Sunday, April 18, 2010

Christian's Senior Pictures

Christian got his Senior pictures done. Here are some of my favorites:



Christian says this one reminds him of Smallville.






Christian wanted a picture with the back of his tennis practice shirt.
I love Christian's little half smile. I am glad the photographer got him smiling it. I can't believe he has grown up and is graduating in little over a month. He's my baby - grew up too fast!
We even got some family pictures too.
I got Christian to smile for this one.
This is probably my favorite one of us.
This one was taken when Christian was trying to tip me over his shoulder into the sand. He did it too.

Sunday, April 4, 2010

White Tanks Waterfall Hike

Getting ready for our hike to the waterfall in White Tanks Mountain.
Mom was taking lots of pictures of the flowers in the desert. She said she needed to show people that the desert was beautiful.
Christian was determined to bring his canteen on this hike. He didn't for his practice hike in White Tanks earlier that week and he regretted it. This time he brought it and didn't really need it.
Christian and Mom went on ahead while I walked with Dad. Mom is at the top. She made it!
Christian decided to hide from us - too bad; I found him.
In order to get to the waterfall, you need to cross the stream on the rocks. Here is Dad trying it. He looks a little wobbly - watch out:)
He made it across the tricky part and got turned around on the last rock. Down he went! The other people were worried about him, but we were just laughing (including Dad).
"I made it!" he said.
Christian came around the other side of the stream through a tiny hole. He said I could have made it if I tried. (I climbed over the rock on the side of this picture.)
The waterfall - we were glad it had water.
After seeing three girls go across the pool to climb up the rocks, Christian decided to do it too. (There was second pool higher up that you couldn't see.)
There he goes.
He got up there - so did the girls.
The waterfall is behind Christian and the second pool is off to his side. He could see it but we couldn't.
When Christian got down he decided he wouldn't even try not to get wet and just went all the way in.
Since Christian was already wet, we made him help Dad across the rocks so he wouldn't fall down again. Christian even helped another lady across as well. What a gentleman!


Mom decided to try my way. She went over the rock I did on my way to the waterfall.
I tried Christian's way - through this small rock. Mom thought I was crazy and would get stuck. I didn't. I made it through the rocks :0)

The hike was enjoyable. That night we all went up by the lake and watched Alvin and the Chipmunks the Squeakual. It was fun. Then we found out it was a double feature with New Moon. Dad decided he didn't want to see it (it was already after 9:00). Mom and Christian ran home (in the car) and got more treats, more blankets (it was cold), and Mom got into longer pants. Then we watched New Moon. We got home after 11:00 after having a wonderful day and Spring Break.

Read the next post for more info about our Spring Break.

Sonoran Desert Museum

Later in the week we went to the Sonoran Desert Museum in Tucson. I made sure to put sunscreen on before I left this time. Christian wanted to visit the caves first. Mom, Christian, and I tried the steep route, while Dad stayed on the safe route. It was cool.
At the end Dad went up a little ways so we could take some pictures with him in them.
Christian and Mom are trying to get her camera to work and they had to bend over the small lights to even see the camera.
In the caves was a bat exhibit. These are what our ears would look like if we were bats. Boy could you hear the sounds!

Obviously, Christian did not want his picture taken. (Actually I made him take the picture twice.)
There were little animal statues all over the museum. Here is Mom posing with an owl.
Dad had to take a break while Mom went back tot he car to get him a snack. He needed to eat about every hour or he ended up exhausted. Christian tried his hand at drawing a cactus. He did pretty good with it...then he turned it into a pineapple :)
This is a teddy bear cactus. I had to take a picture of it since the Kindergarteners, first graders, and I were wondering what a teddy bear cactus would look like when I was reading G is for Grand Canyon to them.
An otter. One of my favorite animals :) I remember learning how to swim by watching an otter.
I don't remember what Christian is doing here, but it's a cool picture :)
This bighorn sheep was posing for us, so I had to take a picture of it.
Taking a break at the tortoise exhibit.
Doesn't he look like a tortoise?

Inside the bird exhibit. We saw some cool birds, but don't know the names of most of them.

Next was the hummingbirds. I love hummingbirds and so does Mom. It helps that we see hummingbirds in our yards...but I don't have any nests yet and Mom does :(

Eating lunch at the car since there are no picnic tables around the entrance. We didn't want to drive to the picnic tables....we would have lost our great parking space.
After lunch we went to see the Birds of Prey Flight. Dad decided to wait at the entrance since it was a walk to where the flight was going to be. These hawks were amazing. They flew two feet above our heads. (The announcer had asked us not to put our hands up or place our children on our shoulders...now we know why.)
Four hawks ended up flying above us. I got this fabulous picture just as one of them left its perch.

After we left the Sonoran Desert Museum, we went to Gammy's grave. Mom wanted to get some pictures of her parents' graves. Then the long drive home. And guess what??? I got lobster red sunburned...and I had sunscreen on this time. I should know - I always get sunburned :(

Read the next post to hear about the Civil War Reinactment!