Easter is coming!

Wow, I can not believe how long it has been since I updated our blog.  Time really has been flying.

On 1/24 I got FITTED for my crown.

On 1/31, I went to Reid Park Zoo and Reid Park.

I went to the Desert Museum, Columbus Park and Sweetwater Wetlands on 2/3.

We played basketball and wiffle ball on 2/5 at the park.  Nathan did pretty good at wiffle ball.

On 2/9, I got my crown put on.  The whole process of getting a root canal and crown was long and miserable.  I had no idea what I was getting myself into when I was told that I would need a root canal.  .

I went to Tucson Botanical Gardens on 2/10.

Bella turned 9 on 2/11.

We went and played basketball and wiffle ball again on 2/12.

Paul and Nathan went to see Lego Batman on 2/18.

I went to Tohono Chul Park on 2/20.

Nathan had off 2/23 & 2/24 for Rodeo Days so we went up to Phoenix.  We went to the peach blossom festival at Schnepf Farms.  It was our first time visiting this farm.  There weren't many peach blossoms, though.  They decided to extend the festival because of this.  It was still an enjoyable day, though.  I loved the salad that I got there for lunch, made from fresh vegetables at their farm.  We went to the Scottsdale Civic Center on 2/24 and then to a Giant's vs Reds game on 2/24.  The Giants ended up winning.  The next day I went to Butterfly Wonderland while the boys went to the railroad park and then we went to see the Cubs vs Athletics.  I got to see the World Series trophy!  Cubs won, too!  Our last day in Phoenix we went to a White Sox vs. Rockies game.  The Sox won.

3/2 was Dr Seuss Day.  Nathan loves the Dr Seuss books.  His favorite is Green Eggs & Ham.

I went to see the poppies at Picacho Peak on 3/6, but was disappointed because there weren't very many.

I went to Reid Park Zoo, the rose garden and Tucson Botanical Gardens on 3/7.  I finally got to see the new meerkats at the zoo!

I went to Tohono Chul Park on 3/8.

I convinced Paul to take me to Peridot Mesa on 3/11 to see the poppies.  It was beautiful!  I think I got even better pictures than the previous year.  That place puts Picacho Peak to shame.  We saw a lot of wildflowers on the way back, too.

Paul went to Hartford, CT for work 3/12-3/15.    

I went to Tohono Chul Park on St Patty's Day.

Nathan had spring break from 3/18-3/26.  Paul and Nathan went to NASCAR in Phoenix on 3/19.  We left for Vegas on 3/22.  We first took a picture by the welcome sign when we got in town.  Then we went to the Harley store.  We ate dinner at Hard Rock Cafe and then went to M&M World and the Hershey Store.  That night we stayed at the Travelodge.  The next day we did the Eiffel Tower Experience.  Then we went to the Flamingo to see the flamingos.  We ate lunch at Margaritaville. Then we took a gondola ride at the Venetian.  From there we went to the Mirage to go to the Secret Garden of Siegried & Roy.  Then we went to Caesars Palace.  We ate dinner in there at the Cheesecake Factory.  Then we went to the Bellagio to see the garden inside.  We went and checked into our hotel, the Stratosphere and then went up to the observation deck.  The next day we went to Counts Kustoms.  Paul was excited to go there, but I thought it was rather odd.  We went to the Monster Jam World Finals after that.  First we got to see all of the trucks and meet some of the drivers.  I was most excited to see the new truck, Wonder Woman!  It was a long day.  We got through the pit party pretty fast and then had to wait for the evening event.  The evening event was the racing event. Son-Uva Digger ended up winning.  They had a really cool finale where all of the trucks came out at the same time. On 3/25, we got a monorail pass and went to the other end of the strip to the Shark Reef Aquarium at Mandalay Bay.  We ate lunch at House of Blues.  We also got to meet and take a picture with Pete Rose.  Paul was excited about that.  We went inside the Luxor.  Then we made are way down back to the Mirage to get our pictures taken with a dolphin.  Nathan slipped when he was by the dolphin so that scared him and he did not enjoy the experience as much as we did.  We ate dinner that night at Toby Keith's I Love This Bar & Grill inside Harrah's.  I have to admit the tortilla soup was really good.  That night we saw the volcano erupt at the Mirage before heading back to the Stratosphere.  We started heading back to Tucson on 3/26.  We stopped at Lake Mead National Recreation Area and went to the marina store as well as the beach area.  We saw a lot of ladybugs!  From there we stopped in Peach Springs, AZ.  Route 66 was lined with peach trees, but that is about all they had there.  We did eat lunch there at the only place we could find.  Then we went to Seligman, AZ.  They had more Disney Cars related stuff there and we had dessert at the Roadkill Cafe.

