Stay-cation #2 @ The Pointe Squaw Peak

What did we do?

Lot of pool time
jumping off the beds

yummy food

it even rained & everything was so green

went to the float in movie

we hung out in the lazy river

and just had fun being together

This week was the last week of swimming classes. The kids did so good this year & really liked their teachers. Kali finished in level 3 and Kai finished level 1 this year.

They got to go down the slide & off the diving board. They also got lollipops & a certificate.
Look at my little Kai on the diving board!
I could not believe it but he was so happy after & wanted to go again.

He had a great teacher for level 1. Raymond is a Native American and he has a long braid so Kali said Kai was lucky to have an Avatar as a teacher. ha!

Kali loves going off the diving board. Kali made some cute little drawings to give to her teachers.

Here is Kai in his class doing the class cheer,

"go level 1"!!!

I am SO proud of these two!

Kai the starfish

But I tell you what I am NOT going to just stand on the side & roast out there next year I am going to join the water aerobics class & at least work on my tan while keeping cool.

What a fun summer!

Arizona Museum for Youth

We spent the afternoon at AMY, it was SO fun! Kali loved it because there was an entire area devoted to Japan & to top that off Yaya came & my cousin Rosemary came with her two oldest kids.

We also walked over to Domestic Bliss which is the cutest little boutique in downtown Mesa.....I was in love with everything in there but having Kai in there touching stuff was nerve racking!

And, speaking of my AWESOME cousin Rosemary.....she & her sister are photographers & are having a Back to School Glam Photo Shoot if you want your little ladies to get some cute pics taken before school. I know Kali is so excited to go. Here is the link with more info.

Learning

This is the last week of swim lessons.

School starts in 3 weeks.

My Kali in kindergarten!

I am a little sad but she is SO excited that I am excited for her.

When I was young I was always excited for the first day of school & I would cry on the last.

Mr. Becker thinks I was crazy.

Kai is going to be sad & miss his sister. He said he wants to watch her in the window all day.

Poor little guy. But, he is going to have fun being the only kid at home and going to the zoo & having it be his time with mommy. Not to mention on Mr. Becker's Fridays off he will have him all to himself!

This week we are working on numbers & letters.

Kai even joined in and did a worksheet!

We also read this book & made glittery pinecones that will be on the Christmas tree

The coming month is going to be filled with the kids learning new things & me learning to let go (well a little).

And then the rain came

Remember how I said I was Eeyore-ish...well not anymore! I've had the best couple of days!! Last night I went to sew with my cousin & made the CUTEST little birds! Kai & Mr. Becker went hiking on Lookout Mnt. and got me some sticks to make this mobile for Kali's room:

Thursday night we went to Desert Ridge to eat dinner and go see Despicable Me.
We ate OUTSIDE! It was raining on our drive there & the temperature was in the 80's--can you believe it?! It was perfect.

It has been months since we have eaten outside, it felt so good to have nice, moist weather.

Then Friday (Mr. Becker was off) we spent the day outside cleaning up the garden and patio. We literally spent the entire day outside.

my youngest brother, Bret gave the kids his old dinosaur & Star Wars toys & boy were they happy!

It was so nice to have a few days that we could actually enjoy the outdoors. It gave us a glimpse of what we are waiting for (Oct) and made this awful summer a little more bearable. Oh and I did not look at houses or jobs for Mr. Becker in Portland for 2 whole days!

I LOVE when it rains here!!

Cheering myself up

See this

this is me, Eeyore.

And to be perfectly honest with you I hate Eeyore.

I can't stand people that are gloomy & that complain all the time but for the past few days I have been an Eeyore.

Phoenix is horrible June-until Oct and I want to move, just like I do every summer.

Not to mention Phx is just a crummy place to live & I've lived in the same area my ENTIRE life.

Kali starts school in a month & I am sad.

Francis' State job used to be a great job but now it's just pay cut town.

The one good thing about school starting will be the sub jobs.

I am a substitute teacher....it ain't fun but it's pretty good money considering you don't have to do much except follow a lesson plan.

I have been up since 4am so this might get a little random.

So it's time to cheer myself up.
By looking at my cute boys in Kai's sports class

Kai is even wearing his "Super Kai" cape

I just love these two
and Kai is in "big boy" swim class...as he calls it....without me.....so I roast in the sun watching him but dang that kid is cute & after a rocky first day he is doing much better!

I found this pic on the camera....Kali took it....she takes losts of pics of her dolls & her Daddy

here is the little ballerina, she always cheers me up!

and last week my friend Joy came over and the kids made pizza

you really can't beat spending time with an old friend while the kids play in the back room while we chit-chatted.... adult conversation is sooooo nice sometimes

I have a lot to be happy about.....just have to remind myself!

It's WAY too hot!!!

It has been HOT.
Way too hot to be outside other than swimming class.

It was even too hot this week to go to the library just knowing we have to get back into the hot car that would be baking in the sun. It seems like the a/c finally cools the car off when we are a few minutes from home.

So Kali set up a cute hair/make-up/dress-up salon in her room & gave me a makeover.

then she turned her radio on and had Mr. Becker & Kai come dance with us.

She is such a bossy little organizer just like her mommy :)

Kali also made some dresses with my leftover fabric for her favorite dolls & did a photo shoot with them. She said her doll Holly was "ecstatic" to be modeling (she heard that word in Fancy Nancy) and she looked "tre magnific"

Dora and Minnie joined in on the photo shoot

For our school work we learned about cactus & the kids wanted to read a children's version of "The Iliad" (Odyssey) BUT we only got through a few chapters because the cyclops scared Kali so much that she could not sleep! And, here she was so excited to get to that chapter....

you never know I guess Kai got a new bed in his room so we moved the little fold out couch into Kali's room and I let the kids burn some energy by jumping off!

Oh and did I mention it's so hot that I want to move? Every summer I spend time searching for Auditing jobs in cooler parts of the country & then in the fall I forget about it. But this year I am looking in Oregon & Washington.....a girl can dream.....