We have been really busy lately.
Let's start with today. Looks like Obama got re-elected. I can't believe that our country would re-elect him. It scares me for the future of America.
Now let's go back to 10/18. I took Nathan to Reid Park Zoo. It is still an adjustment now that I am letting him walk around with me instead of sitting in the stroller. Keeping tabs on him makes it more difficult to take pictures, too (which is why I often go there by myself when he is in school!).
10/20 we went to Boo at the Zoo at the Phoenix Zoo. We did it last year, too, so we knew it would be a fun day. Boy my feet hurt after walking around that zoo, though. It is so much bigger than Reid Park Zoo. That night we stayed in Scottsdale. The next morning we drove to Clarkdale and took a train ride at Verde Canyon Railway. It was Nathan's first train ride. It was pretty, particularly with the red rock, but we were a little disappointed. We did not see a lot of Fall colors nor much wildlife. They told us we might see eagles, but we didn't :(
10/26 & 10/27 I did a Photowalk at the Desert Museum. This was my first time doing one so I was excited. It was good, but I was disappointed. The behind the scenes stuff was not really geared toward photographers so I think they could of come up with some better photo opportunites for us. I got to see the raptor free flight show and I learned how to shoot in continuous mode which helped. I also learned how to force the flash on my camera and the flash helped me in the hummingbird aviary. However, the instructor advised us to always use the flash at zoos due to diffused lighting, but I have found that it does not work well for me. For now I will stick to the auto setting!
After the Photowalk we drove to Williams, AZ. We stayed there overnight and got up the next day to go to Bearizona. Love that place! It started our cold, but quickly became a beautiful Fall day. They fed some of the animals pumpkins and we got to take the open air bus ride. I used my flash most of the day and after the fact I realized that many of my pictures did not turn out well because of it. However, I took like 500 pictures so I did get some good ones.
After Bearizona we headed home via Sedona. We were hoping to see some more Fall colors. We saw a little, but it was not as pretty as it was last year when we went. We stopped in Sedona to have lunch before driving the rest of the way home.
On Halloween, I went to Reid Park Zoo where they were feeding most of the animals pumpkins. I particularly liked the elephants and the lions. The elephants stomped the pumpkins with their feet. The lions were playing with the pumpkins, even in the water. I made another photography mistake that day because I forgot to turn the flash off when I was shooting pictures of the lions through the fence. I am learning the hard way what not to do!
That night we got Nathan dressed up in his doctor costume to take him trick or treating. We headed out, but he did not want to go up to any of the houses to ask for candy. So daddy walked him around the block while I started handing out candy. When they got back they helped hand out candy. I think Nathan got a kick out of all the kids dressed up and giving them candy. We ran out within an hour and a half and I thought I bought more this year than last year. We get tons of trick or treaters! It is still hard to get used to since we did not get any when we lived in our townhome in IL.
On 11/3 Nathan and Paul had a father/son day. They went to Empire Ranch and Parker Canyon Lake. I stayed home to clean and go through pictures. I feel like I did not make much progress with either!
Tuesday, November 6, 2012
Monday, October 15, 2012
I miss Nina!
On 9/28, I went to Reid Park Zoo.
On 10/1, I went to the season opener of the butterfly exhibit at the Tucson Botanical Gardens.
We went to Apple Annie's Pumpkin Farm on 10/6. We always enjoy our time there picking apples, going on the tractor ride to get our pumpkins, enjoying pumpkin ice cream, getting fresh tomatoes and other veggies to take home, etc...
On 10/8, I went back to Reid Park Zoo. It was somwhat uneventful for me that day so I stopped at the Tucson Botanical Gardens on the way home and took pictures of the butterflies again.
