Come on Fall!

I joined Pixoto on 7/27 and I have been obsessed with it ever since.  I have won numerous awards....but no money :(

I went to Sweetwater Wetlands on 7/28 to see the baby coots I had been hearing about.  I had never seen babies before so that was kind of cool.

Nathan has been so cute lately.  He has been giving me long kisses an hugs, particularly hugs.  When he is done giving me a long hug he says "That is how much I love you".

I took Nathan to the zoo on 7/31.  We got to see the new capybara.  They now have a female and male and it was really cute seeing them together.

7/31 was meet the teacher night at Nathan's school.  He had been in Mrs. Robbins class several times last year when Ms. Monica was not there.  I like her.  The bad thing is that she is also student teaching this year.  She was there the first few weeks and then she started student teaching.  She is supposed to be back the middle/end of October.  The teacher teaching in his place was good, but then she took a position elsewhere.  So Nathan is on his third teacher this year.  Mrs. Amy Wilson is good and always did the break times for his past teachers so he is familiar with her, too.  I just hate the inconsistency.  I will be glad when Mrs. Robbins is back.  He started off the year so good with her. Then he started telling me that some of the boys in the class were not being nice to him and not sharing.  I talked to the teacher about it (the one who ended up leaving) and she said she would pay closer attention to it.  Later that day she agreed that he was being nice to them, but they were not being as nice back so she talked to the class about sharing and about everyone being friends.  She said the day got better after that.  Unfortunately, that is the last day I saw her because she left and they switched teachers again.  The next day Nathan was in school he had a hard time at nap time, keeping the other kids up, so he had to be sent to the office.  We talked about the change in teachers and we told Nathan that he had to be good at nap time even if he was not tired.  He had a much better day the next time.  Meanwhile, I have already started the application process for Kindergarten next year at Sonoran Science Academy.  The application was lengthy, but I submitted it.  Now we wait. Not everyone gets accepted.  I almost wish that he was staying at Casas because he is used to it there and it is a Christian school.  He talks about God all of the time and some of that is because of that school.  However, Paul wants him to have the best education.  Sonoran Science Academy is supposed to be a great school and it goes all the way up to 12th grade.

Nathan's first day of school was 8/4.  It seems like they start earlier and earlier each year.  He picked out what he wanted to wear which ended up being his hot air balloon shirt from Albuquerque.  He had a great first day.  While Nathan was in school, I went to the Reid Park Rose Garden and Tucson Botanical Gardens.

On 8/7, I saw that one of my capybara photos was photo of the week on the Reid Park Zoo website. Also that day I asked my son if I could play this little piggy on his feet.  He said I could only do this little piggy if I play cars with him.

8/15:  My son is such a sweetie.  He gives me the longest hugs.  He says mommy this hug is going to last all the way until tomorrow.  He crawls in my lap (as big as he is)!), puts his head on my shoulder and just stays there for the longest time.  I don't want him to grow up!

Nathan was playing with his mega blocks before school on 8/18.  I ask him if I could kiss him all over.  He says, no mommy I need my space.  So then he says, when I am playing with my toys I need my space, but when I am done you can kiss me all over.  Of course at the end he said that I could play blocks with him if I wanted to.  Kids say the cutest things.

8/20, Nathan came home with the cutest book he made at school. One page said my name is and he had to write his name.  Another one said I want to be when I grow up and he said a fireman so he drew a fire truck (although he told me that he wanted to be a lot of things, but they would not let him finish), one page had his handprint, one page had his favorite color red, etc...  Then he had a page where he had to draw his family.  He drew me, daddy, himself and grandpa.  He said he ran out of room to draw grandma, but that we were on an airplane to go see her.  Grandpa had no hair in his drawing!

Nathan and I went to DeGrazia Gallery in the Sun on 8/21 because the monsoons produced a bunch more cactus flowers.  Saw some beautiful peach ones!  Later that day Nathan and I made pumpkin cupcakes!

On 8/25, I went to the Sweetwater Wetlands to see the "baby"coots again and then I went to the Desert Museum.

The following day I took Nathan to the Children's Museum.  They changed some things around in there and Nathan had a blast.

On 8/26 someone told me on one of my Facebook groups that she wanted to paint one of my pictures.  I said sure and that I would like to see it when it is done.  I have not heard anything since, though.

