JC Penney we went to look for it, but no luck.  He used it for brunch earlier that day at Lumes, but they were closed.  We didn't find the card so we had to report it lost.  Not a fun way to end a "vacation", but these things happen.  Sunday we returned back to Tucson.  Thursday-Sunday it turned cold and rainy in Chicago so it was nice to leave at that time, but it was still around 100 when we got back to Tucson! 

The weather in Tucson has been hotter than normal.  It was a long brutal summer that seemed to never end.  They say it should finally cool down to normal Fall temps next week.  We need to get up to Mt. Lemmon.  Maybe next Saturday.  I may try to go up during the week, too.  There are a lot of Fall activities I would like to do, but there is just never enough time or energy!  Butterfly Magic started at Tucson Botanical Gardens, the raptor free flight starts up again at the Desert Museum 10/27 (I didn't make it last year), there's Glowing Pumpkins at Tohono Chul Park, I would like to check out the sunflowers at the Marana Pumpkin Patch, it would be nice to go back to Apple Annie's to photograph the sunflowers there again, etc...  Today they were feeding the animals pumpkins at Reid Park Zoo so I missed that :(  In November I would like to catch the Fall colors in Sabino Canyon and Ramsey Canyon.  I remember in years past I would be out taking pictures about twice a week and now it seems like I rarely have a chance to go out.  The weather hasn't cooperated either.            

July 18th, I had a gynecologist appointment.  The blood tests results weren't very good and I had gained a lot of the weight back that I had lost in 2019/2020.  Shortly after that is when Paul had his diabetic emergency and Nathan went to Academy of Math & Science that was far away (and he joined sports)!  I was so busy taking care of them that I couldn't focus on my own health.  After this doctor visit I decided it was time to get serious about my health again.  I was 153 lbs when I started this new journey after July 18.  That wasn't my all time high, though, because I think my all time high was around 161.  I aimed to get 10k steps/day again and cut down on my iced lattes/sweets.  After it cooled down a bit in the mornings I was able to start walking around the neighborhood for about 45 minutes.  I worked myself up to an hour on the elliptical almost every day.  The pounds started coming off pretty quickly.  Then the progress slowed.  Going to Chicago a week ago didn't help because I got out of my exercise routine.  As of today I am 144 lbs so I have lost close to 10 lbs in the last 3 months.  I can already notice a difference, but I have a long way to go.  I was around 135 lbs when we got married.  I was 110 back in college.  Realistically, I don't think I will ever see anywhere near 110 again.  However, my goal is 120-125 lbs.  It's hard being so short because every extra pound shows.  Going through peri menopause makes weight loss difficult, too.  With the weather finally cooling down I hope I can out more to hike and to take pictures around town.  I haven't been happy with my camera ever since I bought it so I am still considering buying a new one (even though I have only had this one for a couple of years).  We are getting into the holidays, too, which means I will be busy and stressed and that always hinders weight loss as well.  One day at a time.      

Halloween is 10 days away.  Nathan has decided not to dress up this year.  Last year he was disappointed because his Ghillie costume was big on him and kept falling down.  Of course I had asked him to try it on before Halloween and he didn't.  

10/30 Nathan is supposed to get yearbook pictures retaken.  This is the first year we want retakes.  I wanted retakes in some years past, but I was outvoted.  This year everyone agreed that we needed retakes.  Nathan did his fake smile and the picture just wasn't good.  Some said it looked like the Elvis smile.  Others said he reminds them of Val Kilmer.  Regardless, the picture wasn't good.  They had picture retakes, but none of the junior high school students were called to do them!  I contacted the principal so now they have another picture retake day scheduled for 10/30.  She said they will also have 8th grade graduation pictures taken later in the school year.  At least we got some good pictures taken of him at JC Penney when we did family pictures in Chicago (Matteson) last week.  

Nathan is so smart!

 Academy of Math & Science sent us Nathan's transcripts and state test scores on 8/1.  I forwarded those on to Legacy.  Nathan will be taking a geometry readiness test this week.  If he performs well on it, he and the one other kid will be taking Algebra, but the teacher will give them individual instruction on Geometry.

We were so impressed with Nathan's state test scores!  His ELA score was 2600 out of 2648. He is highly proficient. His Math score was 3714 out of 3739. Also highly proficient. He is so smart!