10/10/12 - One of the hardest days of my life. I took Nina to a scheduled vet appointment to get her bordatella shot. However, she had been having trouble breathing for a couple of days so they did some x-rays. She had a lot of rocks stuck between her stomach and intestines and she had severe heart disease. I made the difficult decision to put her down that same day. I cried my eyes out. Nina was "my" first dog. We adopted her on 5/17/03 shortly after we got married. We drove to Michigan to get her. She was 3-4 years old at the time. Thus, she lived to be about 13 years old. She had numerous health problems that were developing over the last couple of years. It is still hard to believe she is gone. I have had a dog all of my life. I want another dog and I want my son to grow up with dogs. Paul does not want another dog, though. He says he likes dogs as long as they are not his own, meaning he does not want the expense, the dog hair all over the house, etc... My first choice would be a golden retriever mix, but they tend to be larger dogs and I would prefer a medium sized dog. There are some golden retriever rescue groups in the area, but they seem to have mostly older dogs. I want a younger (but not a puppy) female dog who will be with our family for many years.
I attended another photo safari at Reid Park Zoo on 10/13. The problem was that I showed up on the wrong day! I was signed up to go on 11/3, but I had both days written down in my organizer. I had scheduled it a long time ago so I did not remember to take off the October date on my calendar. They let me stay, though. I did not get many good pictures this time around.
After I got home from my photo safari and after Paul got his flat tire replaced, we took a drive to Sierra Vista and went to Ramsey Canyon Preserve. I did not realize what I was getting myself into. I had no idea it would be an uphill hike and I did not wear the right shoes for it. But, I made it all of the way to the top. On our drive out we even saw a momma and baby deer.
On 10/1, I went to the season opener of the butterfly exhibit at the Tucson Botanical Gardens.
We went to Apple Annie's Pumpkin Farm on 10/6. We always enjoy our time there picking apples, going on the tractor ride to get our pumpkins, enjoying pumpkin ice cream, getting fresh tomatoes and other veggies to take home, etc...
On 10/8, I went back to Reid Park Zoo. It was somwhat uneventful for me that day so I stopped at the Tucson Botanical Gardens on the way home and took pictures of the butterflies again.
10/10/12 - One of the hardest days of my life. I took Nina to a scheduled vet appointment to get her bordatella shot. However, she had been having trouble breathing for a couple of days so they did some x-rays. She had a lot of rocks stuck between her stomach and intestines and she had severe heart disease. I made the difficult decision to put her down that same day. I cried my eyes out. Nina was "my" first dog. We adopted her on 5/17/03 shortly after we got married. We drove to Michigan to get her. She was 3-4 years old at the time. Thus, she lived to be about 13 years old. She had numerous health problems that were developing over the last couple of years. It is still hard to believe she is gone. I have had a dog all of my life. I want another dog and I want my son to grow up with dogs. Paul does not want another dog, though. He says he likes dogs as long as they are not his own, meaning he does not want the expense, the dog hair all over the house, etc... My first choice would be a golden retriever mix, but they tend to be larger dogs and I would prefer a medium sized dog. There are some golden retriever rescue groups in the area, but they seem to have mostly older dogs. I want a younger (but not a puppy) female dog who will be with our family for many years.
I attended another photo safari at Reid Park Zoo on 10/13. The problem was that I showed up on the wrong day! I was signed up to go on 11/3, but I had both days written down in my organizer. I had scheduled it a long time ago so I did not remember to take off the October date on my calendar. They let me stay, though. I did not get many good pictures this time around.
After I got home from my photo safari and after Paul got his flat tire replaced, we took a drive to Sierra Vista and went to Ramsey Canyon Preserve. I did not realize what I was getting myself into. I had no idea it would be an uphill hike and I did not wear the right shoes for it. But, I made it all of the way to the top. On our drive out we even saw a momma and baby deer.
Thursday, September 27, 2012
Nathan misses his grandparents!
On 9/12, I went to Reid Park Zoo.
On 9/16, I fainted getting ready for church. It took me all day to recover from it.
On 9/17, I went to Reid Park Zoo again.
9/18-9/25 my parents were in town. We took them to Mt Lemmon on Paul's birthday, 9/20. We ate at the Cookie Cabin and then we went up to the top for a ski lift ride. They claimed they had never been to the top. For dinner, we went to Trail Dust Town. On 9/23, we went to Tombstone after church. The purpose was to see the new Harley Davidson store. Paul and I got to go on a date night on 9/24. We used a Groupon and went to dinner at Lodge on the Desert. We thought it would be a little fancier and the location is not the greatest, but the food was great. I loved the cream of garlic soup and I got the pan-speared chicken breast with tamari butter sauce and roasted potatoes. Topped off with a prickly pear lemonade! Paul got the tamales. Grandma and grandpa left on 9/25. I think Nathan really misses them. He seemed to love having them here. It is almost as if no time or distance has separated them when he is with his family from Chicago.