Bella and Tulla went to the vet on 8/30 for their 6 month check up.  All is well.  Bella lost a couple of pounds, but she needs to lose a little more.  Tulla lost quite a bit of weight so we are actually feeding her more now.  Tulla is still itching like crazy.  The vet prescribed an antihistamine, but it did not really help her.  She is still itching so I am hoping that it stops if the weather will ever cool down.

On 8/30, I told my son I love his feet.  He said to say goodbye to his feet because they are leaving!

Paul went to work for awhile on Labor Day, 9/1.  Doesn't he realize that is one of the days of the year when you are not supposed to work?!

I took Nathan to the zoo again on 9/2.  Later that day he thanked me for everything under the sun...buying him clothes, buying him toys, taking him to the zoo, doing his laundry, buying him food, etc.... and then he kept telling me how much he loved me.  I said I don't know why you love mommy so much, but I am glad you do.  He said I love you so much because I really like you.

Nathan was  being really sweet again on 9/4.  I wrote down some of the things he told me.  He still keeps thanking me for everything.  He said, "You are the best one on earth I ever saw", "I love you more than all of the people out there" and "I will love you forever" among others.

On 9/5, I went to the Reid Park Rose Garden and to Prickly Park.

On 9/6, we all went to the Desert Museum.

9/9 was National Teddy Bear day so I made Nathan take some pictures with his teddy bear!

Debbie Madl came out to visit on 9/10.  The next day we took her to Sedona.  We ate at the Open Range when we got there.  The next day we went to Cathedral Rock and then we went over to Chapel of the Holy Cross as well as Bell Rock.  We went to Slide Rock Park, but they had the swimming area closed due to the recent fires.  They opened it up again shortly after we left Sedona :(.  We drove a little up toward Flagstaff, but saw that they still had the West Fork hiking trail closed so we drove a little further up and then decided to come back.

The following day we went hiking.  We started at Boynton and then decided to do Devil's Bridge. We did not know what we were getting ourselves into at Devil's Bridge.  The trail was a lot longer and harder than we thought.  The views at the bridge were amazing, though.  We all went swimming back at the hotel that night.

On 9/14, we went up to Bearizona.  We got to see some wildflowers along the way.  From there we headed back to Tucson.  The following day Debbie went back home.  I was disappointed that there were not more Fall colors for her to see in Sedona.  It is so beautiful in the Fall.

On 9/17, Nathan had another good quote "God is a good boy!".  I was also told that day by someone that he thought I was 25.  Not bad for a woman getting ready to turn 40!

Nathan and I watched the Muppet Movie on 9/19.  I had not seen it in years and Nathan had never seen it.  I don't think he was very impressed, but he did like Kermit.

9/20 was Paul's 44th birthday.  He did not want to do much that day.  I ordered him tropical flowers, including his favorite bird of paradise.  I got him ho-hos and a new pair of shoes.  We went to eat at our favorite place, Athens.

My son gave me 50 kisses on 9/20!

I went to the zoo on 9/22 to see the new baby elephant.  She was out with her mom and brother Sudzu.  Later that day I asked Nathan if I could get his feet (yes, I am obsessed) and he said no, but you can kiss me all over!  I don't think Nathan has ever seen the movie We Bought a Zoo.  However, I think he wants to live Matt Damon's life in that movie.  He keeps telling me that when he gets older he is going to have a zoo and he is going to have a house to live in inside the zoo (actually he has changed it to a hotel).

9/25:  My son told me that he will always love me to heaven and back.  I said I hope so.  He said I am sure I will!

9/26:  Our family has Flintstone vitamins every night.  Whenever Nathan gets the Fred Flintstone one he keeps calling it Tombstone.  Only a kid who lives in southern AZ!

We went up to the Phoenix area yesterday, 9/27.  I went to Butterfly Wonderland while Paul and Nathan went to McMormick-Stillman Railroad Park.  We went to Portillos for lunch.  Then we battled the thunderstorm over to Chase Field.  It was pretty scary because it was hard to even see on the highway.  We saw the Diamondbacks play the Cardinals.  Diamondbacks won.  When we left it was pouring.  We waited in the parking garage for awhile and we decided to venture out the rain was not as bad.

Yesterday was such a long day so today we decided to stay home from church.

Summer heat!

4th of July we stayed home.  We cooked out and Nathan swam in his pool.  In the evening we made smores outside and watched the fireworks from our balcony.

The next day we tried to go to Sabino Canyon, but there was no water flowing.  So we took Nathan to the splash pad.  Then I went to the Reid Park Rose Garden for awhile.