So Nathan's first day of school was yesterday.  It was half a day since all Wednesdays are half days.  He didn't like it that much.  He obviously wants to get out of his 8th grade math class and get into Algebra/Geometry.  They didn't have time yesterday to do the Geometry readiness test, but he should be taking it today.  He got overheated during the day and didn't have time to refill his water bottle.  PE is his last period.  They were inside yesterday, but the teacher said most days they will be outside.  Nathan was concerned he would get overheated in PE being outside in the heat since he was already getting overheated in the morning.  The other days he will have a lunch period so he should be able to refill his water bottle then.  We called the school and they gave him the option to change his elective PE to something else (3D art like sculpting, music, Spanish or study hall).  He chose to stay in PE.  I am not sure why he wouldn't want the study hall.  It may come in handy when he joins sports later in the year and needs time to get homework done.  He said he is the only student in his Coding class who knows any coding languages.  He taught himself a couple of coding languages.  One kid in his grade was at Leman with him and another kid went to AMS with him last year.  So at least there are a couple of kids there who he knows.  Clubs have not been determined yet.  They need to see what clubs teachers and parents are willing to lead.  Nathan decided against playing Baseball at the start of the year.  He realizes that it is more difficult than it looks and he has never played on a baseball team before.  He doesn't think their team will be very good this year either because a lot of the good players graduated last year.  He is interested in playing soccer and volleyball again, which are later in the year.  We got there pretty early yesterday because we didn't know how crazy the first day would be.  There was no traffic so we sat in the parking lot for awhile until they opened the campus.  Picking him up, however, took a lot longer.  I got there about a half hour early and was waiting in line the whole time.  Today we left the house later.  Traffic was worse today and so we had a long wait to drop him off on campus.  I think we will have to leave later than yesterday, but earlier than today.  I would rather sit in the parking lot than sit in traffic.  Hopefully, next week things will start smoothing out and the drop offs and pick ups won't be as bad.    

Back to School already!

6/9/23: I went to Lowe's, Pima Cooperative Extension Gardens and Reid Park Rose Garden.  It was such a nice day with cloud cover that it didn't feel like summer.  My camera was in the shop, but I took pictures with my phone.

6/12-6/16 was VBS at our church.  Nathan went with me and was able to help this year.  He helped with the games for the kids.  I helped with the penny offering.  It was stressful this year because they wanted us to record every transaction writing down the name and how many pennies bought for each child.  We also had to write raffle tickets for them.  It was a lot of work and I am not sure if I would want to do it again next year.  I have helped with the penny offering in the past and it was not that difficult.  With our Assistant Pastor Grant and his wife taking over the VBS this year, this is the way they decided to do it.  Hopefully, they do not do it the same way next year.  

For Father's Day, 6/17, Paul wanted to go to Vivace.  

6/24-7/8 We went to Canada.  

We flew to Washington on 6/24 and drove over to Canada with a rental car.   

We first went to Banff National Park. The two main sites are Moraine Lake and Lake Louise. Both are beautiful, but I liked Moraine Lake the best. For one, it wasn’t as crowded as Lake Louise. Lake Louise has the Château and the ski resort which make it a tad more commercialized. Vehicles are not allowed at Moraine Lake so you are forced to take a shuttle bus. That actually works out great because the shuttle takes you to both lakes and runs every 20 minutes.

We stayed in Radium Hot Springs which was a couple of hours from the Lake Louise Ski Resort where you get on the shuttle. There’s plenty to see on that drive including wildlife and waterfalls. We saw quite a bit of wildlife while in the Canadian National Parks including a fox, bighorn sheep, mountain goats, bears, elk, deer, golden-mantled squirrels, magpies, etc…. The one animal we wanted to see, but never did, is the moose.

We didn’t really care for Downtown Banff because it was way too crowded. Well, Nathan did…because he’s a city boy!

6/25 We went to Moraine Lake and Lake Louise. At Lake Louise, we ate at the Chateau. We also did the ski lift at Lake Louise. Unfortunately, they had lightning in the area and shut it down. We ate lunch at the top and they had to drive us back down in a work van. On the way back to our hotel, we stopped at Numa Falls in Kootenay National Park. We also saw some bighorn sheep near our hotel in Radium Hot Springs.

