Scottsdale Arabian Show....

Today we spent the day at Westworld, walking around, watching the horses at the Scottsdale Arabian Show, and of course,.. shopping. Five simultaneous rings/classes going on at once, plus massive numbers of booths selling everything horse related and not. I looked at a pair of cut off boots that I thought was "cute", and looked at the price tag...$1100.00. Had to put my glasses on to make sure I was reading it correctly. We did buy a couple of things... a little pink sparkly horse for Jasmine's bedroom door, a little horse tee shirt for her, and a new purse for me. We watched quite a few classes. The most exciting moment was at the end of the Arabian costume class, one of the horses became very anxious and wouldn't move. He was just frozen like a statue. Two guys came over to try to lead the horse out, and he/she just went ballistic, dumped the rider, and took off right thru the middle of the ring where all of the computers, desks, announcers, and judges chairs were. Everything went flying, including women with suits on, chairs, papers, etc... It was amazing that no one was hurt. Next, we went to one of the yearling halter classes. I always like to go to that particular class because it is the best of both worlds- little babies, and extremely handsome young and older men with three-piece suits on leading the little babies around!! Most of the people in the audience are typically women:)) In the shopping area, there were many artists. Jasmine kept bugging this one particular artist who was painting portraits. She was really interested in what he was doing! Had a fun day. Perfect weather, as usual for this time of year!

Gadiel's 6th Birthday!

Big Birthday Party today for Gadiel's 6th at the Chandler Build A Bear, followed by lunch and presents at the Food Court! Jazzy got a Hello Kitty Bear.

Endangered Species Zoo Class....

Only two or three classes left this year:) Yippee!! It's fun, but almost every weekend! Today the title of the class was "Endangered Species". I was answering emails the whole time, and didn't really listen to what was going on. They learned alot of new terms and reasons why animals become endangered or extinct. Two live animals came to class. A lizard - don't know what kind of lizard because I was not paying attention! Bad mommy. I did catch that his name is Alehuandra! Each child got to pet/touch him if they wanted. Next was Aubrey, the chosen representative for the "black footed ferret". She is not black footed, but represents all ferrets:) Apparently, black footed ferrets were thought to be extinct twice. Farmers were poisoning black footed prairie dogs, and black footed ferrets eat black footed prairie dogs. So, all of the black footed ferrets died off- or so it was thought. Next, they played a game where the class was divided in half- the jays and the jocos. Weird names. Anyway, the jays had to hide "food"- which was little white beads, and the jocos had to find the food. I think the jays won because they hid their food really well, and the jocos starved to death and became extinct. Perfect 75 degree day. Almost too hot. Got a little sunburned. We decided to stop for lunch at an Italian restaurant next to our house. Very pricey for a little lunch, but we chalked it up to our Valentine's lunch/dinner.

Valentine's Day...

Just home from school. Today, they were supposed to wear something Valentines-ish:) Lots of candy and watching "Stuart Little". Not much school work done, I don't think.

Making Valentine Candy.....

Chef Jasmine making Valentine's Day candy for Grandma and Grandpa!

Critter Keeper Sunday....

It was another Critter Keeper at the Zoo day. This weekend was for visiting the animals on "The Children's Trail". First they visited the goats at the petting zoo, and learned the proper way to be a "pooper scooper"! They each had a list of items to check off: making sure the goats had water, check their eyes, ears and noses for discharges, count the goats to make sure they were all there, make sure they were all brushed.

Then, give Patches the goat a bath:)) Each of the goats get a bath once a year.

Next, they painted a cardboard box, filled it with fruits and vegetables, and gave it to the warty pigs! for "behavioral enrichment". Here they are with Josh- the warty pig keeper- filling the box with food. They threw it over the fence and watched the pigs devour it.

Here is the alpha pig whose name I do not remember. He has to eat first, and will not let any of the other pigs eat until he is done- except for one very small pig who is is friend:))

Next, we visited Padfoot the ocelot. Padfoot is trained to go into his indoor cage when the keeper asks him to. Then the kids went into the ocelots cage and hid small pieces of meat. We watched him search out his territory to find all of the hidden treats.

Watching Padfoot.

Last but not least, they learned how to properly hold a turtle, never turning the turtle on his back because of the possibility of a "torsion"- twisted intestines. This is Wonka. His wife is Willy:)

After the zoo, we decided to go out for lunch/dinner. We didn't have good luck with restaurants. The first one didn't even come over to our table, so after sitting there for awhile, we left. We then went to our usual Vietnamese restaurant, but they were closing early. Next we went to another Vietnamese restaurant in the same Vietnamese complex. It smelled so bad in there, like rotting fish, that we were gagging. We walked out and were shot with daggers. Next, we went to a Chinese restaurant, ordered... and the food was so hot and spicy that we couldn't eat it. For some reason, we brought it home and it's sitting in the refrigerator uneaten. Better luck next time.

National American Miss....

Today we found out that Jazzy is a finalist for the National American Miss Arizona pageant. She had her personal interview this past weekend, and I guess the judges liked her:) They are judged on poise, self confidence, and speaking ability in the interviews. In June, they have the actual pageant where they have one more interview, an introduction of themselves onstage with their little business suits on:)), and a formal model walk down the runway. If they win the Arizona title, they get a 1000.00 scholarship, and a paid trip to the finals at Disneyland. If they win at the National level, there are several bigger scholarships and a car...even for the little ones!! There is only one car awarded, but last year a 7 yr old won it! It's mostly for the experience of public speaking, "job interviews", etc. Previous winners went on to be singers, actresses on Nickelodeon and the Disney Channel, as well as announcers such as Cat Deely and Megan Alexander on "Inside Edition". This is what she is has been telling me she wants to do for some time- at least for now anyway!