I went to Tohono Chul Park and Tucson Botanical Gardens on 3/28.

On 3/30, I went to Bach's Cactus Nursery, Tohono Chul Park, Tucson Botanical Gardens and Pima Prickly Park.

I went back to Tohono Chul Park on 3/31.

On 4/3, I went to Bach's Cactus Nursery, Tohono Chul Park, Tucson Botanical Gardens and the Reid Park Rose Garden.

The next day I went to Bach's Cactus Nursery and Arthur Pack Park.  I am really disappointed because I hardly see any round tailed ground squirrels at Arthur Pack Park anymore.  Nathan also started his Lego Club at school on 4/4.  He will meet for Lego Club every Tuesday until the end of the school year.

On 4/5, I went to Northwest RV & Self Storage.  They had one Argentine Giant open.  Then I went to Bach's Cactus Nursery, Tucson Botanical Gardens and the Reid Park Rose Garden.

Nathan had his Honors assembly on 4/6.  He made honor roll for the 3rd quarter.  He did not make high honors or the Principal's Award this quarter, though.  He was very close.  If he does really well the last quarter he may be able to make high honors and the Principal's Award again.

The next day I went to Tohono Chul Park, Tucson Botanical Gardens and Pima Prickly Park.

Nathan participated in a paper airplane contest at the Pima Air & Space Museum on 4/8.  He made it to the 3rd round and the top 12!

We went to see the Easter Bunny on 4/9.

Yesterday I went to Bach's Cactus Nursery, Tohono Chul Park, Tucson Botanical Gardens and DeGrazia Gallery in the Sun.  DeGrazia sill does not have many cactus flowers blooming.  All of the cactus flowers seemed to have started blooming a couple of weeks late this year compared to last year.

Tonight we will be having the Lord's Supper at church.  Tomorrow will be "Good Friday" which is actually on Wednesday.  3 days and 3 nights means Jesus died on Wednesday and rose on Saturday night because they found the tomb empty on Easter Sunday.  This Easter we don't have any big plans.



      

The New Year has come and gone...

Nathan was off of school 12/22-1/9.  He made out for Christmas.

I had a toothache right before Christmas so I went to the dentist on 12/23.  They removed the filling and told me that I would need a root canal.  My dentist office was closed for the holidays.  The dental office I went to had a endodontist, but he was also on vacation for the holidays.  So I scheduled my root canal for 1/17.  This was my first root canal.  I never had a problem with my fillings before so now I am nervous about the rest of the them.  The root canal took about an hour and a half.  Now I have to go back on 1/24 to get the crown.  It seems like this nightmare never ends.  I go for my dental cleaning in about a month.  I sure hope everything checks out fine because I don't know if I can go through this again.

We took Nathan bowling for the first time on 12/27.  We had a lot of fun.  We were only going to play 3 games, but Nathan kept wanting to play more.  We ended up playing 5 games.  I did really good the 1st game and deteriorated from there.  Paul did better in the later games.  Nathan was close to 100 on some of the games (with bumpers)!

Grandma June and Carol Lambros decided to come visit Nathan 12/31-1/10.  They got here on New Year's Eve.  We met them at Taste of Texas for dinner.  We watched the ball drop in NYC on TV (2 hours before midnight) here and decided to call it a night.  We went to church on New Year's Day and then to Grimaldi's for lunch.  For my 42nd birthday we just went to dinner at Macayo's and had dessert at Krispy Kreme!  I took them to Tohono Chul Park for lunch on 1/5 and then we went to Sabino Canyon.  The water was flowing over some of the bridges.  Nathan and I walked a little and Nathan was excited that a butterfly landed on him at one point.  We went to see Moana at the movies on 1/6.  On 1/7, we started the day at IHOP.  A lady was there making balloons and made Nathan a Harley balloon.  From there we went to Saguaro National Park (West).  Then we drove down to Santa Rita Lodge in Madera Canyon.  I saw a Magnificient Hummingbird, Mexican Jays, Acorn Woodpeckers, Turkeys and a Hepatic Tanager.  We went to dinner at the Stables in Tubac.  The movie Tin Cup was filmed there.  We had brunch at Lowe's Ventana Canyon after church on 1/8.

