Summer Continued...

This summer, Alison and I were both out to Maryland before our husbands.  We made an ambitious list of things we wanted to do with the kids before we left for North Carolina, and we got about half way through it!  One of the things we wanted to do was to go to one of the concerts on the National Mall.  On the night we went, the U.S. Air Force band was playing.  They played right at the bottom of the capital steps as dusk neared, and we watched the concert as the sun set in the background.  The band was fantastic, and the kids loved having the chance to see all the instruments up close.  Grandma and Grandpa met us down there toward the end and a fun time was had by all.  If you ever find yourself in downtown Washington in the summer around sundown, see if there is a concert going on.  They offer them to the public several times a week all summer long and it is definitely worth seeing.

 

 

Another thing we did was go to the zoo with Tom and Sarah and their kids. 

 Maya, Sydney and Rayzel taking a break

It was hot!!

We also went to Tom and Sarah's house and had girls day/boys day.  The girls played Wii Dance and the boys went with Uncle Tom to see Transformers.  We also went to some museums and spent some time at Dale and Tammy's house and picked delicious blueberries at a farm near their house.  I didn't get any pictures of those things though...Soon after that it was off to the beach in North Carolina.  Pictures of that to follow soon...

Updates from the Summer

I am going to attempt to catch up on a few highlights from the summer.  One thing we did when we were in Maryland, on the Fourth of July, was go swimming at the creek near my parents' house.  We used to go swimming there with my Grandma and Grandpa when we were kids and always loved it.  Dale, Alison and Steve were there with their kids also, along with my mom and dad.  We all had a great time, and those in my generation appreciated seeing our children enjoying one of the things we liked most as kids.   

 

Grandpa and Maya

 

Sydney, Maya and Melissa

 

Maya braving the rapids with big cousin Melissa

 

Shayne and David being carried by the current

 

What is it about kids and sticks?

 

 

 

Even baby Crystal got in on the stick thing

The Grand Canyon

The first weekend in December, we took Thursday and Friday off and took a four day trip up to see my Grandma in St. George. The first day we went to the Grand Canyon. The kids had never been, so we thought now that they are six and eight and will probably remember it, this would be a good time to go. It was a great time to go, as it was not very crowded at all. There were people there, but considering it gets 4.5 million visitors (according to the Visitor's Center) a year, it was very quiet. By 4:00 or so, there were two stops where there was no one there but us. There was a light dusting of snow from earlier that week which made things even more beautiful and was a huge highlight for the kids. I will post about the rest of the trip soon. Here are some photos of the day at the Grand Canyon:

Happy Halloween

Played around a little with "focal black and white"...

Send Us Some Leaves!!

Photo from Google Images

Maya's teacher is planning on doing some fall leaves activities with the kids in a few weeks. For the project, she would like them to collect colorful fall leaves from different parts of the country. If you have some fall leaves you would like to send to us, we would love it! They are light, so you should be able to just use a regular stamp. Any help with this will be appreciated!

Our Storm

We had a huge storm here a little over a week ago. Maya was at school at the time, Rick had just arrived home from work and Shayne and I had just arrived home from running some errands (we were on fall break already). Sheets and sheets of rain fell and the trees were bending and blowing fiercely. Anyway, we the rain and wind subsided after about 10 or 15 minutes and we heard a knock at the door. It was one of our neighbors to tell us that a tree had fallen on Rick's car. This is the one he uses for work. A tree from someone's yard fell on the carport, which fell right onto the car. The pictures aren't great as they were taken with Rick's phone, and I can't seem to get them any bigger, but you get the idea.

Soon after we discovered the car, it was time to go pick up Maya about 2 miles south of our house. It took way longer than normal to get there due to many fallen trees, flooded streets and the traffic lights being out. When we finally got there, the normal 5 minute ride had taken about 20 minutes and poor Maya and her classmates were very anxious. Later we learned that the power had gone out in her classroom during the storm and a tree had fallen about 10 feet away from the room also. Her room has no windows, so it must have been pitch black and with all of the noises from outside, and considering most of these kids have sensory and anxiety issues anyway, it was quite a situation I'm sure. She was visibly upset when we picked her up but calmed quickly. We were grateful no one was hurt. Here are a few AZ Republic articles about our crazy weather if you are interested in reading more:

Wind, rain, hail clobber Valley

Arizona Weather Turns Wilder

Indoor Activities...

One of our favorite places to go when it is hot outside, which it is at least 4 months of the year here, is the Mesa Southwest Museum. It is a 15 minute drive from home and has lots of great hands-on activities for the kids.

Digging for dinosaur bones

Doing a dinosaur rubbing

Playing dinosaurs

Drawing a T-Rex

Being on TV with the green screen

When wrapped in green, they just show up on the TV screen as a floating head

In the copper mine

Panning for gold