Glad That's Over!

Last week was a little tough.  It was my first full week of school, my first week of softball practice AND dad was out of town for work all week.  On the plus side of that, my coach from spring ball is also coaching my fall team and I've been playing for her for years.  My pitching is looking a little better and I got a new bat so I'm knocking the snot off the ball so that's good.

My teacher this year seems pretty awesome.  She has high expectations of us but leaves it up to us to figure out how to meet them so I have lots of freedom to succeed (or fail) in my own way.  That's a good thing.  Mom met with her during Parent/Teacher conference on Wednesday and really liked her as well.  Then, my school had curriculum night on Thursday. Here are all the parents, sitting at attention, because that's what you do when Ms. Hayward talks.  Mom is sitting at my desk in the way back on the right.

Friday was National Dog Day so I hope everyone hugged their pooches.  Here's our Ginger without her socks.  Her feet are almost all better.  Mom found some dog booties at REI for her but they were $80.00.  Ginger is not getting $80 booties so she can run around the pool, no matter how much we like her.

So, since we're all tired and a little crabby from a long week, here are a few pictures to meditate on.  Our mountains are so green lately because of all the rain we've had and they are gorgeous.

This is hole #8, right by our house after another recent rain storm.

And here's a random cowboy riding his horse down our street.  You know, just another average day in the hood.

Back To It

Sigh and deep sadness.  Summer is officially over for me.  I had a pretty good week to end it all though.  On Monday, Grandma Sue graciously offered to spend her day off with my so I did't have to in to work with mom.  I dodged a bullet on that one, eh?  We went out to breakfast, watched the olympics, went to a movie and did a little shopping.  Waaaay better than putting stickers on charge sheets and filing charts.  Plus, mom makes me take the stairs at work- that stinks.

On Tuesday, I went to horse camp for a day at Tanque Verde Ranch.  I met a really nice girl from Germany and spent the afternoon telling her and her mom about how my mom and dad abandoned me two years ago to go to Germany by themselves and how I really want to go there.  

Wednesday and Thursday, I had a nanny come stay with me and both of them were super fun.  The first one played games all day, went swimming and played with Ginger.  We didn't turn the TV on once- score for her!  On Thursday, with the other nanny, we made cookies and played games but then I started to not feel well.  I had been fighting a cold all week and it finally took over on Thursday and then my kind of loose tooth really started to hurt.  She took super good care of me, making me a smoothie because it hurt too much to eat and just generally being really nice.  Mom managed to get off work a little early and made it home to check things out.  My sore tooth definitely concerned her so she made a call to the dentist and they had me come in right away.  On the drive there, mom was especially proud of herself because usually she and dad wait until midnight to decide I need medical intervention and then we end up in the ER at 2 in the morning for bad constipation.  But I digress.  Anyway, I ended up getting my tooth pulled because the dentist said there was an infection starting.  It wasn't that bad because the tooth was loose anyway.  And then mom told him I wasn't really flossing my teeth anymore.  Busted.  I did feel better after that though.

Friday was the day of reckoning.  It was the first day of 5th grade.  I still didn't feel very good but mom made me go to school anyway and I'm kind of glad she did.  It ended up being a good day and I like my teacher.  One of my two best friends is in my class so that worked out well.

While I was feverishly slaving away in school, mom and dad were living it up.  Dad was out playing golf with Uncle Brian and then mom met them both at Prep and Pastry for brunch.  Uncle Brian is an investor in the restaurant so he treated so it was even better.  They make amazing cocktails and really good food.  This is dad enjoying a Thai Fighter and mom enjoying a mimosa.  It was a sleepy afternoon for all of us.....

On Saturday, my friend Madeline had her party for her 10th birthday.  We've known each other since before we were born!  Crazy, huh?  I had a fabulous time there and was kind of pushing for a sleepover even though I still didn't feel great.  Buzz kill mom put the kabash on that.

Sunday was another busy day.  Grandpa Vern and Grandma Sue came over for breakfast and then they took me out to play miniature golf.
Dad is heading out to Boston for work for the week tomorrow so it's just mom and I holding down the fort.  Wishing everyone a great week!

Lovin' Summer!

 We have crammed a whole lot of summer into the last few weeks.  We just aren't read for it to end which is a bit of a change.  Usually, mom is ready to send me on my way with a smile and  a wave but it's been a good few months.  This weekend was super busy with last minute playdates etc.  We started Thursday with an invite to my friend Alexa's house for dinner with another St. Michael's family, the Leytons.  They had just gotten back from a 2 month vacation to Chile, where Mr. Leyton is from and they had tons of interesting stories to tell and even made the adults some Pisco Sours which were fabulous.
On Friday, I had my friend Ella over for a sleep-over which was super fun and we didn't want it to end.  So it didn't.  Dad took Ella home on Saturday and her mom invited me to stay the night because Ella's little brother was having a friend over as well and Ella need some moral support.  I was more than happy to oblige.  Mom and dad once again realized what losers they are because they had no idea what to do without me.  So they went out to dinner and started planning activities for when I'm gone. They managed to plan my Spring Break that is coming up in February so I guess that's something.  On Sunday, I was exhausted but my friend Claire wanted to get together for fro-yo.  How could I refuse that??  So off we went.  I was kind of done after that so now I'm home being crabby.

