Best Buys of the Summer

Want to get your kid to stop doggy paddling and start swimming under the water? Well, I've got the thing for you. Buy a pair of goggles and a dipping and diving penguin, and you are set! I got them from Walmart for about $5-7 each and within the first hour Spencer started swimming underwater all around the pool.

Some of you who saw my post from last June with Spencer swimming under water might be confused, but before summer ended last year, he learned how to doggy paddle as if he were a dog himself. He refused to swim under the water anymore. He could get anywhere he wanted so he didn't see the need to go under. I tried so many tactics, but he refused. Finally, his little friend Kyle came to swim one day and said, "Look at what I can do!" and he stuck his head under the water for a quick dip. Then the challenge was on and Spencer started sticking his head under, too. The next day I went out and bought the goggles and penguin and he was off and swimming. Thanks to his competitive spirit and a fun toy, he is doing great!

The toypedo is another great toy to buy because it is fun to watch under the water and if you miss catching it, you have to swim down to get it.

A Wicked Night

Paul and I went to see the Broadway show "Wicked" on Friday night. It was really quite good. I even enjoyed it more than the book to some extent. While I appreciated having the background information that the book provided, the play was clear, concise, and entertainingly funny. The actors' voices never cease to amaze me and make me so envious to have talent like that.
Elphaba and G-linda were amazing.

The binoculars were handy for examining every detail of the costuming right down to the ribbons and fuzzy balls on the pointed shoes of the cast members.

It was fun to have an evening to dress up and hit the town with my man even though my sexy shoes gave me blisters.

Emergency Room

The next day of our mini-vacation we were packing up to go to Slide Rock- a natural water slide north of Sedona when Lily fell off the bed and bit through her lip. Gushing blood, we rushed her to the ER where we spent the next 4 hours getting her stitches on the outside and inside of her mouth, and tetanus and tetanus globulin shots. Our other kids were so patient, but put off to know that we would be going straight home instead of to Slide Rock. However, it turned out for the best for us, not Lily, because we met a lady and her daughter at the ER that said that Slide Rock was closed that day for e-coli contamination.

So our poor Lily is all busted up with a huge lip. It is a good thing we have NG tubes at our disposal because she can't really pucker to suck her bottle. She is taking it all really well, but hopefully that will teach me a lesson to keep her at ground level.

Lava River Cave

Since we had to go up to Flagstaff two weekends in a row, we decided to stay over night when we went to pick up Siena and make a mini vacation out of it. Spencer found some ways to amuse himself on the 2 1/2 hour trip up there by trying to see if he could yank off his dinosaur mask before I could snap a picture.


When we got there we packed Siena's stuff in the car, had lunch, and then listened to her concert. They did a great job on four difficult songs. We were impressed.

We spent the rest of the afternoon at the lava tube. It isn't advertised by Flagstaff, but I found out about it from reading my friend's blog. I guess it is a well kept secret. The entrance to the tube is steep and difficult to climb down or up, so I only took Spencer and Lily a little ways in just to get the idea, but people were looking at me like I was crazy for even trying. Then we went back to collect pine cones while Siena and Paul made their way to the end about 3/4 mile in and then back out again. They said it was awesome and truly dark down there when they turned off their flashlights.

Montezuma's Castle

When we dropped Siena off at Music Camp in Flagstaff, we stopped by Montezuma's Castle on the way back home. It is a cliff dwelling of the Sinagua Indians who lived there around 1400AD. It really is amazing that people lived up in those cliffs. You can't really tell from the picture, but it was pretty high up there.

Siena's Back!

Siena has been gone during the last two weeks to girls' camp and to Curry Music camp at Northern Arizona University with only 20 hours at home to wash clothes and sleep in between the two camps. We missed her a lot, but we are so glad that she had such a great time and was able to learn so much.

She came home from girls' camp with a load of new songs to sing and memories to tell.

Then she came home from NAU with a lot of new flute skills and confidence at having spent a week in the college dorms.

We weren't the only ones glad to see Siena again. Her cat missed her so much. She would walk around the house whining while Siena was gone and would come into our room and wake us up during the night. Now she is quiet and happy.

What have you done today?

It's 6:45AM and Paul and I have already completed a 5K run! What have you done today?

This was our first 5K so we are pretty proud of ourselves. We've run it on the treadmill to get ready for today, but this is the first time that we had to keep our own feet moving one foot in front of the other. Paul finished in 32.11 and I finished in 34.32. That is better than I thought I could do. Needless to say, I am not a long distance runner. Just ask my college roommates. That was the last time I ever tried running much and they used to laugh at me for my lack of stamina. Nice, eh? Anyway, now I have to go shower, I stink!