1st Grade!

First grade is going pretty good for Devon. We got his first progress report last week and seems he is doing excellent in all his classes. It is a long day for him though and he is really ready for the weekend when it comes.

This morning we had our first incident with not wanting to go to school. Seems that there is a new boy in the class that is being mean to others, Devon being one of them. His teacher is now aware that it really bothers Devon, so hopefully things change. I did bring him home, but at 10:00 he wanted to go into school, so I took him. They were having snack and recess, and I stayed and watched. He seemed to be having fun, and was ready to go back into school without me. So hopefully that's the end of it!!

He wanted to show everyone his first spelling tests, so here they are.

Devons first day of First Grade!!

Wow, can't believe its school time already, and that Devon is in 1st grade! Seems like he had a great first day (I will let him tell it in his own words when he gets home today) Most parents stayed for the first 45 minutes for an introduction ceremony. We got to meet the principal and the teachers, then each parent got their picture taken with their child for the yearbook. There are 22 in his class, which is more than they have ever had in one grade at a time! Its a very small school. They sit in groups of 4 at their desks to encourage group work as well as individual. So far, it seems like a great school.

Breakers Water Park

As a reward for reading 30 hours through the summer reading program, the kids received free tickets from the library to Breakers Water Park. We went on Tuesday the 21st with Donna Lennox and her kids. The kids had a blast, even though there were only 2 waterslides that they were tall enough for. There was also a kiddie splash area, and a huge wave pool that we could float on our tubes. Was a fun day!


Kayhoni, Kylee


Devon, Tyler (notice Devon screaming - he would scream all the way down, but came out laughing)






the wave pool


Just chillin

Our weekend at Sedona and Grand Canyon

Saturday morning we made a quick decision (like normal :) to get away for the long weekend. We left 1 1/2 hours later and drove the 3 hours to Sedona. Its very beautiful up there. The weather was in the 70's but we had rain part of the day. We drove around a bit, then stopped at a tourist information place to find out the best places to see. We were told that all the hotels were booked in the area, but could stay one night at a resort for a cheap rate, but had to go to their time-share meeting the next day. The room we stayed in was very nice with a fireplace that we did use, as the rain kinda made it damp. Sunday after meeting, our meeting at the resort was at 12:30, but we were an hour late because of all the traffic. That meeting kinda ruined our afternoon, as it was after 4:00 before we got out of there.

After the meeting, we took a scenic drive, but didn't get too far as the traffic was bumper to bumper, just crawling. We would like to go back sometime on a normal weekend. We found out that wasn't the place to go on a long weekend! We stopped at a hiking trail head, and hiked for an hour or so. VERY beautiful.

Sunday night, we stayed at Glenn and Debbie Tenniswoods. Monday, they took us up to Grand Canyon for the day (a 2 hour drive) That was beautiful too, the pictures don't show the beauty really. We walked along the rim for a while and then hiked down a trail for a while. I really was a basket-case as they don't have railings along the path, and its straight down in places - its 4600 feet deep!! Thats a place to go with no kids :) From rim to rim, its between 8 and 16 miles across!!

Sedona









Grand Canyon

Splash Park

We had a potluck on Sunday at a splash park. We just thought it was just a regular play park, so the kids didn't wear their bathing suits. But clothes worked just fine :) They had so much fun, that I took the kids there again on Monday, and even I enjoyed it. It felt great as it was 107 degrees! And it is free, so we will probably spend alot of time there through the summer. Here are some pictures of our day..

A day at the Zoo

We went to the zoo a couple of weeks ago, and I just came across the pictures today. The monkeys were the favorite - we spent alot of time watching them. We also took a little train ride around the park.

Arizona Sonora Desert Museum

On Monday the 20th, we went to the Desert Museum with some friends Doug and Melissa. It is about 2 miles of paths to walk around on and see all kinds of plants, cactuses and animals. It was a hot day, but we saw some neat things. There was a hummingbird area that you could go inside and see them up close. There was a nest and a hummingbird was sitting on it, but my picture really didn't turn out of that. There was a cave that we went down into, which Devon really thought was neat. Here are a couple of pictures of our day...






That is a roadrunner!


This is Doug and Melissa's little girl - Naomi

Hiking at Bear Canyon to See 7 Waterfalls

Yesterday a bunch of us took a hike up Bear Canyon. You took a tram up the mountain about 2 miles, then hiked 2 1/2 miles each way and took us about 2 hours each way. The path wasn't wide enough for 2 people to meet on it, and was a dirt/rock path along the side of a mountain. We crossed the "wash" (creek of water running down from the top of the mountains) 7 or 8 times. It was quite an experience. The kids did great - only had to carry Kylee a couple of times for a short distance because she was too tired. There were quite a few kids so I think they encouraged each other to keep going :) In places it was pretty steep climbing. Scott and I were pretty sore last night, and are still a little sore today, so it was pretty impressive that the kids made it.

The hike was worth it though - it was beautiful at the end. Its pretty neat to see that much water in the middle of the desert. When we got there, Kylee exclaimed "The ocean!!" :) They call it 7 Falls, but really it is one long falls, with seven levels where it drops. The water is ice cold (it snowed on Mount Lemmon about a week ago, so some of the water is coming from melting snow.) A couple of the kids went swimming, but the rest of us just waded. It was so cold it actually hurt if you got as deep as your knees. It was in the high 80's so it was a pretty hot day. We all got sunburned - well except Kylee - she got browner :)


The path








The falls - the pictures don't really show the height


Another level of the falls


One of the teenagers swam underneath and behind this falls


Playing in the water. At this point they both had their shoes wet trying to cool down in the washes on the way home.