On 7/10, I went to Tohono Chul Park for their Queen of the Night event.  I went back the next day to see if some of the cactus flowers had opened.  I also went over to DeGrazia Gallery in the Sun to see some of their cactus flowers. I repeated that the next day!

We went to Peach Mania at Apple Annie's in Willcox on 7/19.  We ate their peach pancake breakfast and had the peach ice cream.  We picked peaches and veggies.

Donnie and his family stayed last night.  We took them to Tombstone today.

Vacation!

We rented a Toyota Prius Hybrid and drove that baby over 6000 miles across America.  

We started our vacation on 6/11 and our first stop was Lake Havasu City to see the London Bridge.  We ate lunch there and then drove to Hoover Dam.  From there we went to Las Vegas and stayed the night.  We stayed at Excalibur which Nathan loved because it looks like a big castle.  We went for a gondola ride at the Venetian, ate dinner at the Harley Davidson Cafe and we saw the fountain at Bellagio.  

The next day we headed to Utah Olympic Park in Park City where Paul rode the bobsled and we all did the alpine slide.  Driving to Idaho that day we got in a horrible dust storm.  We saw a bunch of tumbleweed flying in the road and a little drizzle and then out of nowhere the dust hit and we could not see a thing.  We quickly got to the side of the road along with other cars and trucks and it was a miracle that none of us hit each other.  That night we stopped at the Idaho Potato Museum, but they were closed.  We just took pictures in front of it.  That night we got the Presidential suite in Idaho Falls so that I could soak in the whirlpool tub.  They gave us a discount on the room, but even though we still paid a pretty penny for it, it was worth it because it finally got rid of my bodyaches that I had for days after getting a painful massage.  

On 6/13, we headed to Grand Teton National Park.  We saw a lot of moose which I had never seen in person before, including a baby and one adult that got pretty close to us near a visitor's center.  I really enjoyed the Grand Tetons and the snow capped mountains were just beautiful.  Next we drove to Yellowstone.  One of the first of many animals we saw was a mother and baby elk.  We saw Old Faithful before heading out of the park for the night.  

We returned to Yellowstone the next day.  We saw lots of buffalo, geysers, waterfalls, and wildflowers.  We saw a bear and some crazy people who were getting too close for comfort to take pictures of it.  On the way back to our hotel that night we saw a fox.  I think that is the first time I had ever seen a fox in the wild.  

On 6/15, we started the day at Grizzly & Wolf Discovery Center just outside Yellowstone.  From there we headed back to Yellowstone for the day.  

On 6/16, we headed to Devil’s Tower National Monument.  We saw deer, ram and prairie dogs.  We also made a stop at Montana Grizzly Encounter.  During our travels that day we saw pronghorn sheep, too.  That night we stayed in Deadwood, SD.  

The next day we headed to Sturgis stopping at the Harley Shop there.  Then we went to Bear Country USA, a drive thru wildlife park similar to Bearizona in Arizona.  After Bear Country USA, we headed to Mount Rushmore.  After Mount Rushmore, we drove through the Badlands.  That night we drove through a horrible thunderstorm on the way to Sioux Falls.  It was so scary we had to stop under some bridges to wait it out a bit, but then we decided to go on.  

The next morning we visited the Sioux Falls before heading out of town.  We drove through Iowa stopping at a cave that Paul and Nathan went in.  I opted out because there were 250 stairs and caves do not really thrill me.  We ate dinner at Fried Green Tomatoes in Galena, IL before heading to Rockford for the night.  

The next day we met grandma and grandpa Hoehn at the Illinois Railway Museum in Union, IL.  We ate dinner at Stir Crazy!  We stayed the night in Bolingbrook with Paul’s sister Tracy.  

The next day we visited with Paul’s brother and his family before heading to my grandma’s for the night.  

6/21 we went to Brookfield Zoo and spent the day with Paul’s sister Lisa and her family.  

6/22 we met grandma and grandpa Hoehn in South Haven, MI.  Nathan loved playing at the beach.  That night we drove to Grand Haven to see the lighted musical fountain.  I was excited because I figured out some settings on my camera to actually get decent shots of it.  Usually I am terrible at night shots.  

6/23 we went to Lincoln Park Zoo.  We met grandma and grandpa Hoehn and Carol at Uncle Julio's in Orland Park for dinner.  Paul and I used to eat at the Uncle Julio's in the northern suburbs back when we worked in that area.  This one was just as good!  

