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.  

The year is almost over!

 Nathan finished volleyball.  They didn't win any more games.  I drove Nathan, Killian and Berto to the game at Red Rock Elementary on 11/28.  12/6 they played MASSA.  12/7 was their last day of volleyball and they did a double header in Casa Grande.  I drove Nathan, Killian and Berto again.  We all went to Chick-Fil-A afterward.  Killian went home with his grandma.  Berto ended up going in the car with the other group back to the school because Ben went home with his brother.  That way we didn't have to go all of the way back to the school and back track to our house.  Nathan got a certificate for Most Improved for the season.

Nathan had his Winter Recital at school on 12/9.  He played Jingle Bell Rock on the guitar with his class.  He is supposed to be one of the lead guitarists in the upcoming Spring Recital.  He is also expanding his horizons and got a ukulele for Christmas/Birthday using the guitar center gift cards that Aunt Lisa and Aunt Tracy sent him.  He has already taught himself how to play Jingle Bell Rock on the ukulele.  I am impressed that he can play both given there are some differences between the two.  "Guitars have six strings tuned from the lowest to highest (most often E-A-D-G-B-E), while ukuleles only have four and don't follow low-to-high order" We tried recording him playing Jingle Bell Rock on the ukulele to send to Aunt Lisa and Aunt Tracy. He said he kept messing up at the end. He didn't give up, though. He kept doing it until he got right. He also wants to get a banjo.  Grandma June sent him money for Christmas/Birthday to get a banjo.

We got snow on 12/12.  I first went to Sabino Canyon to see it, but it was raining heavy at the time and very foggy.  I heard there was snow in Oracle so I headed that way.  It was snowing pretty good there, but there was really no place to pull over for pictures.  I was going to go to Oracle State Park, but decided I did not want to risk getting stuck in the snow with my car.  I headed back and saw a lot of snow on the Catalinas on the north side so I stopped at Catalina State Park.  I am really glad I did.  I hiked across the wash since there was no water running.  I saw some javelina crossing the wash with me.  I usually don't go across the wash so it was great to get closer to the mountain and take pictures of the snow.  

I went back to Sabino Canyon on 12/13.  There really wasn't much snow there so it was disappointing.  The Fall colors were just about gone.  There was some water flowing.  I always like going to Sabino Canyon so it was still a good day.  

Nathan turned 13 on 12/15.  We have a teenager!  He asked a few friends to go to Funtasticks after school that day, but Killian was the only one who could make it.  Dad took them and they had a good time.  We got Nathan a Nerf cake at Walmart.  That day was also the end of Q2 at school and his last day before Winter Break.  Nathan ended the quarter on honor roll with all As and 2 Bs!  He even got his Algebra grade up from a D to a B, with dad's help.  He got a 97.84 in social studies, 99.33 in computer science, 100 in PE, 98.67 in guitar, 84.91 in science, 88.09 in algebra, 100 in russian and 95.57 in humanities for a GPA of 95.55.    

Nathan and I went to Odyssey and Butterfly Wonderland on 12/21 and then to eat at Grimaldi's.  We didn't see Jalapeno, the pufferfish at first, but thanks to mom we went back to the water tunnel where he lives and he came out!    

Nathan had his annual checkup at the pediatrician's office on 12/22.  I was really shocked at the questionnaire they gave us when we got there.  Now that he is a teenager, I guess this is the questionnaire they give them.  ?s about alcohol use, drug use, smoking, sexual activity, sexual orientation, depression, if there is a gun in the house, etc...  He just turned 13 and he has a room full of stuffed animals!  He really isn't even interested in girls yet.  I guess it is time for dad to have the sex talk with him soon, though.  He probably knows more than we think he does.  Nathan weighs 112 lbs and he is in the 68th percentile for his age.  He is 63.4 inches (5'3.5") tall and he is in the 69th percentile for height for his age.  He grew 4" this past year.  People even notice how big his feet are.  He is wearing a size 9 and dad wears a size 10.  So I hope that means that he is still going to grow taller.  I don't want him to be short like me, although he has already passed me up!  His BMI is 19.5 which is the 64th percentile.  He got his second HPV vaccination this visit.  She also said that he has mild scoliosis.  She could tell right away because his shoulders are uneven.  She said most likely he won't experience any symptoms at his age, but it could cause him back pain later that may require physical therapy.  

We went to Winterhaven 12/22.  Paul and Nathan did not make the whole thing.  They went back to the car.  Most of the houses were the same as last year.  I didn't see the grandma got ran over by a reindeer house, though.  I don't think they decorated this year.  