On 9/16, I fainted getting ready for church. It took me all day to recover from it.
On 9/17, I went to Reid Park Zoo again.
9/18-9/25 my parents were in town. We took them to Mt Lemmon on Paul's birthday, 9/20. We ate at the Cookie Cabin and then we went up to the top for a ski lift ride. They claimed they had never been to the top. For dinner, we went to Trail Dust Town. On 9/23, we went to Tombstone after church. The purpose was to see the new Harley Davidson store. Paul and I got to go on a date night on 9/24. We used a Groupon and went to dinner at Lodge on the Desert. We thought it would be a little fancier and the location is not the greatest, but the food was great. I loved the cream of garlic soup and I got the pan-speared chicken breast with tamari butter sauce and roasted potatoes. Topped off with a prickly pear lemonade! Paul got the tamales. Grandma and grandpa left on 9/25. I think Nathan really misses them. He seemed to love having them here. It is almost as if no time or distance has separated them when he is with his family from Chicago.
Sunday, September 9, 2012
A new week
On 9/5, I went to the Desert Museum when Nathan was at school. I got to see the bear in the water for the first time, the ocelot was actually moving around, there were hundreds of caterpillars on the museum grounds which I guess come out every 3-4 years and I saw a fox roaming around the grounds. I also had one of their yummy salads and the prickly pear punch.
Yesterday we went to the U of A football game against Oklahoma St. First we went to eat dinner at our favorite pizza place, Grimaldi's. We stayed for half the game and left because it was past little man's bedtime. He did good up until then, though. They won 59-38. This was their second game of the year and they won the first one in overtime. The weather was perfect for the game and I also got to try their prickly pear lemonade which was very good.
Since it was a late night for us last night we decided not to go to church today. We did, however, go to out to breakfast. I wanted chocolate chip pancakes and Paul did not feel like cooking...so we went out!
Yesterday we went to the U of A football game against Oklahoma St. First we went to eat dinner at our favorite pizza place, Grimaldi's. We stayed for half the game and left because it was past little man's bedtime. He did good up until then, though. They won 59-38. This was their second game of the year and they won the first one in overtime. The weather was perfect for the game and I also got to try their prickly pear lemonade which was very good.
Since it was a late night for us last night we decided not to go to church today. We did, however, go to out to breakfast. I wanted chocolate chip pancakes and Paul did not feel like cooking...so we went out!
Tuesday, September 4, 2012
It is September already!
The year is flying by, but I am glad Fall is coming. I am so tired of his heat!
On 8/23, I took Nathan to the zoo.
Nina had her 6 month vet appointment on 8/25. I discussed with them everything that is going on with her. Her main problem is that she can't not control her bowels very well. She has the cyst on her eyelid, arthritis, cataracts, a heart murmur and she is probably close to 13 years old. The blood tests did not show anything too alarming, but they found another lump on her leg and she has lost a lot of weight even though I did not start feeding her less until a week before her appointment. They agreed that senility could be setting in and that something undetected like cancer could be starting. Coupled with all of her other problems, they said they would support our decision to put her down if that is what we decided to do. This has been a tough decision for me which Paul and I have been talking about for awhile. He wanted to put her down a long time ago. I did not want the decision to be a selfish one so I wanted to hear the vet's opinion. Hearing that they would support our decision to put her down just made me break down in tears. I called Paul and he said to schedule it in a couple of weeks so we could spend a little more time with her. The ironic thing is that she has not been quite as bad since her appointment. I had finally agreed to put her down, but now I am unsure again. Feeding her less makes her have less accidents, but I also do not want her to lose more weight. She has been slightly peppier and really enjoys when we are downstairs with her...even Nathan sometimes! He used to bother her a lot when she just wanted to be left alone, but he has been a lot better recently. We may wait until my parents come out later this month to put her down, if we are still going to do so. Maybe I will see what they think when they see her.