The week before, we went on our summer vacation in our new RV.  It turned out to be a pretty awesome little ride.

 This is where I sleep- dad's bed folds down and makes a cave for me.  It's pretty sweet even if it's really just the floor.  During the day it becomes storage for the cases of beer dad bought on the trip.

Of course we hit Disneyland but we also broadened our horizons a bit on this trip and gave Universal Studios a run.

We were mostly excited about Harry Potter World and it did not disappoint!  I got a wizarding wand which actually made things move, we heard Moaning Myrtle in the restroom, drank butterbeer, ate chocolate frogs and rode the Harry Potter ride.  I loved, loved that ride but it made mom and dad both nauseated so we only rode it once.

We got to meet mom's favorite cartoon characters- Scooby Doo.  As you can see, Scooby loved me and I loved him!

Then we made a visit to Homer Simpson Land and got a four pack of donuts from Lard Lad Donuts.  So Good!  As you can see, we had no trouble polishing those off.

All in all, we liked Universal Studios but Disney still wins!

After Universal, we headed north to Santa Barbara with a side trip to Paso Robles to go to mom and dad's favorite brewery- Firestone Walker.  We had lunch, took a quick look back in the brewery itself and bought several bombers of beer.  It was more fun for mom and dad than me but when you're not payin' you aint sayin' much!

After lunch we found a new beach that was kind of cool with a railroad trestle and abandoned pier.  We hung out there for a few hours before heading back to our RV park.

On Tuesday, I was supposed to have supposed to have surf lessons but mom screwed up the location so we just spent the day hanging out at Santa Clause beach, catching some smaller waves.  Dad was once again but boogie board buddy.

We also built Cairo, Egypt out of sand.....

And finally, I finished the brand new Harry Potter book mom bought me at Harry Potter world a day and half before.  It was that good.

Wednesday, I finally had my surf lessons and it. was. awesome!!  This is my instructor Ian and he was super patient and super nice.  I didn't spend a whole lot of time actually on the board (and I had the kelp in my hair to prove it) but it was still great fun!

The RV park that we stayed at had some hiking trails on property so we headed out for a few evening hikes.  There had been a big fire that came through in June so it was pretty desolate and kind of eerie but kind of cool too.

 So that was our awesome summer vaca- we love our little Sprinter and have name him Clark.  We can't wait to head out again!





 This is our poor Ginger puppy.  She LOVES to run around the pool when we are in it.  She's actually kind of psychotic about it.  She ends up tearing up the pads of feet so badly she can't walk.  So mom put socks on her this morning and she hobbles a little bit better but it's still kind of pathetic.  We're ordering booties for her.

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My first day of school is this Friday- insert sad face emoji here....

Kind of Bored.

 Our last down week and we're bored.  And hot.  And maybe a little grumpy.  At least mom and I are grumpy.  Dad seems to be holding up OK but that's because he got our new toy home.
Our Friday Family Adventure was to the RV store to pick up our new RV.  We were supposed to pick it up at 10 but the air conditioning wasn't working so they had to keep for a few extra hours to get that fixed.  So.  Rather than driving all the way home again, we headed to Camping World to buy more stuff for our tiny camper.  In our defense, it was stuff like sewer hoses and toilet paper but we still managed to kill about an hour and half.  After spending a good 45 minutes in the blazing, hot sun learning all the ins and outs, we finally got to drive it home.  Dad spent the rest of the weekend culling our stuff and organizing everything that made the cut.  We are heading to California on Friday for 10 days so we'll see how it goes!

Saturday was almost as much fun for me as Friday.  I got to go school clothes shopping with mom.  Cue the whining.  "I caaaaan't dooooo this today!"  "It's tooooo hooooootttt out here." "It's too coooooold in here."  " I'm thiiiiirstyyyy."  "I need to go to the bathroom".  We got it all done but it took about 15 hours.

On Sunday, mom headed to a movie with friends so dad and I went to the movies with our friends Mr. Mike and Madeline.  

It has been grossly, blazing hot this past week with just enough humidity to make it miserable so we spent most of weekend here.......

It's good to have a pool!

Have a good week!

Relax. Reset.