6/26 We went by the Continental Divide. We went back to Moraine Lake and Lake Louise. We saw the Bow Falls at the convergence of Bow River and Spray River near downtown Banff. We also took some pictures of the Fairmont Banff Springs Hotel. We took a quick tour of Cave and Basin National Historic Site which is part of Banff National Park. It is a very small cave. Nathan couldn't handle the smell of sulfur. They also had some rare snails in the basin, but we couldn't really see them.

6/27 From Banff, we headed to Jasper along the Icefields Parkway. There’s a reason why this is one of the most scenic drives you can ever experience. Again, lots of wildlife, waterfalls, turquoise lakes and of course the glaciers, including Athabasca. We walked up to Athabasca Glacier. If we had more time, I would have liked to do the Ice Explorer Glacier tour where they take this monster truck bus right on the glacier and let you get out to walk on the glacier as well as the Glacier Skywalk (kind of like the Grand Canyon Skywalk). We saw a fox along Highway 93 on the way to Icelands Parkway. Along the Icelands Parkway, we saw mountain goats and elk. We stopped at Bow Lake. We also stopped at Marble Canyon where we did a short hike to a waterfall. Another waterfall right off of Icelands Parkway was Tangle Creek Falls.

We liked the town of Jasper since it was small and quaint. We stayed at our first airbnb there.

6/28, We drove back on the Icelands Parkway to visit some new spots and to see Athabasca Glacier again. We saw an elk on the side of the road as we were leaving Jasper. We stopped at Athabasca Falls.

6/29 From Jasper, we headed to Vancouver which was an all day drive. We stopped at a couple of waterfalls along the way., including Overlander Falls and Rearguart Falls.

We had been to Vancouver once before with Nathan a little over 5 years ago. We returned because he likes aquariums and I remembered we really liked the Vancouver Aquarium. It is an amazing aquarium (they even have sloths!), but Nathan was disappointed because they didn’t have any pufferfish. They had some at one time, but not on this visit.

6/30 We did Vancouver Aquarium in Stanley Park. Then I went over and took some pictures of the rose garden in Stanley Park. From there we headed to Gastown to eat dinner and see the steam clock.

7/1 was Canada Day. The City of Vancouver didn't do fireworks this year. We went to a small event at Rocky Point Park in Port Moody.

7/2 We did the Capilano Suspension Bridge Park which was cool, but overpriced. We went to the Railway Museum of British Columbia. We drove the Sea to Sky highway. This is a very scenic route, however there are minimal pullouts and those pullouts don’t offer the best views. I did the Sea to Sky Gondola and quickly took some pictures of Shannon Falls nearby.

From Vancouver we took a car ferry over to Vancouver Island.

7/4, Our first outing on Vancouver Island was at Butchart Gardens. It is one of the best gardens I have been to. I took tons of pictures. It was a little strange not being in the U.S. for our Independence Day. We went to a great Greek restaurant for dinner in Victoria that night. I loved their avgolemono soup and their Greek potatoes.

7/6 Nathan and I went to the Victoria Butterfly Gardens. It is on the smaller side, but they have butterflies, parrots, koi, a flamingo, frogs, insects, tropical plants/flowers, etc. That evening the 3 of us went out first to see a castle, but it had a huge crane in front of it. Then we went to see a lighthouse which was small and in need of a paint job. Then we went to Fisherman’s Wharf which was small, but made for some decent pictures.

There really didn’t seem to be much else to do on this island. The island is hard to maneuver and the downtown area of Victoria (the capital) looks kind of dumpy. So I think one day on Vancouver Island seeing Butchart Gardens would have been enough.

7/8 The last day we took a ferry back to Vancouver, drove to Washington and then flew home.

7/18, I went to the gynecologist and also got my mammogram. Mammogram came back normal. The gynecologist appointment was disappointing. I weighed 153, about 12 pounds more than what I weighed in 2019 when I lost about 20 pounds. My blood pressure was good - 116/68. I had blood tests done that day and the results were not good. They put me in the pre-diabetes category because my A1C was .1 away from the normal range. Mine was 5.7. My vitamin D was actually on the higher side at 60.8 and I realized that several of my supplements have vitamin D so I need to cut back on them. The worst part was my lipid panel. I did not have one done last year, but the results this year were worse than a couple of years ago. My lipids have never been good. Obviously being so short it is hard to maintain a healthy weight and BMI. My cholesterol was 238 compared to 214 in 2019. My triglycerides, however, were 416 compared to 233 in 2019. Basically, I know it is time to get back to healthier habits. I have had to dramatically cut down my Starbucks iced lattes. I am trying to cut down on sweets and fats. My body was hurting for several days after returning from our vacation and it is still so hot out, but I also need to get back to 10k steps a day, including doing the elliptical.