Nathan went back to school on 1/9 and got his 2nd qtr report card.  He got all As!  He got a M for Art, Music and Spanish.  He got an E for PE.  He got a M for caring, citizenship, perserverance and respect.  He got APP for responsibility and trustworthiness.

Nathan had his 7 year pediatrician appointment on 1/18.  He weighs 51 lbs and is 48.5" tall.

Today Nathan had his awards ceremony at school.  He made high honors the 2nd quarter and won the Principal's Award.  The Principal's Award is high honors for the semester.  We thought he just missed that, but they must have rounded up.  So that was a nice surprise.

Nathan is 7!

So we went to the North Pole!  We surprised Nathan with the North Pole Experience in Flagstaff on 11/25.  He liked it.  He said he liked it even more than the Polar Express train ride we did last year in Williams.  That night we stayed at the Oak Creek Terrace in Sedona.  A cool place.  Our room had a jacuzzi and fireplace.

The next day we went to Out of Africa.  We had only been once before when Nathan was much younger and it was really hot when we went.  We enjoyed ourselves and even got to feed a tiger.

On 11/27, we went to Bearizona.  I always like going to Bearizona.  After that we went to the Grand Canyon Deer Farm.  We had only been there once before, too, a long time ago.  It was getting cold by that time and was snowing pretty good!  We fed the deer and even got to feed an elk that they rescued.  That night the power went off at Oak Creek Terrace because of the weather.  That was an interesting night with no heat most of the night!

The next day we just explored Sedona a little bit with the snow on the red rocks.

Nathan had his musical performance at school on 12/6.  Kindergarten and 1st Grade performed together so there were like 200 kids.  Nathan was so nervous that night, but he was pretty much lost in that crowd of kids.  We also could not see very well to even get decent pictures.  But Nathan was really good.

Nathan turned 7 on 12/15!  He did not want a party this year because he said the boys in his class are mean to him.  I think it is mostly just Jonathon, who has problems at school in general.  All Nathan wanted to do for his birthday was see his friend Jade from preschool.  So I contacted her mom and arranged to meet them for dinner at Peter Piper Pizza on 12/16.  Jade has turned into a girly girl!  She used to be more of a tomboy.  That night she dressed up in a pretty dress and her mom said she is into more girl things now, like princesses.  But her and Nathan still seemed to have fun together.  Nathan really likes the Batman video game there.  He was steering and Jade was pushing the foot pedals.  Her parents paid for the food, got a cake and gave him a gift (Turbo car launcher).  On Nathan's birthday, the day before he got together with Jade, he wanted to go to Hooters for dinner.  He wanted their boneless wings.  Then we went home and had some Turbo cake!

On 12/17, we went to Winterhaven to see the Christmas lights.  Each year it seems like they decorate less.  I don't like the crowds either.  But I do love to see Christmas lights.

For his birthday, Nathan also wanted to see the new Star Wars movie.  So we saw Star Wars Rogue One on 12/18.  I thought it was good, but Paul didn't.  He is not really a Star Wars fan.  I am not really one either and have not seen the Star Wars movies in years.  I thought this one was pretty good and kept you on the edge of the seat.  Nathan loves the Star Wars movies.  They are his favorite movies (Turbo is second, which came out in 2013, but he saw for the first time this year).  We have all of the Star Wars movies on DVD and he watches them often.

Christmas will be here in just a few days.  It falls on Sunday this year so we plan to go to church that day because, after all, Christmas is to celebrate the birth of Jesus.

Happy Holidays!

I went to the Reid Park Rose Garden and the zoo on 11/2.

I went back to the Reid Park Rose Garden and to the Tucson Botanical Gardens on 11/8.