Well- this was our first down week in a long, long, time.  It was kind of nice but mom is ready for our next adventure.  Mom and dad used the week to restart their long neglected "healthy eating and working out" program.  Apparently, both of them gained a few lbs during my softball season due to late nights and eating out.  Mom has come to the sad realization that she can have a beer OR desert but not both.  Dad has lost 5 pounds by just looking at carrots and not doing anything else.  There is lots of sighing and dirty looks coming from mom's general direction.

On Friday, mom and I headed out to the zoo.  Despite being 95 degrees at 9AM, the animals were still fairly active.  I'm not sure if you remember that our adventures at the Denver Zoo always seemed to involve animals pooping while we watched.  Well.  The tradition continues in Tucson, except all the animals were peeing while we watched.  We got to see the tigers, the elephants, the bears AND the monkeys all take care of business.  In the end, we were just glad to actually see the animals up and moving because it's so hot here.

We came home and cooled off a bit and got into our next project.  A while ago, mom found a lip balm recipe and thought it would be a fun thing for us to do.  We went to the "healthy people" store and got organic coconut oil, beeswax, essential oils, lip balm tins and got creating.  It was pretty easy and they turned out nicely.  I see lots of lip balm in everyone's Christmas future!

Now.  On Saturday.  Dad wanted to make sure we had something to spice up our "Relax. Reset." blog, so we bought a new RV.  It's a Sprinter Van  so it's smaller than our current model and it is really the model he has been wanting all along.  I don't love it because it's so small.  Mom and dad think it's a good thing for several reasons.  Because it's smaller, we  can take it more places with less hassle.  After driving through San Fransisco in our old one, dad decided smaller IS better.  Mom will be better able to drive this one.  And finally, the bigger RV kind of took away from the "outdoor" experience because we could comfortably spend time inside and what's the point of camping if you're  inside.  This kind of forces us to be outside because it's small.  But we still have a bathroom- so that's good.  We pick it up next week in time for our trip to California.  Nothing like taking a brand new RV on a 1000 mile trip.  Mom was looking for an adventure.....

Sunday was a quiet day- dad went golfing and cleaned out our old RV to get it ready for trade in.  Grandma Sue took me to the movies so we got some good grandma/grand-daughter bonding time and mom made snickerdoodles.  (How's the diet working for you, mom?)
As mom was cleaning the house on Saturday, she realized we haven't used her beloved cookie jar in ages and decided we needed to correct that.  This was the cookie jar from her childhood and it has made countless moves with us and survived.  It deserves special treatment so we filled it with cookies!

We have one more week of relaxing and resetting and then we are off on our next adventure.  See you all soon!

Framily!!

 Whoa!  Look at this!  Three weeks in a row for the blog!  We're really trying hard on our end....

Last Monday was Fourth of July and our friends Joe and Amy have an amazing view of fireworks from the comfort of their own back yard.  They moved in 2 years ago and now host an annual Fourth of July party so that's where we spent Monday.  All wrapped up in that party was a small celebration for our friend Dave who ran off and got married without telling anyone.  He's not a guy who likes lots of attention but the ladies told him it wasn't about him any more and Mariko, his new wife, deserves a celebration.  After eating a ton of good food and hanging out with a lot of good people, we watched the fireworks and oohed and aahed and had a generally good time.

Thursday night was the last of my swim meets.  I got moved up into a faster heat for both my free style and backstroke but I still won both heats.  I didn't win by a landslide this time around but a win is a win.  I'm actually kind of bummed I don't get to swim anymore this year.  There is a winter team but I'm not sure I'm that committed to it.

On Friday morning, we left for a weekend camping trip with some of our favorite people and oldest friends.  They really are family, thus the title "framily".  Get it?  Friends+Family=Framily.  So clever my mom is.  Anyhoo.
We spent the weekend at Fool Hollow Lake up in Show Low.  We got there a lot because Grandpa Vern spends his summers up there so we always stop in to see him before heading to the campground.
We had our usual camping crew of Audrey, Mike and their daughter Madeline and then Joe, Amy and their two  girls, Grace and Anna and finally Eric and Janet joined us as well.  Plus two dogs.  It made for a crowded, fun time.  Grace is 7 and Anna is 3 so Madeline and I were in charge of them and we did a great job making sure they stayed all in one piece.  Ms. Janet's kids are all grown and she is desperately waiting for grandkids so she happily kept all of us youngins occupied while the adults relaxed.  It was a win-win-win!

It was pretty toasty here, even up in the mountains so we got some quality lake time in.  Even Ginger got in and swam a few laps and then we all swam all the way across the lake and back.  I turned it into a mini-Olympics as Ms. Janet is from Canada, so she was team Canada.  Dad and I were Team Korea and everyone else was team USA.  Team Canada took the gold (Ms. Janet is impressive in so many ways), Team Korea took silver and Team USA came in for the bronze.  The dogs got participation ribbons.

We headed home Sunday, back to 105 degrees and a long work week ahead but I have no sports for the next several weeks so we're going to enjoy some down time.  Have fun!