On 8/29, I went to the zoo and to the Tucson Botanical Gardens when Nathan was in school. I got some great shots of the new baby flamingo and of our female tiger in the water. The zoo decided to share one of my tiger pictures on their facebook page. I also found out that day that my prairie dog picture that I entered into a contest got chosen to be featured in their Autumn issue of BBC Wildlife Magazine.
Paul decided to take off on Friday, 8/31. We were going to enjoy a kid-free day while Nathan was in school. We took both cars to get washed. They had problems starting Paul's car again so they suspected it needed a new battery. We had just replaced the battery on the Grand Prix a week ago! On the way to Pep Boys to get the battery looked at, one of the windows broke! We got the battery replaced and scheduled the window to be fixed the next day. We at least got to enjoy a lunch together at Pappoules. Later that night we drove to Oracle to eat dinner at Nonna Maria's. They were closed for the holiday weekend! I got some nice sunset pictures over there, though, and we ended up eating at Carlota's in Catalina. I never saw Nathan eat so much. He loves his chips and salsa and cheese quesadilla.
On Saturday, 9/1, we got the window fixed fixed on the Grand Am and then went over to Breakers Water Park. Nathan had a blast. He is getting more used to the water and even liked putting his head under. We are thinking he is ready for swimming lessons again.
Nathan had the BIGGEST temper tantrum after church on Sunday all because he could not take home some cars he played with in Sunday School!
Yesterday we took Nathan to the zoo for Labor Day. It was crowded and hot! I wanted to see the new baby zebra, but it was not out. We also found out that Snow, the polar bear, died that morning.
On 8/23, I took Nathan to the zoo.
Nina had her 6 month vet appointment on 8/25. I discussed with them everything that is going on with her. Her main problem is that she can't not control her bowels very well. She has the cyst on her eyelid, arthritis, cataracts, a heart murmur and she is probably close to 13 years old. The blood tests did not show anything too alarming, but they found another lump on her leg and she has lost a lot of weight even though I did not start feeding her less until a week before her appointment. They agreed that senility could be setting in and that something undetected like cancer could be starting. Coupled with all of her other problems, they said they would support our decision to put her down if that is what we decided to do. This has been a tough decision for me which Paul and I have been talking about for awhile. He wanted to put her down a long time ago. I did not want the decision to be a selfish one so I wanted to hear the vet's opinion. Hearing that they would support our decision to put her down just made me break down in tears. I called Paul and he said to schedule it in a couple of weeks so we could spend a little more time with her. The ironic thing is that she has not been quite as bad since her appointment. I had finally agreed to put her down, but now I am unsure again. Feeding her less makes her have less accidents, but I also do not want her to lose more weight. She has been slightly peppier and really enjoys when we are downstairs with her...even Nathan sometimes! He used to bother her a lot when she just wanted to be left alone, but he has been a lot better recently. We may wait until my parents come out later this month to put her down, if we are still going to do so. Maybe I will see what they think when they see her.
On 8/29, I went to the zoo and to the Tucson Botanical Gardens when Nathan was in school. I got some great shots of the new baby flamingo and of our female tiger in the water. The zoo decided to share one of my tiger pictures on their facebook page. I also found out that day that my prairie dog picture that I entered into a contest got chosen to be featured in their Autumn issue of BBC Wildlife Magazine.
Paul decided to take off on Friday, 8/31. We were going to enjoy a kid-free day while Nathan was in school. We took both cars to get washed. They had problems starting Paul's car again so they suspected it needed a new battery. We had just replaced the battery on the Grand Prix a week ago! On the way to Pep Boys to get the battery looked at, one of the windows broke! We got the battery replaced and scheduled the window to be fixed the next day. We at least got to enjoy a lunch together at Pappoules. Later that night we drove to Oracle to eat dinner at Nonna Maria's. They were closed for the holiday weekend! I got some nice sunset pictures over there, though, and we ended up eating at Carlota's in Catalina. I never saw Nathan eat so much. He loves his chips and salsa and cheese quesadilla.