On 11/9,  Tulla turned 10!  She is doing really good for her age, especially since she broke her leg as a pup and has a pin in it.

We went to Phoenix for Veteran's Day and the weekend.  On Veteran's Day, 11/11, we went to the Phoenix Zoo.  The next day we met and autographs from Kevin Harvick.  Afterward, we went to the Wildlife World Zoo.  The next day, 11/13, we went to the NASCAR race.  Kevin Harvick came in 4th place.  #22 won the race.  I think that may be the last race I go to.  It was not bad when we first started going because it was a new experience.  Now it is starting to get old.  It is a lot of walking, I don't like crowds and it is a long day.  I did not feel good at all on the way home.

We normally spend Thanksgiving with the Alvirs, but they moved to the Phoenix area.  This year it will just be the 3 of us, but the day after Thanksgiving we will be headed to Sedona/Flagstaff.  We are staying in Sedona, but we are taking Nathan to the Flagstaff North Pole Experience as a surprise.  We may also do Bearizona while we are in town.

Also in November the Cubs won the World Series!  Woo hoo!  I am happy, but the boys are not.  Daddy has brainwashed Nathan into not liking the Cubs.

We are back!

We had a great trip!  So we started at the Albuquerque Zoo.  It was raining when we got there, but stopped later on.  They were doing a lot of construction there with new exhibits, but we got to see a tasmanian devil and several animal babies, like an oragutan and twin monkeys.  From there we went over to the Gardens for a quick view.  Not a lot blooming at the time, but it was nice to see.  They did have some morning glories which are one of my favorites and a Japanese garden with a waterfall. The next day was the Balloon Fiesta.  It was cool to see all of the balloons.  I think this was our 3rd year going.  We did not get to see a lot of the special shape balloons, though.  I think they fly those on special days during the fiesta.  From Albuquerque we drove to Durango, CO.  We went to the train museum there where Nathan got a chance to ride in a locomotive with the engineer.  We were watching them turn the locomotive on the platform to move into the shed when the engineer came out and asked Nathan and another little boy if they wanted to ride in the train.  Nathan was thrilled!  The next day we took the train ride from Durango to Silverton and back.  It was very beautiful.  I sat with Paul and Nathan to Silverton, but went in the gondola car on the way back.  It was much easier getting pictures in the gondola.  The next day we drove that same route.  As cool as the train ride was, you could see so much more on the million dollar highway and stop whenever you wanted.  The views were awesome with the yellow Aspens and the snow capped mountains.  It was overcast and rainy during a lot of our trip.  So it was hard getting good pictures without good lighting and they look a little drab since the snow on the mountains blends in with the sky.  The pictures really do not the actual landscape justice.  I was using a new camera, too.  I finally bought a new DSRL - a Nikon D7200.  After stopping in Silverton to go the Harley Davidson and eat lunch, we drove up to Grand Junction.  We saw some waterfalls along the way, too.  One stop we made was at Box Canyon.  There was a waterfall there and they had chipmunks!   When we got to Grand Junction we had dinner with Paul's friend Tim and his family.  The next day we started our trek home.  Our first stop was in Telluride.  We took a gondola ride up and over the mountain to Mountain Village.  The gondola ride was even free!  We also caught it just in time because it is only operating another week until they close it for the season.  Then they start the ski lifts.  Telluride is a cool little town.  On our way out of town we saw a group of Elk.  Another stop we made was at Four Corners National Monument.  So we got to stand in four states at once - Colorado, Utah, Arizona and New Mexico.  That night we stayed in Flagstaff, AZ.  I developed a cold and the next morning it was in the 30s.  The plan was to go the Snowbowl and check out Aspen Corner.  I really was not up to it, but Paul got out and took a few pictures.  The Snowbowl was closed and we did not want to wait over an hour for it to open.  So we decided to head to Sedona.  It was disappointing because there was not a lot of color there.  It looks like we missed some of color or the trees did just not turn a pretty yellow this year.  We ate at Picazzo's Organic Italian Kitchen and then went to Airport Rd to view Sedona from above.  Then we drove home :(

Nathan returned to school this past Monday.  We got his first quarter grades and he got all A's.  There will be an Awards Ceremony on Thursday for him making honor roll!  He got a M for meeting the standard in Art, but the comment was that he is often off-task.  He got an APP for approaching the standard in Spanish with the same comment.  So those are areas that he/we need to work on.  We have not met those teachers before, though, and this was the first feedback we got from them.  His teacher also gave him a character evaluation.  He is meeting the standard for being caring, perseverance and citizenship.  He is approaching the standard for respect, responsibility and trustworthiness.  