We all went to NTBC Christmas Eve since I was singing in the choir.  Christmas Day we both had church at our churches so we went to church that day, too.  Nathan "opened" his gifts that morning.  A couple of weeks ago he told me in the car that he knew there was no santa.  I asked him what made him think that.  I don't remember what his response was, but I basically confirmed.  He seemed upset and asked why parents lie to kids like that.  I was caught off guard.  I said that there isn't just one santa, but that we are all like santa because Christmas is the season of giving.  I also said Christmas is about Jesus, though.  Since he knows there is no santa now and since he and dad picked out most of his gifts at Hobby Lobby and Walmart, he told me I didn't have to wrap them.  So I stuck them all in a gift bag.  We didn't even get ornaments on the tree this year.  Paul didn't get the tree up until late and there was only like 10 days until Christmas so I didn't think it was worth the time and effort to put the ornaments on.  Nathan still seemed happy on Christmas Day with his gifts.  

Nathan and I went to Reid Park Zoo on 12/26.  We also went to see the TWO wood ducks in Reid Park.  Nathan was getting impatient with me taking pictures of the ducks.  Then we ate at Sauce and returned to the zoo for Zoo Lights.  

We all went to Wildlife World Zoo the next day on 12/27.  We ate dinner there at Dillon's.  

 

Quick Updates

 Nathan had an away volleyball game as MASSA on Wednesday.  It turned into quite the ordeal.  It was early release day at school so I was supposed to pick him up from school at 1:10.  We were going to go home, grab a bite to eat and then head to MASSA to be there by 4.  I was at the school to pick him up when I got a phone call from Paul.  Nathan called home and asked if he could go with some teammates to the game.  Several of them were going to get pizza and go to the game together.  Paul told him yes.  There were several problems with that.  One, I was already at the school to pick him up.  Two, we don't even know the parents of the boy who was going to take them from school and drive them to the game.  Three, Nathan didn't have his volleyball clothes with him because he was supposed to come home first.  So I didn't go to the game.  I texted Paul and told him that Nathan's volleyball clothes were sitting on the couch.  He didn't get the text in time.  Nathan also called home and left a message about the clothes, but Paul was in the shower and never got the message.  Paul went to the game.  Nathan was unable to play because he didn't have his clothes and his team lost.  This was their sister school who they actually won against when they had a home game.  A very disappointing day.  Lesson learned is to not make those kind of decisions last minute without thinking everything through.  It takes me 20+ minutes to drive to the school and I was already there.  I was not a happy camper.  Nathan ended up not being a happy camper either because he didn't get to play.  

They have another away game on Monday at Red Rock Elementary.  The coach is asking for parents to drive the team there.  Not sure yet how we are going to handle that.

Thanksgiving we stayed home and didn't do anything.  Paul just cooked out some steaks and hot dogs.  

The day after Thanksgiving we decided to put Bella down.  I had told Paul earlier in the week that if he wanted to do it, he would have to call and set it up because I couldn't handle it.  He decided to do it on Friday.  He wanted to "get it done" so that he could shampoo the carpets and get the Christmas tree up. I had prolonging it ever since Bella had her exam several months ago and her bloodwork came back abnormal.  The vet told us at that time that he would support any decision we made about her quality of life.  I was not ready to lose her yet because we just lost Tulla on 6/30.  Bella had arthritis and recently was having trouble controlling her bowels.  I knew it was time.  It doesn't make it any easier.  I was very close to her.  Paul took her to the vet yesterday to get the procedure done while Nathan and I stayed home.  We thought it would be easiest that way.     

It's the end of the year already!

 Nathan finished the 1st quarter of school and decided he didn't want to continue Chess Club.  He got a discipline signature while in Chess Club because he drew a bad picture on one of the boy's papers.  He said the boy had been bothering him and the Chess Club leader (who is also his Guitar teacher) wasn't doing anything about it.  We told him that was not an excuse to do what he did.  He really wasn't enjoying Chess Club, though.  I think he was better than most of the other kids so it wasn't challenging enough.  He got a second signature in his planner for horseplay.  Supposedly another boy hit him in passing in between classes so Nathan ran after him to ask him why he hit him.  Running was considered horseplay.  

