apAdventures

Sister Katie and I threw a bachelorette party for sister Holly

Holly’s party destination choice: Vegas

On the agenda: drinking,

…jumping on trampolines at the indoor trampoline park,

…and gettin’ fancied up and dancing our cute tushes off. Whoa.

Meanwhile, back at the homestead the boys indulged in pancake eating,

…and rocket building. This one here is “Fat Boy”. They had several successful flights with this guy. It goes about 200 feet up.

And the large one shown here next to Fat Boy is the aptly named “Magician.” Can you guess why? The Magician’s launch ended up being a one-shot endeavor. It’s package claims it goes 2,000 feet up. We don’t actually know how far up it went because we lost visual after the parachute deployed. All we know is it was headed for Mt. Lemmon and……disappeared. We can only speculate that the pilot of The Magician (little astronaut lego man) is having the time of his life hotdoggin’ his big fancy rocket out there somewhere in the universe.

posted by arr

a) I’ve decided that I’m NOT sharing my hard-earned veggies with the desert critters anymore.
b) We need to go bigger because we are veggie devouring machines.
c) I’ve since learned a thing or two about growing food in the desert, specifically in the realm of basin-planting and rainwater harvesting.

The photos should explain our modifications to date. It’s still a work-in-progress. We had hoped to finish before the fall planting season, but…uh, we’re also eager to get started at Hueco again too, so estimated completion should probably remain TBD at this time.

Meanwhile, double CSA share! Farmer Frank LOVES this family, haha.

posted by arr

Silas is a kindergartener now! It’s official! Luckily my parents decided to come visit last minute to help ease the transition…for both Ivan and myself. 🙂 All went off without a hitch. Silas absolutely adores school. And Ivan is enjoying his solo time at home with me.

posted by arr

No more toddler gymnastics – no mamas or dad’s allowed on the floor now.

posted by arr

Did some of this too on those hot hot days. Our local independent film theater did a whole week of free kids movies (with free popcorn!). We saw the Disney documentary “Bears”.

posted by arr

posted by arr

Kids really got psyched about this. We went 2-3 times a week!

posted by arr

In the summer months the Arizona Sonoran Desert Museum keeps it’s doors open until 10pm. And the kids are finally at the age where we can all enjoy being out that late without complete and utter kiddie-meltdown. Woohoo!

We did this quite a few times this summer. The museum lights up its paths with just enough light to not stumble off into the desert, and puts little night-lights in select habitats so one can see the nocturnal creatures that are usually snoozing during the day. And they also have themes for every Saturday. One of the nights we went on Astronomy Night where they set up multiple telescopes throughout the park. Very cool.

posted by arr

Seth and Erin and their two kids came to Tucson. We did some climbing and sightseeing. But mostly stayed up waaaaay too late drinking and catching up after kids were all in bed. 😉

posted by arr

A yearly tradition for friends Julie and Kris.

posted by arr