Our Last Hurrah - Bernie In Sedona

This is kind of a sad one for me to post. Last spring I took my parents and the kids to Sedona. Kimball stayed behind for school, he wasn't too thrilled that he had to stay home, but looking back I'm so glad we made the choice to go anyway. My parents were here for almost three weeks, and I thought an overnight trip would break it up a bit and that they'd enjoy the beautiful scenery in Sedona. 

We also took a drive about ten miles to Slide Rock. It was SO beautiful and fun. The water was FREEZING, but Kade was brave enough to jump in and jump back out.

We went shopping for a split second on the main street of Sedona. My mom got tired after two or three stores and had to sit on a bench, so we just called it quits and went to lunch. It makes sense now, she passed away just a few months later. Who knew she had pancreatic cancer, and advanced Alzheimer's (OK, that one was pretty obvious) but still...I wish I'd known how sick she was.

My mom displayed some other strange behavior on the trip, barking at my dad over Diet Coke, shot gun and then there was the whole two a.m. incident. Strange. Poor mom.

The park was covered with beautiful apple blossoms. I'm so glad I stopped and took a moment to capture their beauty. It is a great reminder of what a lovely trip we had with my parents. The last one I'd ever take with my sweet mom.

I remember when my parents left to go back home, I cried and cried when I'd hang up from talking to my mom. She didn't seem to remember me even though she'd just been here for three weeks. It was so sad. :( Each year she was forgetting more and more and having a harder time trying to hide it. By now it was to the point she was totally confused when I'd call. She was embarrassed. I kept trying to convince her to come back to Arizona so I could take care of her and spend more time with her, but she didn't have the confidence to leave without my dad. Clearly she wasn't feeling well either, we just didn't know it yet. 

Heavy topics like this make me want to curl up in the covers and sob...but I suppose it's time I get it out. 

Miss you mom.

xo,

Book Review & A Hike

 

A few days ago we took the boys on a 3.2 mile hike at Usery Park.

It was a gorgeous day, we had a fabulous time.

The desert landscape was breath taking,

I couldn't help but stop often to catch my breath take it all in.

I almost broke my neck a few times trying to hike and take pictures at the same time.

Jaxon was the navigator,

Kimball was of course the jester,

I was the 'friendly hiker'

 and Kade was quite the trooper; he did awesome!

Looks like I've found another hobby...

can't wait to go again.

Arizona is the place to be for spring break!

I finished reading Anna Karenina.

I'm still not sure what I thought of it...

I liked it and couldn't put it down

and yet got so annoyed with it at times

 I had to.

I'm not convinced it's the "best love story of all time" (as many call it),

but I am convinced if I ever thought of cheating

I won't now!

It was a little agonizing to read,

kind of made me want to pull my hair out.

I love a good romance novel but this felt like a Kevin Costner movie...

about 400 pages an hour too long!

I'd love to hear what you thought of the book. Anyone?

I'm now reading Uncle Tom's Cabin,

a classic I've been putting off because I knew it would be a downer.

So far it's gripping but definitely sad.

Organic Dairy

Today we went on a fun field trip to a local raw/organic diary. The kids had a great time meeting the big cows, small cows and even one giant prego cow. We toured the various fields and buildings, learning the process of how milk is made and sold. They even let us taste test it and we bought a few gallons before leaving. I don't drink milk, never have but the boys (Kimball included) says it delish and it is much healthier than the pasturized stuff they are used to drinking. Too bad the good kind is so expensive. They recently had to raise their prices to $10 a gallon!! Luckily, they gave us two for one. Other than that, we had a productive day here at Riverside Scholars.



Devotional: Ephesians 3:20 for discussion and copywork

Kade: is on spring break but still did a spelling chapter, penmanship, read aloud, exercised and did assigned reading.

Jaxon: Is playing 'catch up' w/ math and did around 4-5 assignments, with much help from me, finished The Wind In The Willows, took a spelling quiz and went to martial arts.