7/20, Since Nathan didn't get to see any pufferfish at the Vancouver Aquarium, I took him to Odysea to see Jalapeno! We also ate lunch at our favorite pizza place Grimaldi's!

7/24, I had 8 cactus blooms in our yard: 5 First Light flowers, 1 June Noon and 2 June Noon Hybrids. Another June Noon tried to open the next day, but never fully opened because of the heat.

7/27, Nathan went to Nerf Day at Greg Lyons' house with Arizona Adventures Camp. I think about 17 kids were expected, but there ended up being about 12. Nathan had a great time. They were also doing water games and having a movie night. Nathan couldn't stay for that because he had his Back to School Night at Legacy that night. So that was between 4-7. We got there around 5. The parking lot was a nightmare trying to find a parking space. Then it was chaotic the rest of the time trying to find all of his teachers, getting his school supplies, etc... We talked to the Principal and the registrar. They put Nathan in 8th grade math as opposed to Algebra or Geometry. The registrar said they never got a transcript or his state test scores. So they along with the Principal and us are trying to get that information from Academy of Math & Science. Nathan had Algebra last year. It didn't start out so well, but he ended the year with an A. The Principal mentioned that there is currently only one other 8th grader who is doing Geometry this year. School starts on 8/2 so I am not sure if this will all be resolved before then.

8/2 is the first day of 8th grade at Legacy. This will be another new school for Nathan. He doesn't like going to school and he already has a bad attitude about going back. There have been some things which have set off some minor alarms for me with our limited dealing with Legacy so far. However, I think it is going to be a lot better than Academy of Science last year. For one thing, it is closer! The Principal has been there many years and I really like her. All of his teachers that we met at Back to School Night seem nice. I think some of his classes he will like. We need to get the math class straightened out. He is going to be taking American History with a lot of focus on wars which is right up his alley. He will be taking a coding class and he loves that. He thinks it may be a little too easy for him, but he will be learning some coding languages he hasn't worked with before. He will also have Science, English, Literature and PE. His PE teacher is his homeroom teacher, Mr. Jones. I think he is new this year and came from Pusch Ridge. Paul and Nathan are still talking about the possibility of Nathan going to Pusch Ridge for high school. I think it is too late to get in there at this point. I think he is going to end up at Mountain View. We will know soon enough because that process will be starting in just a few months!

School's Out!

 April 1st, my pink claret cups bloomed!

4/3, I went to Tucson Botanical Gardens and Pima County Cooperative Extension gardens.  Nathan's soccer team had their 1st home game against Red Rock Elementary.  He wore #35.  They lost 1-2.

4/4, My June Noon hybrid bloomed. I also went to Tohono Chul Park.

4/5, Nathan's soccer team had a home game against Academy Del Sol, Star Valley and they lost 0-2.

4/6, My flying saucer bloomed.  My windshield got cracked :( Nathan's soccer team had an away game at Academy Del Sol, Roger Rd and they won 14-0!  Nathan wore the #3 jersey.

Easter was 4/9.  Nathan now knows there is no Santa Claus or Easter Bunny and that mom makes his Easter baskets.  He had a nice basket full of otter pops, some books, candy, etc...  He and I went to church together while Paul went to his church.  Then we took a drive to see the flowers at Round Mountain Park in Globe.  We also got to eat at Grimaldi's in Gilbert.  The flowers along the way were amazing as well.

4/10, I went to see the irises at Tucson Botanical Gardens, Green Things Nursery and Pima Prickly Park.

4/11, Nathan's soccer team played an away game at Academy Del Sol, Star Valley.  They lost 3-5.  I drove through Saguaro National Park on the way home and caught the sunset there.

4/12, I went to Pima County Cooperative Extension Gardens, Catalina State Park to see the mariposa lilies, Oro Valley Hospital to see the cactus flowers, the Lambert Lane claret cups and my own white cactus and flying saucer bloomed in our yard.

4/13 My Argentine Giant Big Bertha bloomed.  I also went to Pima Prickly Park.

4/15, I photographed the prickly pears in the River Rd median.  I am the crazy median lady taking pictures every year!

4/16, My Argentine Giant Big Bertha bloomed.