Nathan also struggled academically the 1st quarter, at least in Math.  He ended the quarter with a D!  Nathan has never got below a B in any class his entire life.  It was quite frustrating.  They got a new math teacher partway into the 1st quarter.  Supposedly, the new teacher is fresh out of college.  I sent him a message showing our concern about Nathan's grade and asked what we could do about it, even suggesting Nathan stay after school for help.  He never replied.  I then sent a message to the Vice Principal and also did not get a reply.  When I sent a 2nd message to him he finally replied, but by then the quarter was almost over and there was not much to be done.  He told me that this year they moved the 7th grade up 2 levels in math to Algebra 1 instead of just being 1 level up.  Not sure why they would do that because Nathan said the 6th graders didn't get very good grades in math last year to justify such a move.  The Vice Principal confirmed the whole 7th grade was struggling in Algebra so they were going to discuss to see how to go forward.  The math teacher put in a bunch of grades in the system on the LAST day of the quarter and then replied to me the following day to tell me that he put more grades in the system and that Nathan was doing better in the class.  I replied that he put all of the grades in on the last day of quarter which did not help us know how he was doing DURING the quarter and that his grade didn't even improve much because he still ended up with  a D!  Once again, he never replied.  However, the Vice Principal eventually sent out a message to everyone saying that they decided to go down TWO levels for the 7th graders so that they will be doing actual 7th grade math.  I thought this would take effect the 2nd quarter.  However, they are still doing Algebra this quarter.  Supposedly, they are making it a little bit easier, but Nathan is still struggling.  As of this writing, he is getting a C in Algebra.  Paul started going over the work with him and part of the problem is that Nathan is not writing out his work and not spending enough time doing the homework.  He can no longer breeze by in math like he used to do.  He has to do actual work and he's being too lazy.  Anyway, I guess they will go down to 7th grade math in the 2nd semester so we will see how that goes.  

Nathan ended Q1:

93.5 Social Studies

99.4 Computer Science 

96 PE

95.71 Guitar

100 Russian

89.79 Humanities

85.55 Science

68.52 Algebra 1

91.1 GPA

So he still ended the quarter on "honor roll".  Another disappointing part, though, was that he had all As going except Algebra up until the last week when they were "finalizing" the grades for the quarter.  His Humanities went down from a 90.58 to 89.79 and Science changed from 100 to 85.55!  That is why I hate that teachers put in so many grades right at the end of the quarter when there is nothing that can be done to improve them at that point and they can dramatically affect their GPA.  

Nathan had been struggling in Guitar class, too, because he was one of the few who had never played before.  We decided to buy him a guitar and get him lessons.  He had his first lesson on 9/10.  We have extended those lessons so every Saturday he has been going to his guitar lessons.  He has a music concert coming up at school on 12/9.  He is going to be one of the lead guitarists!  He also taught himself how to play happy birthday on the guitar so I recorded him and sent that to grandpa on his birthday 10/18.  

Nathan also joined the boys volleyball team at school.  His first game was 10/27 at home against Legacy Casa Grande.  They lost, but it was close.  They lost the first game, won the second, but then lost the tiebreaker.  Paul and I both went to the game at Sporting Chance in Tucson.  Their next game was on 11/1 at Grande Innovation Academy in Casa Grande!  I made the long drive to see the game.  They lost :(  They had another home game at Sporting Chance in Tucson against MASSA, their sister school on 11/3.  They won!  They lost the 1st game, won the 2nd and then won the tiebreaker!  Paul and I were both at the game to see Nathan win!  Their next game was on 11/7 at Desert Wind Middle School in Maricopa.  I made the long drive again to see his game only to get there and be told that our school was having transportation troubles and may not show up.  Luckily, they arrived 5 minutes late and were able to still play.  Unfortunately, they lost.  They lost the 1st and 2nd games so they didn't even have to play a tiebreaker.  Their next game was on 11/10 at home at Sporting Chance against Red Rock Elementary.  Unfortunately, I was sick that day and unable to go to the game.  Paul went to his game.  They lost again.  They lost the 1st and 2nd games so there was no tiebreaker.  They were supposed to have a game on 11/14 away at MASSA (in Tucson), but it had to be rescheduled because our coach was sick that day.           

On 8/11, I went up to Mount Lemmon.  I didn't go all of the way to the top, but I was just hoping to see some waterfalls.  So then I made a quick stop at Sabino Canyon to see the water flowing there, too.

On 8/15, I went to Tucson Botanical Gardens, Green Things Nursery and Pima County Cooperative Extension Gardens.  

I went to Pima Prickly Park on 8/17 to see the barrel cacti blooming.  At home my First Light and June Noon bloomed.

