Another day at PhxZoo Camp and Swimming....

Today, Jasmine's class studied Javelina's... which if you ever hike or walk anywhere in Arizona... (and you wouldn't want to do that right now since the whole state is on fire)....you will typically run into a family of javelina's. Last time I was on a walk with Spirit, we ran into a little baby javelina completely covered in cactus spines. He looked like a little porcupine. No mommy with him at all. I couldn't catch him, and I'm sure he became someone's lunch:( They read the story "Three Little Javelina's" They also discussed the desert terrain and the type of animals here. Jazzy came home with a cup painted brown tied around her nose.... a little pig nose.. as well as her drawings of saguaro cactus.
Tomorrow is "farm day" at the zoo. There is a farm at the zoo with horses, pigs, cattle, sheep, goats, etc... so they will read the book "Can't Sleep without Sheep", then go feed the farm animals. Apparently every day they play in some fountains somewhere too- with their clothes on, but they dry very quickly in our 5% humidity.

Swimming yesterday.
Coming back from a walk/hike today at the zoo.

Zoo Camp

Today was the first day of Zoo Camp. *Hundreds* of kids there!! Couldn't get Jazzy to smile at first. She said she wanted to go home. I said "Too bad...I already paid for it.... you're staying!!:). I think she had fun. Today was "Rainforest Day". They met and petted a "Rainbow Boa" and made a paper snake, as well as a rainforest stencil. They read the story "Verdi" and "Stella Luna"- which is about a bat. When the teacher said that bats hang by their thumbs upside down when they are sleeping, Jasmine said ..."I hang upside down when I sleep on the couch"!! Really..? I have never witnessed that:) Aaron Abrahmson- Jazzy's friend from pre-school is in her class. He is also in her gymnastics class. They are good buddies.

Jazzy refusing to smile.
With her new friends, next to Aaron, waiting for all the other kids to get there.
Things to do today.
Jazzy and Aaron
Making a paper Rainbow Snake.

Seminar weekend.....

Got up at 3 Am this morning to drive to Tucson... on the far west side, take Jessie to Bernice's house, and Jazzy to Grandma and Grandpa Blakeman's for the weekend. Jasmine cried when I told her I would not be with her this weekend... the first time ever since November 18, 2008, but when I told her that she would get to sleep with Justin and Jade... she immediately started jumping up and down and screaming. So, it couldn't have been that bad:)

The seminar is at Loew's Vantana Resort on the west side of Tucson in the Catalina Foothills. Apparently, this is where Julia Roberts and other celebrities stay when they come here. I have my own jacuzzi, a TV in the bathroom... so I guess I could watch a movie while sitting in the jacuzzi... and my own private porch. Too bad I'm here alone- ha:)

The seminar -- well, the first speaker who will remain nameless was supposed to speak about "Vaccine Updates"-- which was why I got up at 3 AM to get there. He didn't speak about vaccines and didn't even have notes. He is an employee of Fort Dodge so I completely tuned him out when he said that all animals should be vaccinated immediately upon admission to the shelter. Dip wad!!
The second speaker, Michael Lappin DVM, ACVIM of CSU... was much easier to listen to and very entertaining. He has a PhD in parasitology (as well as many other titles) and was talking about parasite studies in Iceland... where they really don't have parasites in general. He said "It's always Cancun in the colon, even in Iceland"!!! Everyone fell off their chairs laughing. Guess you had to be there:) He was basically just trying to make a point that in Arizona, everyone thinks that we don't have alot of parasites due to the heat and low humidity... but we really do (supposedly).

Here is the view from my private patio:) Going to the jacuzzi now!

Science Camp....

This week was Science Camp at Kindercare. They studied Einstein, Alexander Graham Bell and discussed E=mC2, which led us to a discussion of energy and mass being interconvertible.... "thoughts are things":). Also, "we are atoms of water"? Don't know about that... maybe "molecules of water"... but we are mostly the space in between and inside of the atoms.
Anyway, every morning when Jasmine gets up, I always tell her she looks like Einstein, and here is proof!

Busy week....

This week, all of the lessons started back up again... after having a nice week off last week. Ice skating at Polar Ice, Suzuki piano at Ms Karen's studio , gymnastics, and tap/ballet with Ms. Jana. Jasmine has a new gymnastics teacher for the summer... Miss Megan. All of the kids love her. AND.... Adam, Aaron, and Addis are all in gymnastics at the same time with Jasmine. Addis is in the 5-6 yr old group. Adam, Aaron and Jasmine are in the 3-4 yr old group called Fireflies. I guess we'll find out the name of the 5-6 yr group when we get there in the fall. So, that's 1/3 of the pre-school class in gymnastics together on Thursday nights for the summer. It's good that they all get to see each other again. Addis is in ice skating on Friday nights too- same time as Jazzy. We also see Addis with his parents and Kiera with her mom very frequently at our new gym.


Megan helping Jasmine do a hand stand on the balance beam. Adam watching.
Jazzy wearing a pig hat at the hop scotch!
On the balance beam.
Hopping across the "tumbling- run" with Adam nearby.
Waiting for the reward- a hand stamp at the end of class.

Preschool Graduation Presents from Grandma and Grandpa

Lifetime Fitness Swim Party...

Big swim party mostly for kids today at Lifetime Fitness- our new gym. The gym has just about everything you could want.... endless equipment, great selection of classes, indoor and outdoor pools, indoor tennis courts, open 24 hours, lots of extracurricular activities, a restaurant and spa.... The only place they fall down quite a bit is the kid's club hours and snippy people who work there. The computer gives you a non-erasable demerit if you are "late" and then it suspends your membership for 2 weeks if you get 3 demerits. Really crappy for what we pay to go there. Being a "commoner", I was able to get a moment with the "king" (the regional manager) about that issue. He said my "issue" was a "non-issue"!! Anyway, today they had a big swim party in the outdoor pool, a bouncy house, huge water slide, burgers, slushies, hula hoop contest, and..... Kiera from Jasmine's class was there. So, Jazzy had a friend to play with in the water.