4/17, I went to Tucson Botanical Gardens and Pima County Cooperative Extension Gardens.  Nathan's soccer team had a home game against Academy Del Sol, Roger Rd and won 10-1!  Nathan even got a goal!

4/18, I went to the Reid Park Rose Garden and Pima Prickly Park.

4/19, I went to Bach's Cactus Nursery, Pima County Cooperative Extension Gardens, Green Things Nursery and Pima Prickly Park.

4/21, I went to the Pima County Cooperative Extension Gardens, Pima Prickly Park and Tucson Botanical Gardens.  

4/24, My First Light and June Noon cacti bloomed.  I went to Pima Prickly Park, Pima County Cooperative Extension Gardens, Reid Park Rose Garden and to Tucson Botanical Gardens to see the irises.  Nathan's soccer team had an away game at Red Rock Elementary and they won 3-2!  

4/26,  I photographed the saguaro flowers on a low arm across the street from Mountain View High School.  Nathan's soccer team had a home game against Red Rock Elementary and they tied 1-1.

4/27, I went to Bach's Cactus Nursery, Pima Prickly Park, Pima County Cooperative Extension Gardens and to Tucson Botanical Gardens to see the irises.  At Pima Prickly Park, the stars of the show this day were the cholla!  There were so many in bloom and this park has every color imaginable.  I've never seen so much cholla together in one place.  The prickly pears were a close second.  The unique colors I saw this year were amazing.

4/30, It reached 100 degrees!  Yuk!  

5/1, I went to Pima Prickly Park, Tohono Chul Park to see the pink ocotillo and their unique prickly pears, Pima County Cooperative Extension Gardens and Lowe's to see the flowers.  Nathan's soccer team had an away game at Legacy Traditional, NW Tucson.  They lost 1-5.

5/2, Nathan wasn't feeling good so he stayed home from school and I took him to the doctor.  His throat was hurting.  Strep test came back negative.  She noticed wheezing and asked if he ever had asthma, which he hasn't.  But that is another thing we have to keep an eye on.  We treated with over the counter meds and eventually the bacterial test came back negative so it must have been some kind of viral infection or allergies (pollen).  

5/3, Nathan decided to go to school so that he could play in their soccer game.  It was an away game at Coolidge Junior High School and I also drove Kayden and Berto.  They won 6-2.  Earlier that day I went to Saguaro National Park where I saw a deer (only had my phone with me, though).

5/4, Nathan's soccer team had their last game of the season away at Desert Wind Middle School.  Once again I drove Kayden and Berto.  They won 3-2!  The team went to Barro's in Maricopa after the game to celebrate.  Kayden wasn't feeling well and ended up throwing up in my car.  That was a fun hour and a half ride home!  So their record for the season was 5 wins, 5 losses and 1 tie.  

5/5, I went to Tucson Botanical Gardens and Pima County Cooperative Extension Gardens.   

Well, we thought soccer was over and then we got the news that they made the playoffs.  The playoffs were in Glendale on 5/6.  They lost 0-4 and Nathan was pretty upset that he barely got to play that day.  He didn't get to play as often as he wanted the whole season.  It was a coed team and 4 girls had to be on the field at all times.  Many of them played defense like Nathan so he got less playing time.  After the game, we went to Grimaldi's in Peoria.  Then we went to a George Strait concert at State Farm Stadium in Glendale.  Chris Stapleton and Little Big Town opened.  They played long sets.  When George finally got on stage it was already pretty late.  We ended up leaving before the concert was over because it was getting so late.  We were so tired from the soccer game earlier in the day and we still had to drive a couple of hours home.  

5/8, I went to Pima County Cooperative Extension Gardens, Pima Prickly Park and to see the saguaro flowers on the saguaro across from Mountain View High School again.

5/10, I went to Tucson Botanical Gardens and to Pima County Cooperative Extension Gardens to see the hollyhocks.

5/11, My hot pink cactus bloomed with 2 flowers.  I went to Bach's Cactus Nursery where their ironwood tree was in bloom.  I also went back to see the saguaro across from Mountain View High School.  

5/12, I went to the Pima County Cooperative Extension Gardens and to see the saguaro across from Mountain View High School. .  Nathan had his music recital at school that evening.  He wasn't happy about going, but it was part of his guitar class grade.  Only 3 out of 10 in his class showed up!  He did a great job, though.  