Read Aloud: We finished Eight Cousins today, we were all so glad to finally be done with it. It was a good book but we let it drag on too long. I think we started it in December.

Football, Public Transportation & Curls

Saturday we took the kids on a field trip. We boarded the new Tram in Mesa and rode it to downtown Phoenix, where we stopped at The Old Spaghetti Factory for lunch followed by another stop at a Tram Station where Kimball had done a bunch of neat masonry work. Kade has been learning about different forms of transportation so this was great fun for him.

It was super crowded on the way back. Poor Kimball had to stand and hold Sophia for about 30 minutes before getting a seat. We were packed in like sardines. I had to stand for the full 45 minutes but I was smart for once and wore my walking shoes. This was the weekend for the PF Chang's Rock n' Roll marathon and the Cardinals playoff game (which I'll discuss more later), and a huge expo. Needless to say, it was the wrong weekend to take the Tram downtown. We still had a great day.

Kimball was excited to show us his this neat masonry job he did. He worked for several months with some artists out of California (they should have hired Arizona artists but WHATEVER) and the project turned out really nice. It runs up and down a long stretch on Central Ave. It' cooler in person, with some neat glass pieces and metal cutouts as well.

This was an inexpensive field trip and the kids loved it. The tram is only $2.50 for an all day pass and some guy gave us 3 free, of course when we were done with ours we paid it forward too.

Sophia in her first curlers. Kade thinks she looks like a little old lady.

Now for a man who doesn't just talk the talk but who walk's the walk...Kurt Warner. How awesome is it that the Cardinals have made it to the Super Bowl??? Pretty awesome especially because Kurt Warner is such a deserving man. Click HERE to view some of the charitable things he's up to, he is a family man and a true Christian. Love this guy, he rocked at the 2000 Super Bowl and he's going to do it again!


Now if I play my cards right, I may get a signed jersey from this guy. Larry Fitzgerald did amazing yesterday. Kimball is currently doing a big masonry project at his new home here in Arizona. He hasn't been to the job site yet but maybe after the big day's over, he'll come around...hopefully!

Fall Break

I would have pushed through fall break, but since I was going out of town, and my neice Carly and her baby were coming for 9 days, it was necessary to take one. Don't think that their minds turned to total moosh, because they had a great time making movies with Carly's video camera, going on a few field trips and playing outside.

Battle for the chair.



Playing outside




ART Field Trip - As You Wish Pottery Painting
Carly took the boys to paint pottery and get ice cream. Kade was so excited about the ice cream that he rushed through his painting constantly asking "How much longer?". His race car ended up looking like an ice cream cone with lots of bright colors and sprinkles on top. :)





Field Trip to Schnepf Farms
It was 96 degrees with no shade, we were sweating buckets! We only stayed 2 hours, do you blame us? Oh yeah, and I was sick with a chest cold so you know how that is!


Stinky Pigs!!



BounceU - The kids loved going to their friends birthday party.




Fun's Over - us dropping Carly & Gavin off at the airport.
Notice: the Vicks rub on my neck...yeah still sick!

The Awkward Hug...not really!
Thanks Carly for the visit and for taking such great care of the kids. You're the best!

Mother Earth

We spent the last 3 days camping with the kiddos and some friends. We all really loved being together and spending quality time together. I felt it was more enjoyable than usual because I took the time to notice nature more...for home school purposes. We took some pictures that we are excited to add to their nature/science journals. 














We could have done with out the noisy crows and the blood sucking mosquito's but what better way to learn than to experience it first hand? I also saw a cute little mouse, yeah I freaked out but he was seriously cute...like Gus on Cinderella!
List of creatures we saw...
1. crows
2. worms
3. little fish
4. crawdads
5. ants
6. dragon flys
7. chipmunks
8. mouse
9. crickets
10. mosquito's
11. dogs
12. snakes
13. rabbit
14. pill bugs
15. centipedes