This Saturday we are going to Apple Annie's to pick our pumpkins.  

Next weekend we are doing the Air and Space Museum's Boneyard walk.  For Halloween, Nathan is going to be Chase from Paw Patrol, Bella is going to be Marshall and Tulla is going to be Skye.     

Fall is here!

On 8/26/16, I went to Tohono Chul Park, DeGrazia Gallery in the Sun, Lowe's Ventana Canyon and Tucson Botanical Gardens.

The next day we went to the Lowe's in Chandler for Nathan's Build and Grow Hulk workshop.  Then we went to the Toys R Us there for a Lego Captain America workshop.  We of course stopped at Portillo's for lunch!

I had jury duty on 8/31.  I had to fill out a long questionaire about a murder case.  A man was charged with murdering one of his twin babies.  The trial was going to be a month long and it would have made it very difficult on me to do that since I don't have any help with Nathan.  I also did not think that I could be unbiased in the case so I ended up getting excused.

Ann Alvir and I had one last lunch together at Pappoules on 9/1 before they move to the Phoenix area.

Nathan asked me to help vacuum on 9/2.  I told him that I did not know if he could handle the vacuum because it is pretty heavy.  He did pretty good with it.  He wants to do chores now to get an allowance.

Nathan attended a Home Depot whiteboard workshop on 9/3.  That night I saw my first hummingbird moth in our yard.  That was pretty cool to me.  On 9/8, I actually saw a damselfly in our yard.  Over the next several days I saw three different ones.

We went to a parent teacher conference with Nathan's teacher on 9/16.  She basically said that he is doing really well.  She says he likes to talk in class and that he sometimes rushes too much, but that he is doing well in most of his subjects, especially math.  We got access to the Leman computer system where we can see Nathan's grades.  That night he was getting all A's and 2 B's.  As of today, he has all A's and 1 B.  The B is in reading and is currently an 86.  He has one week to get his grade up to an A before the end of the quarter.  He had a couple of bad grades in Reading that really brought his overall Reading grade down.  She said that she will throw out the lowest grade at quarter end and that he has a couple of other opportunities to bring his grade up.  I just don't want him to be disappointed if he ends up with all A's and 1 B.  He had all A's last year and this would be so close.  I don't want to put too much pressure on him at this age, though.

We went to the U of A vs Hawaii football game on 9/17.  It was a tribute to the 75th anniversary of Pearl Harbor.  They honored military members and rolled out a huge flag the size of the football field.
Paul celebrated his 46th birthday on 9/20.  We went to Oregano's Pizza for his birthday dinner.  He previously bought himself a Lego Lincoln's Memorial set for his birthday.  I also bought him a Fitbit Blaze.

Paul took a vacation day on 9/22.  He and I were going to spend the day together going to the Desert Museum.  However, he got sick the night before and was not up to doing much.  Also, we just bought a new computer and had trouble with the internet ever since we set it up.  We ended up buying a new router/modem that day.  It seemed to work for a day or two, but then the internet started slowing down and freezing up again.  I disabled some Chrome extensions and that seems to have helped.  It still has problems once in awhile, though.

On 9/24, we took Nathan to a Lowe's Fireboat Build and Grow workshop in Sierra Vista.  Then we headed over to Madera Canyon.  We had never been there before.  We saw a black-tailed rattlesnake trying to find the waterfall.  Paul jumped 10 feet in the air!  We finally found the waterfall, but it was not easy to get to like I thought it would be.  It was close to the parking lot, but you have to go "off-trail" and go through a lot of brush, some of which has thorns.  We had to cross the water and then once down by the waterfall I had to walk in ankle deep water to see the waterfall.  It was worth it, though.  Then we drove to Santa Rita Lodge down the road.  They get a ton of different hummingbirds.  I also saw Mexican Jays, Woodpeckers and some other birds.  I would love to go back some time for more birding.  One famous bird in Madera Canyon is the Elegant Trogan.  I would love to see it.  We then drove down to the other end and I took some pictures of the landscape.  I was fortunate to see some turkeys.