Mother's Day was on 5/14.  Paul made chicken kebabs for me, per my request and he got me flowers.  Nathan went to church with me.  My mom got me 2 massage gift certificates.  

5/15, My June Noon bloomed.  I went to Pima Prickly Park, Pima County Cooperative Extension Gardens to see the hollyhocks, Tucson Botanical Gardens and to see the saguaro across from Mountain View High School.  

5/16, I went to Pima Prickly Park.

5/17, I went to Pima County Cooperative Extension Gardens to see the hollyhocks.  I went to Starbucks at River and Stone and photographed the saguaro flowers there. I found a crested saguaro at River and Sabino Rd.  I went to Sabino Canyon and it was amazing with all of the flowers in bloom (prickly pear, cholla, saguaros, palo verde trees).  I didn't have a lot of time at Sabino Canyon so I stayed close to the visitor center, but I had plenty to take pictures of!

5/18, My hot pink cactus bloomed.  Nathan soccer team got their awards at school.  He got a certificate for Most Versatile.  He played pretty much every position during the season, but mostly defense.  I went back to Sabino Canyon and took the tram up this time.  Then I walked down most of the way until about stop #3 and got back on the tram.  I saw lots of cool lizards.    

 5/19, My hot pink cactus, white cactus and June Noon all bloomed!

5/22, I went to Tucson Botanical Gardens and Pima County Cooperative Extension Gardens.

5/23, I went to Tohono Chul Park, Pima County Cooperative Extension Gardens and Pima Prickly Park.  It was also Nathan's last day of 7th grade!  He got an Honor Roll certificate.  He's happy to be done at Academy of Math & Science.  Next year he will be going to Legacy.  

5/24, I went to Tohono Chul Park, Tucson Botanical Gardens and Pima County Cooperative Extension Gardens.

5/25, Right outside our garage was a gecko.  It looked like it was surfing because it was on a leaf.  I don't think I have ever seen a gecko like that in our yard before.  My Apricot Glow bloomed.  I went to Tohono Chul Park, Tucson Botanical Garden, Pima County Cooperative Extension Gardens and Green Things Nursery.   Lots of cactus flowers were blooming at Tohono Chul Park.  Unfortunately, they had many of them blocked off due to Cooper's Hawk nesting.  I snuck in and took some quick pictures anyway.  I was shocked they would keep visitors away from all of those blooms.  That area was adjacent to the nesting area and I think would have been safe for visitors.  Or, they could have moved some of the pots prior before the blooms because it was evident several days prior that they would all be blooming together in just a few days.  

5/26, My June Noon hybrid and my purple hedgehog bloomed.

5/27, My white cactus, purple hedgehog and First Light bloomed.

5/29, I started doing 10k steps including 30 minutes on the elliptical again.

My grandma turned 105 on 6/2!  We were not able to go to Chicago this year to celebrate with her.  Maybe later in the year.  We're getting ready to go on our own vacation up to Canada the end of the month (if we get Nathan's passport card in time).  

6/3, Nathan did a baseball lesson at The Hitting Factory since he wants to join the baseball team at Legacy next year.  He's never played on a baseball team before so he has a lot to learn.  

Goodbye Spring Break

 2/27 I went to Tucson Botanical Gardens.

3/2 The Big Snow!  It snowed in Tucson.  I joined many others by Gates Pass to capture the beauty.  I drove through Saguaro National Park thereafter, but the snow was melting quickly.  It's quite magical to see snow on saguaros!  I also went over to Pima Canyon.

3/7 Paul weighs 140 lbs!  He's making progress.

3/9 I went to Picacho Peak State Park.  The wildflowers looked amazing.  

3/11  We went to Peridot Mesa to see the poppies and other wildflowers.  It wasn't quite peak yet, but the flowers were beautiful and there was hardly anyone there.  

3/14 I went to Tucson Botanical Gardens.  They had the most beautiful tulips all around the gardens.  

3/16 I went to Pima County Cooperative Extension Gardens.

We decided to go to San Diego for Spring Break.  We could only go for a few days since Lisa was going to be coming to visit us during part of our break.  We left Friday 3/17 to drive to San Diego.

