moon at sunrise

Ok, so I'm a little obsessed with the moon, and photographing it, but this is what I saw when I woke up the other morning. Can you blame me for wanting a pic? The moon at sunrise, how cool is that? Sorry the moon is a little blurry, I didn't feel like getting the tripod.

Yesterday was Native American Day, so there was no school. I thought about doing something in honor of that, but working on the house took over. We are ready to be finished. Once the boys were occupied, I was able to get the final paint in the guest bedroom. I had spent the past couple of days texturing, sanding, and priming. A final clean up, and some furniture, and we will be ready for company!

Eric is almost finished with the slate tile. It looks really good. I am glad we went with the slate. It was worth the extra hassle. Of course I can say that since I didn't have to lay it down :) We are really close to being finished with the remodeling of our immediate living space.

The boys(five of them at one time) spent the whole day outside building a skatepark in our driveway. With all our construction debris, there is plenty of stuff to scavange. They were able to build a couple of grinding rails, and spent quite a bit of time trying to make a wall rider before moving on to weapons and shooting crickets with airsoft pistols. My rule on shooting living things is- If you shoot it, you eat it, so I don't think too many crickets were actually harmed in the playing in the yard.

Go Cubbies!! We watch all the games, and even watched the Milwaukee game last night. Next year is here!!!

Michaelangelo

Well, my memory of texturing the ceiling has faded, and I just finished the guest bedroom. It went much faster than the other ceiling, so was not quite as painful. I should be ready to prime and paint the whole room tomorrow. I have one more wall to texture, then a light sanding and I will be ready for primer. I'm a regular pro now!

Out of Africa

Today Doug and I went to Out of Africa Wildlife Park in CV. It is about 10 min. from the house. I've been wanting to go, but we waited til the weather cooled off a bit. It was a beautiful day. Perfect in the sun! Yesterday there was a huge rain, so the animals were happy.

There are two tram tours at the park. First the Serengeti safari, where you see zebras, antelope, and other grazers. The highlight is getting to feed the Kebo, the giraffe(Doug is getting his hands licked in the photo). Next was the tram tour of the predators. There were some gorgeous tigers, wolves, and mountain lions, to name a few. I believe all(or most) the animals have been rescued from some ill fate or other. One of the tigers was inbred to be a white tiger, but insted of being born white, his kneecaps were backwards, so he walked with a limp. They are all in very natural habitats(AZ is very similar to Africa), loved, and well cared for.

A little more rustic than any zoo I've been to, but well worth our time and $$. We will bring Eric and Max next time, and get our annual memberships.

wind

Forgive me people for I have not been blogging very much. It has been eight days since my last entry. We have been pretty busy in those eight days.

I celebrated my 43rd birthday, with bowling and burgers at the Cliff Castle Casino here in CV. We didn't know it, but Wednesdays are dollar days from 9-3, so our total cost for four people, two games each, and shoes-12.00! Gotta love that. There is a Johnny Rockets there, so we had burgers after.

We are still under construction! After finishing the walls, Eric started on the floor. We(I) found some nice slate tile at a reasonable price. I really tried to like the ceramic tiles we were looking at, but just couldn't do it. I am too much of a rock hound. Eric really hates laying the slate, so he has been a real trooper. A section in the family room is all grouted and sealed, and looks FABULOUS!

Monday, for the first time, we turned off the AC all day and night, and haven't had to turn it back on yet. What a thrill! I felt like it was spring and everything will be coming out of hibernation soon. On Monday, there was a nice wind blowing all day as well, with some good cloud cover. By far, the nicest day since we've been here.

The wind sounds different here. I couldn't figure it out at first, but it sounds like you're at the beach, or sometimes it sounds like a winter wind. The wind is queiter here, because of the lack of tall, leafy trees. I'm sure near the river the wind is different. There are some huge Cottonwood and Sycamore trees growing on the river banks. We have a nice size Mulberry tree in our yard, but one isn't the same in the wind. If I am ever in need of some different wind sounds, I will head down to the river on my bicycle.

I will try to post more often, really.

Michaelangelo was a masochist

I spent three days texturing the ceiling in our house. I was at the beginning of a nasty cold and it was my first time texturing, so it probably could have gone a little faster. The walls took another two days, then I primed and painted. If I do say so myself, it looks FABULOUS!

I will not take all the credit though. Eric hung, taped, and sanded all 25 sheets of drywall on the ceiling-not a fun event. He also sanded the ceiling and walls in between the texturing and priming. We both had massages when we were done.

I have no desire to work on another ceiling anytime soon.

parents visit

My parents just left for the Phoenix airport after visiting since Thursday. We had a very nice time, and it was really nice to have them visit.

We took them out in the desert to watch the boys ride their dirtbikes on Friday, then took a drive up to Jerome for dinner. They had gone to Sedona earlier in the day while I was on a field trip with the first graders.

On Saturday, we watched Max wrestle in the morning, took a dip in the hotel pool after a light lunch at our house(still under too much construction for house guests), then went out for dinner with some old friends who came up from Phoenix.

Today before they headed to the airport, we took a little field trip to Montezuma's Castle, a Sinugua Indian ruin built into the side of a cliff. It is now a National Monument, about ten minutes from our house(see photos). A very cool glimpse into an ancient farming culture. They had been there for centuries before mysteriously disappearing about 500 years ago. Lots of history around here to be explored.

It was such a pleasure to have our first visitors! We are looking forward to more company in the future. Our guest room will be ready in a few weeks(photos to come).

The double rainbow the other evening was too big to fit into one frame. It was sprinkling at our house during the photo shoot, but really storming a little ways away. The rainbow lasted a good half hour, until the sun had set behind Mingus Mountain.

Happy Back to School everyone!! I feel like school has been going on here forever. In the four weeks since school has started, Max has hooked up with a number of boys in the hood, and started wrestling. Yesterday, there were about about six boys here, riding and skateboarding in the driveway before we took them out to do some dirtbiking. Another reminder of why we moved here.

Doug is hangin with the big boys when we are at home. We have not hooked with up too many younger kids as of yet. It is a little more difficult with him, since that involves getting phone numbers from first graders, and hooking up playdates. The fifth graders just show up!