6/24 we started our trip back to Tucson.  We stopped at the World’s Largest Truck Stop in Iowa and we got to see the covered bridges in Madison County.   We had lunch in Omaha, Nebraska.    

6/25 we drove to Denver and went to a Rockies/Cardinals game.  We stayed the night in Denver and the next day we went to the Wild Animal Sanctuary and then to the Cheyenne Mountain Zoo.  

6/27 we went to Garden of the gods and then drove up to Pike’s Peak in Colorado Springs.  Then we went to Colorado Wolf & Wildlife Center hoping to “kiss a wolf”.  The tour was booked and we did not have a lot of time to wait around for the next one.  However, I got to interact with foxes!  Nathan was too young to go in with the foxes so I got to feed them and get close to them.  They took a lot of pictures of me and gave me a photo CD.  It was a very cool experience.  

6/28 we went to Arches National Park.  I did not know what I was getting myself into when we started the hike to Delicate Arch.  It was a strenuous 1.5 mile uphill hike in 90+ temps.  It was depressing to see people heavier and/or older than myself hiking it while I was about to die.  I made it, though, and I stood under the arch.  After Arches National Park we drove through part of the Canyonlands.  It was getting late so we started driving toward Page, AZ.  We stayed the night in Page and did the upper Antelope Canyon tour in the morning.  Then we made the drive home and arrived last night.                      

I did a lot of experimenting with my camera this trip which I have to admit did not work out so well.  Just proves that I really need to learn more about my camera and photography.  I did a class a year or so ago and I was really overwhelmed, but I need to somehow find the time to learn more.  It also would be nice to get new equipment, like a longer lens (my zoom is 300mm).  Still, I took over 3000 shots so I hope that some of them are decent!

So we got to see a lot of animals and wildflowers this trip which exited me.  Nathan got to play in snow and at the beach all in one trip.  This was a very busy vacation so there was no time for relaxing.  I need a vacation from my vacation!  Instead, I have to unpack everything, do a million loads of laundry, get groceries, pay bills, go through mail, check my email and Facebook, go through 3000+ pictures, etc....

Summer is here!

Memorial Day we went up to Mt Lemmon.

5/31 we went to Tucson International Speedway.

On 6/6, I went to DeGrazia Gallery in the Sun and Sweetwater Wetlands.

I went to the Desert Museum's Saturday Summer Nights on 6/7.

May

On 5/7, I went to the Reid Park Rose Garden, Tucson Botanical Gardens, Columbus Park, Sweetwater Wetllands, and Arthur Pack Park.

I took Nathan to Arthur Pack Park on 5/8.

5/11 was Mother's Day.  It was not a very good one for me and I will leave it at that.

Nathan and I went to the Desert Museum on 5/13.

Nathan had his Pre-K celebration at school on 5/15.  Technically, he did not graduate preschool with the rest of the class.  He got moved up to this class mid-year so he still has another year of preschool.  He successfully completed Ms. Monica's class, though.  They did the pledge of allegiance, sang and danced to songs, including What does a fox say.  It was cute.

Nathan went with daddy to a local car race here in Tucson on 5/17.

On 5/19, I went to Reid Park Zoo, the Reid Park Rose Garden and to Arthur Pack Park.

We went to the first Friday Summer Nights at Reid Park Zoo on 5/23.

Today Paul and Nathan went to a U of A baseball game.

May already...

I can not believe how fast this year is flying by.  It seem like Christmas was just yesterday.

On 4/22, Nathan and I went to DeGrazia Gallery in the Sun to photograph more cactus flowers and to Christopher Columbus Park.  Nathan loved one of the big trees there.  He wanted to climb it.  Not too many climbing trees in Tucson.

The next day I went back to Christopher Columbus Park.  I got to photograph several birds...yes, I have become a birder now!  I saw vermilion flycatcher, night heron, kildeer and a great blue heron nest with two babies!  The nest is pretty far for me so even with my 300mm zoom lens I can only get mediocre pictures of the heron family.  Still, pretty cool to see.

Nathan and I went to the Tucson Botanical Gardens on 4/24. Their torch cactus garden was in full bloom and we got to see the butterflies.  That afternoon I let him play at our park in our subdivision, but it was pretty hot by that time so we did not stay long.