3/18 I went to see the Carlsbad Flower Fields, something that has been on my bucket list.  You can't actually walk down all of the rows of flowers, but you can walk around the edges and still get pretty close to some of them to get pictures.  The flowers were just starting so only about 1/4 of the fields were in bloom.  Ranunculus in every color.  After going there I headed a few minutes away to the San Diego Botanic Gardens.  They are doing some construction in that garden so unfortunately part of that construction was the waterlily/lotus pond that I love to see.  They had the most beautiful orchid exhibit, though.  

3/19 I went to the San Diego Zoo.  Paul and Nathan went to the Air & Space Museum and to the USS Midway.  

It was a partially rainy day on 3/20 so we did Birch Aquarium in La Jolla.  Paul and I really liked the Leafy Sea Dragon exhibit.  We ate lunch in La Jolla, then went to the Cave Store where you can pay a few bucks to see a sea cave.  There was even a mom and baby sea lion/seal in the cave. We also saw the seals at Children's Pool and more sea lion/seals at the Underwater Park a little further down closer to the Cave Store.  We also got to see Brown Pelicans and the Cormorants nesting with their babies. That was a first for us to see the cormorant babies.  

We had to drive back home the next day and it was raining like crazy.  Unfortunately, because of the rain we opted not to go to Anza Borrego to see the wildflowers.

Lisa arrived 3/22.  

3/23 Paul, Nathan and Lisa went to a White Sox spring training game while I went to the Wildlife World Zoo. The White Sox lost.  

3/24 We went to Colossal Cave.  Paul and Nathan had been there once before, but I had never been there.  The cave was pretty cool.  Coatis like to hang out there, but we didn't get to see any this time :(  However, they have awesome soft serve prickly pear ice cream!

3/25 Nathan went with Lisa and her in-laws on a jeep tour.  They were all in Tucson visiting Lisa's great-niece who is going to U of A.  Paul and I went to the Thunderbirds air show.  

3/26 They all went to Bisbee and Tombstone.  I was going to go to church, but I was so exhausted that I stayed home and cleaned while nobody was there.  

3/27  Nathan went back to school and had soccer practice after school.

3/28 My first yard cactus bloomed for the year.  It was my June Noon hybrid.  One flower bloomed that day and then another one opened up the following day.  I took Lisa to Picacho Peak State Park to see the wildflowers.  Unfortunately, the super bloom was over.  There were flowers scattered here and there so we pretty much just did the nature trail.  There were a few light purple/pink lupines right off the side of the road and I had never seen them in that color before.  There were also a couple of hedgehogs blooming as well as many cactus buds getting ready to bloom!  I have never been to that park before to see the cactus flowers so I may go back.  Nathan had his first soccer game against Legacy NW where he will be going to school next year.  Unfortunately, they lost 1-4.  Nathan was upset that he didn't get to play much.  Part of the problem is that he wanted to play midfield, but the coach put him in defense.  Most of the other girls on the team are also defense.  Since you have to have a certain amount of girls on the field at all times (4, I think), that doesn't give Nathan a lot of play time.  She said those who didn't play much that game would get to play more the following game so we will see if that is the case.  She is considering letting him play midfield so that may be better for him.  He wore the #6 jersey and if I remember right I think I may have been #6 at least one of the years I played high school soccer.  

3/29  It was Lisa's last day so Paul brought her to the airport.  I had to pick Nathan up from school at 1:10 and then we had to go back over that way for his soccer practice at 4.  

3/30 I went to Bach's Cactus Nursery.  I finally found a pink claret cup cactus so I bought it!  They had another pink/red claret cup that I liked and should have bought, but I didn't.  I went back the next day and didn't see it.  There was another similar one so I bought that one.  The pink claret cup had two flowers today and the other deeper pink claret cup that I bought yesterday had one flower today.  It was partially open yesterday when I bought it yesterday, but opened more today.  

3/31 I also went over by Oro Valley Hospital and saw some orange claret cups in bloom as well as a few Argentine Giants.    

No Rodeo Days

 I turned 48 on 1/2.  A depressing birthday as I get nearer to 50.  Nathan bought me a big stuffed animal sloth so that was nice.  

Nathan's last day of  Winter Break was on 1/3 so he and I went to the Desert Museum.  We also drove through Saguaro National Park on the way home so I stopped to take some sunset pictures.

Paul had a great check up at the doctor.  On 1/11 we got the results of his recent blood test and his A1C was 6.3!  Now gaining weight back while maintaining his blood sugar seems to be his main challenge.  

I went back to Saguaro National Park to photograph the sunset on 1/22.