So right now we are looking forward to our vacation starting next Friday.  Nathan starts his school Fall Break then and we are headed to New Mexico.  We are going to the Balloon Fiesta and to the Albuquerque Zoo/Gardens/Aquarium.  Then we are headed to Colorado to the Durango train ride.  Then we are going up to Grand Junction.  We will be stopping in Flagstaff on our way back home.  I hope we see some really good Fall colors.

Welcome to 1st Grade!

On 6/21/16 when we arrived in Chicago we went to Navy Pier before going to the Cubs vs Cardinals game.  Unfortunately, Cubs lost :(  Nathan also got to tour the firehouse after the game.  The next day we went to the Chicago Botanic Gardens.  It was the first time going there and it was beautiful, especially the water lilies.  On 6/23, we went to Brookfield Zoo with Aunt Lisa.  We ate dinner at Ledo's and then went to Shane's baseball game.  We saw Grandma Ariel on 6/24 and had dinner with Uncle Donnie and Austin.  Nathan and Grandpa Fred went to Lowe's on 6/25 for an Ironman workshop. That night we visited with the McCabe/Doyles.   The next day we went to church at Faith Baptist and met Debbie Madl at Stir Crazy for lunch.  We got to meet her twins and then see her "new" house.  That night we crashed Lynda Ganzer's birthday party.  Our last day in town we went to Olive Garden with Tracy and Sharon Simpson.

Nathan started his new FLIGHT classes at Casas on 6/29.  He had Soccer, Old Fashioned Fun, Clay Play and Baking Buddies.

I went to Tohono Chul Park on 7/1.

Nathan and I went to see Finding Dory on 7/8.

Nathan and dad went to another Lowe's class on 7/9 to make Falcon.

Nathan started his 3rd FLIGHT classes at Casas on 7/11.  They were Math Attack, Around the World, Aviation Station and Crazy for Crafts.

We all went to see Secret Life of Pets on 7/12.  Nathan liked it, but mom and dad did not care for it.

We went to Peach Mania at Apple Annie's on 7/16.  We also picked apples and other veggies.

Nathan and dad went to Lowe's on 7/23 to make Thor.

Nathan lost his 2nd tooth on 7/29.  He got another certificate, a Star Wars toothbrush and $2.

Paul and Nathan went to see Ice Age on 7/31.  Nathan liked it, but dad did not.

Nathan started 1st grade at Leman Academy on 8/3.  His teacher is Mrs. Howayeck.  His class has about 5 boys and 25 girls.  There are 5 1st grade classes!  This school just opened last year and this year doubled its enrollment.  Right now it goes up to 7th grade.  Next year they plan to go to 8th year. The long term plan is to go up to 12th grade, but they said there is a lot of red tape that they have to go through to make that happen.  We like that this school has a Christian background, but it is a free charter school.  Nathan was disappointed the first week because he was not learning much.  I told him that they were all getting to know each other and that he would start learning more soon.  It was a bit of a rough start for him, but I think it is getting better.  Last Wednesday, 8/17, I got a call from the school, though.  He had a cyst on his head that was oozing.  They wanted me to pick him up and get a doctor's note before he could return to school.  So we went to the doctor.  He had like 4 of them on his head about a month ago and she thought it was a bacterial infection.  She still thinks that is what it is so we started another round of antibiotics.  She tried to do a culture on it, but did not have enough sample to test.  She thinks shaving his head could be the problem.  Nathan returned to school the next day.

I went to Tohono Chul Park, Degrazia Gallery in the Sun, Tucson Botanical Gardens and Pima Prickly Park on 8/5.  I was able to see a lot of summer flowers.

Nathan built a skateboard pencil holder at Home Depot on 8/6.

I went to Bach's cactus nursery on 8/8.

I went to Reid Park Rose Garden and Reid Park Zoo on 8/11.

Nathan made Black Widow at Lowe's on 8/13.

I went back to DeGrazia Gallery in the Sun on 8/18.

Nathan had his school pictures already on 8/22.