Paul and I had a date day on 4/25!  We went to Tohono Chul Park.  We walked around looking at the flowers and we had lunch there.  Then we went over to Christopher Columbus Park.  He was not impressed.  He thought it was dumpy.  I agree, but I like the birds there.  They also have a model airplane spot.

On 4/26 I decided to take the drive by myself to go back to Wildlife World Zoo.  It rained in the morning and it was a little windy, but I am glad I went.  I got a lot of pictures of the baby otters, the baby meerkats and the young white lion.  Afterward, I went to the Gilbert Riparian Reserve.  I heard it is a great place for birding.  I did not see a lot other than a stilt.

We went to the Pima County Fair on 4/27.  Nathan had fun on all of the rides.  I liked the petting zoo.  We also got pictures taken with parrots, a monkey and a seal/sea lion!  Oh, and a picture in a HUGE chair.

I went back to DeGrazia Gallery in the Sun on 4/28 to make more pictures of their cactus flowers.

Nathan and I went to the Desert Museum on 4/29.  Their torch cactus garden was in full bloom.  We got to see Cruz, the mountain lion, by the glass.  I saw one young prairie dog, but last year at this time there were a ton of them.  There were a few baby hummingbirds.

On 4/30, I decided to go to Brach's Cactus Nursery.  Karen McCreroy had told me about it.  I picked a good day to go because a lot of their cacti had flowers.  I did not have a lot of time, though, because I had a hair appointment.  I ended up getting out of there late and I got lost so I was almost an hour late to my hair appointment.   She asked me to come back in about an hour so I went over to DeGrazia Gallery in the Sun.  After my hair appointment I went to the Tucson Botanical Gardens.  It was the last day of their butterfly exhibit and they had a few more cactus flowers, including the beautiful flying saucer.

I went back to Brach's Cactus Nursery on 5/2.  There were only a few cacti blooming, not nearly as many a couple of days prior.  They said they only get like 3 days a year where there that many flowers.  The cool thing that day is catching a dove on a saguaro flower, though.

April

On 4/2, I went to the Reid Park Zoo, the Reid Park Rose Garden and the Tucson Botanical Gardens.

On 4/9, I went to the Desert Museum.

On 4/10, I stopped by Nortwest Self Storage and took pictures of their night blooming cacti.  Then I took Nathan to Arthur Pack Park.  They are working on the park, but he was still able to ride his big wheel on the sidewalk.

Took more pictures of the night blooming cacti at Northwest Self Storage on 4/11.  That night we took Nathan to Spring Fling at U of A.  Some of the kiddie rides were too fast for Nathan, but he liked the ones where he got to climb and go down slides.  He also really liked the bumper cars!

We went to the Thunderbirds Air Show on 4/12.  Unfortunately, it was too windy for the Thunderbirds to fly that day.

We went to Tombstone on 4/13 for their Rose Festival.  I wanted to see their rose tree in full bloom.  It was sort of a let down.  But, we took an old time photo of us and Nathan got to shoot a gun with paint pellets.  On the way home, we stopped at the Davis-Monthan Air Force Base to see the Thunderbirds since they were unable to perform the day before.

On 4/16, I went to Reid Park Zoo, Reid Park Rose Garden, Tucson Botanical Gardens and Fort Lowell Park.  Got to see a vermilion flycatcher at Fort Lowell Park so that was pretty cool.  Unfortunately, I also got a ticket that day for failure to stop for a school bus.  It was on Oracle which is a very busy street, almost like a highway.  I did not expect a school bus to stop on that street and it was in the far right lane while I was in the far left lane getting ready to turn on a side road.  I did not see it in time to stop.  Now I am going to take traffic school to get it off my record.

Nathan and I colored Easter eggs on 4/18 and we took him to see the Easter Bunny.

We took Nathan to the Children's Museum for their Easter egg hunt on 4/19.  It was a little cheesy because it was really crowded and each child only got 4 eggs.

The Easter Bunny spoiled Nathan again this year.  He got sand toys, coloring books, candy, several Disney planes, a Scooby Doo monster truck, Connor the train and a lot of cars (Herbie the love bug, two color shifters, #4 Kevin Harvick Jimmy Johns NASCAR, #43 Petty NASCAR, Peeps, '62 thunderbird, bumper car, Lightning McQueen, a delorean and the Hooters NASCAR).   We went to church.  Paul and Nathan went to Hooters for lunch and I stayed home and ate my honey baked ham!