1/23 it was snowing in Tucson!  I first went to Saguaro National Park, but didn't see a lot of snow there.  So then I decided to go to Catalina State Park.  There was quite a bit of water flowing in the wash so I decided not to cross.  I did the nature trail which I had never done before.  

Nathan was the victim of bullying at school on 1/25!  I guess they were playing soccer at recess and Nathan accidentally kicked the ball out of the school grounds.  About half of his class, around 10 boys, ganged up on him and threatened to beat him up.  The main bully was Jace, who takes boxing.  Nathan said the rest of them just don't want to stand up to Jace so they join his group.  Nathan went to the Dean.  Those boys all got detentions and their parents had to meet with the Dean.  Nathan was afraid they would retaliate because they called him a snitch and he got them in trouble.  Several of those boys were even on his volleyball team who he had previously considered friends.    

On 2/2, I went to Pima County Cooperative Extension Gardens.  Not much was blooming there.  So then I went to Tucson Botanical Gardens.  The butterfly exhibit was great and there were lots of orchids blooming.  They also had daffodils and other flowers blooming in the gardens.  

On Valentine's Day it snowed again!  I went to Sabino Canyon.  I still didn't see a lot of snow there, but I enjoyed it.  Near the visitor center I saw their Cristate Saguaro which I don't think I had ever seen there before.  When I went to pick Nathan up from school, he wasn't coming out.  He finally came out 20 minutes late and he had been crying.  He said he was talking to the vice principal because there was another bullying incident.  I was so mad that I went to the office and asked to speak with someone in admin like the principal.  I looked up and the principal was right there.  She asked if he had just talked to Mr. Roddy, the vice principal.  I said yes, but now I wanted to talk to someone.  She said since he talked to Mr. Roddy that he should be the one to handle the situation.  I said that Nathan said Mr Roddy was going in a meeting, though.  She just walked away and let the staff handled it!  I was so upset.  They confirmed Mr Roddy was in a meeting and said he would call me in 10-15 minutes.  We talked on the phone.  He said he wanted to talk to Nathan some more the next day to get more details about what happened.  Nathan said a boy gave him a paper full of ink.  He did it just to be mean.  Nathan didn't want to get ink all over him and he was afraid to get up to throw it away because he thought he would get in trouble.  I guess he passed it along to another boy who got upset and went to the vice principal.  Mr Roddy, the vice principal didn't think Nathan intended any harm to the boy and that it was a minor misunderstanding.  So Nathan and the vice principal talked about it for awhile.  I guess this boy was upset because HE just had his nails done!  Nathan told Mr Roddy about how they are always being mean to him, though.  He wanted to switch classes, but ultimately that didn't happen.  Mr. Roddy came and talked to the class the next day and basically scolded them for their behavior.  Nathan seemed satisfied with that so I decided to let it go for now.  Surprisingly, Nathan still wanted to try out for the co-ed soccer team even though many in his class would be trying out, too.     

Paul and I celebrated our 20th anniversary on 2/17.  He had bought me flowers and some lab created emerald earrings on Ebay for about $120.  He researched the significance of the 20th anniversary and saw that the emerald was the symbol so that is why he wanted to buy me emerald jewelry.  We didn't actually do anything on our anniversary, though.  He worked and I had to take Nathan to school.  He didn't even plan dinner out or anything.  

On 2/20 I went to Picacho Peak State Park to check out the poppies.  They were looking amazing!  Then after school I took Nathan to his soccer tryout.  A couple of his friends were trying out as well, like Killian who spent his birthday with him.  

We were supposed to go to San Diego for Rodeo Days 2/23-2/27.  Unfortunately, it was forecasted to rain and snow and be cold there the whole time so we cancelled our trip.  We are going to try again for Spring Break.  However, Lisa is coming to visit the latter part of that week so we can only go to San Diego for a few days.  

I decided to go back to Picacho Peak State Park on 2/24.  The poppies were still amazing and I saw a big patch of purple flowers in one area, too.  We also found out that day that Nathan made the soccer team!  Unfortunately, his friends like Killian did not make the team.  Nathan was still happy to make the team.  I am going to have to take him to all of his practices and games so it's going to be busy the next couple of months.  

We also just found out that Nathan has been accepted into Legacy for next year!  So we completed the registration and now they just have to approve that.  Legacy is closer, is supposed to be a good school, but it is also a tough school with more homework than he is used to this year.