I went back up to Mount Lemmon on 8/22.  

I went to Tohono Chul Park 8/25.  

My June Noon bloomed again on 8/26.

I went to Reid Park Zoo 9/7.  

I went to Tucson Botanical Gardens and Pima County Cooperative Extension Gardens on 9/9.  

On 9/22, I went to Sweetwater Wetlands, Reid Park and Reid Park Zoo.  

I went to Tucson Botanical Gardens 9/28.

I went back to the Tucson Botanical Gardens on 10/3 to see the opening of Butterfly Magic.  I also went to the Pima County Cooperative Extension Gardens.  

Nathan and I went to the Marana Pumpkin Patch Sunflower Festival on 10/6.  This was the first year they were doing a sunflower festival.  Unfortunately, we didn't spend a lot of time there because Nathan was getting a skin reaction from the sunflowers.  The sunflowers were pretty, but they only had the one traditional kind.  It was also expensive to go to it.  It cost us close to $20 each to get tickets.  They have a lot to learn from Apple Annie's who has a wide variety of sunflowers and it's free to see them!

I went up to Mount Lemmon to see if there were any Fall colors on 10/10.  The colors were just getting started.  What I didn't expect to see on the mountain that day was snow!  I was coming back down and right by the one visitor center it was "snowing".  The meteorologists called it graupel or sleet.  It had rained on me off and on while I was on the mountain, but it was very surreal to see "snow".  Right after I got out to take a few pictures of it, I went further down the mountain past Mount Bigelow and it turned back to rain.    

I went to photograph the sunflowers at Apple Annie's on 10/14.  It was nice to go by myself and take my time photographing instead of always been rushed by my family.  They went to Apple Annie's on 10/1.  I didn't go because I didn't think either of them really wanted to go.  I thought they were just going for my benefit.  When I said I didn't want to go they still went without me.  They picked their pumpkins and bought some veggies to bring home.  

Nathan's Fall Break was 10/15-10/23.  We didn't go on a vacation due to Paul's health and his work schedule.  Plus, we went to Hawaii earlier in the year which was an expensive trip.  Nathan and I went to Odysea on 10/18 and ate at Grimaldi's.  Nathan was excited to see the pufferfish at the aquarium.  On 10/21, we all went up to see the Fall colors on Mount Lemmon.  They were just about at peak.  I don't think they were as good as last year, but it was still very pretty.  We ate at the Iron Door while we were up there and had an enjoyable Fall day.  

My June Noon bloomed on 10/27.  I also went to the Pima County Cooperative Extension Gardens.  

Nathan was a Ghillie for Halloween.  Unfortunately, he didn't try on the costume before Halloween so the pants were big on him and kept falling down.  So then he was complaining the whole time we were trick or treating and said that next year he was dressing up.  Whatever dude!  

The next day, 11/1, I decided to make one more trip up to Mount Lemmon to see the last of the Fall colors.  I am glad I went up.  The colors were almost over and the leaves falling quickly off the trees, but there was enough to satisfy me.  

I went to Sabino Canyon on 11/8,  I took the tram up and walked down.  There was some pretty Fall colors starting in the canyon.  

I went to Pima County Cooperative Extension Gardens to see the roses on 11/9.  I then went to Tucson Botanical Gardens to see the butterflies again.  Then I went to Reid Park hoping that the Rose Garden would be open, but once again they had it closed.  They have half of the garden ripped up because they are replanting, but the other half looked good from what I could see from the fence.  It's a shame they don't open it up so we can see what it is there.  What is the point and having any of the roses if they don't let anyone see them?!  While there I decided to try and find Woody, the wood duck.  I finally found him!  I had been there 2 times prior and couldn't find him so I was excited to finally see him.  

Unfortunately, after going to Sabino Canyon on 11/8 and to the gardens on 11/9, I felt sick on 11/10.  I had bodyaches, a sore throat, runny nose, I was hot/cold.  I was in bed most of the day and took 3 baths in epson salt.  I missed Nathan's volleyball game that day.  The next day my bodyaches were gone, but it was still all in my head - runny nose, sore throat, watery eyes, sneezing.  Eventually, most of that went away, but as of today the nose is still running.  It's been a week so I am thinking it may now be a sinus infection.  

Because I was sick, I also missed Nathan's Paper Airplane Flyoff at the Pima Air & Space Museum on 10/12.  Nathan competed in his age group, but didn't make the top spots to continue on to the next round.  In the family competition, I guess Nathan threw far, but Paul messed up.