On Saturday, 9/1, we got the window fixed fixed on the Grand Am and then went over to Breakers Water Park. Nathan had a blast. He is getting more used to the water and even liked putting his head under. We are thinking he is ready for swimming lessons again.
Nathan had the BIGGEST temper tantrum after church on Sunday all because he could not take home some cars he played with in Sunday School!
Yesterday we took Nathan to the zoo for Labor Day. It was crowded and hot! I wanted to see the new baby zebra, but it was not out. We also found out that Snow, the polar bear, died that morning.
Monday, August 20, 2012
Scary future?
Well today we found out that Coventry got bought by Aetna. I sure hope that Paul does not lose his job.
On 8/4/12, I went to a Saturday Summer Night at the Desert Museum. I got there around 5 to walk around and take pictures. I ate dinner there and then attended their photo class Hot Techniques for Cool Photos.
8/6/12 was Nathan's first day of his 2 year old Parent's Day Out class. He was well behaved and did great with potty training. He has done great ever since, too. We have no pushing complaints this year so that is good.
I took Nathan to Reid Park Zoo in 8/9/12. I also found out that day that my rhino picture I took at the zoo and entered in the Jones Photo "Big" Summer competition won an honorable mention.
I drove up to the Phoenix Zoo on 8/18/12. I had not been to that zoo for awhile and it was supposed to be a little cooler that day, but it was still hot!
On 8/4/12, I went to a Saturday Summer Night at the Desert Museum. I got there around 5 to walk around and take pictures. I ate dinner there and then attended their photo class Hot Techniques for Cool Photos.
8/6/12 was Nathan's first day of his 2 year old Parent's Day Out class. He was well behaved and did great with potty training. He has done great ever since, too. We have no pushing complaints this year so that is good.
I took Nathan to Reid Park Zoo in 8/9/12. I also found out that day that my rhino picture I took at the zoo and entered in the Jones Photo "Big" Summer competition won an honorable mention.
I drove up to the Phoenix Zoo on 8/18/12. I had not been to that zoo for awhile and it was supposed to be a little cooler that day, but it was still hot!
Friday, August 3, 2012
Long week
8/1, I took Nathan to the zoo.
Yesterday, we met Nathan's new teacher and Nathan got to see his new classroom. He had fun with some of the other kids and he was drawn to the train table in the room. His teacher seems nice. I really liked Ms. Sally, though, so I hope the new teacher is as good.
I took Nathan to the Childrens Museum today. I resisted the urge to take pictures which actually allowed me to control him better. He had a lot of fun...until I told him we had to go. It was lunch time and I knew he was getting tired, too. He even fell asleep in the car just as we got to the musuem. He fell asleep again on the way home. I got him to eat lunch and then we took a nap. The rest of the day was rather difficult. I have been seriously potty training him the last couple of days with real big boy underwear. He did well enough going pee pee and poopy on the potty most of the time with some accidents here and there. This afternoon, though, he had 4 pee pee accidents in a row so I decided to put him back in a pullup again and give up for the day. I don't know how the weekend will go and Monday he starts back up at school. I guess I will put him in a pullup that day and see how he does with the new teacher and new class.
Yesterday, we met Nathan's new teacher and Nathan got to see his new classroom. He had fun with some of the other kids and he was drawn to the train table in the room. His teacher seems nice. I really liked Ms. Sally, though, so I hope the new teacher is as good.
I took Nathan to the Childrens Museum today. I resisted the urge to take pictures which actually allowed me to control him better. He had a lot of fun...until I told him we had to go. It was lunch time and I knew he was getting tired, too. He even fell asleep in the car just as we got to the musuem. He fell asleep again on the way home. I got him to eat lunch and then we took a nap. The rest of the day was rather difficult. I have been seriously potty training him the last couple of days with real big boy underwear. He did well enough going pee pee and poopy on the potty most of the time with some accidents here and there. This afternoon, though, he had 4 pee pee accidents in a row so I decided to put him back in a pullup again and give up for the day. I don't know how the weekend will go and Monday he starts back up at school. I guess I will put him in a pullup that day and see how he does with the new teacher and new class.
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