Sleepover with Hope...

Jazzy invited Hope Gonzales and Katie Keudden to spend the night tonight, but Katie couldn't make it. Hope is obsessed with our piano/keyboard, and that is all she wants to do:)) She just wants to play the automatic songs and pretend she is playing while Jazzy dances. Then we went to a 3-D movie new release called "Epic"- about the battle between good and evil in the plant world. I thought it was very cute. Jazzy liked it, but Hope was a little scared. It's rated PG because of a couple of sword fights between the plant fairies and the bad guys. So far they have had pizza and wings, as well as Skittles at the movie theater.

First day of summer school....

Jazzy in front of the same tree again:) Actually, the first day of school was June 6, 2013, but for some reason, I had it written down on June 5. Get your act together Mommy. We showed up a day early!! Better one day early than one day late. Today was "meet the teachers day". The teachers are brand new teaching graduates. They look like teenagers to me:) Apparently, they are the "cream of the crop" from various schools around the country, and are doing their 5 week teaching internships. I have all of their phone numbers, and they are all non-local. There are 4 teachers and one teacher-supervisor per classroom which is an average of one teacher per 5 kids- which is great! They have individualized tutoring in the morning from 8-9am, then reading and comprehension, lunch, then math. Done by 1:30 and off to skating, swimming, gymnastics, etc. I feel kind of bad that Jasmine is going to summer school when all of the other kids are at swim camp, skating camp, traveling, and other fun stuff, but her grades were very bad this year- so that's the breaks when you goof around in school all year. Their goal is to have each child improve by at least 25% on their test scores in the next 5 weeks. It's only until July 3rd, so we can handle it. I told Jazzy that if she gets all A's and B's this coming year, we can go to San Diego Sea World. She has been bugging me for a year to go to Sea World- so we'll see what happens with that.

Arizona Science Center....

110 degrees today:(( My plan was to go to the Arizona Science Center for awhile, then to a movie- both of which are in downtown Phoenix. Then I realized that the Science Center has an Imax! So, first we went to the Planetarium and saw a show on the sun, solar system and constellations. Later, we went to the Imax and saw a 3-D movie about a Polar Bear family. Amazing photography. I've seen Imax movies and 3-D movies, but not a 3-D movie at the Imax. They also showed how the Artic ice cap has melted by around 30% just since 1980. There will be no ice cap at all by 2055, so the Polar Bears and all of the other species will have nowhere to go and will probably die off. Don't know what the consequences will be for that. We saw probably 80% of the exhibits at the Center, just because it is too big to see in one day. Then we went to a biology workshop on "bones":) We dissected a bovine femur and the class was taught by high school interns:) The kids were making "bone marrow melon balls"!!!!!!!! Jasmine was enthralled with it, and I could hardly pull her away. Studying a hurricane- relevant right now with all of the tornados that are happening. Playing with a pully.

Things on the bulletin board at school.....

First lost tooth:)

Jazzy finally lost her first tooth:(. It's been loose for over a week. I kept asking her jokingly if she wanted me to pull it so we could give it to the tooth fairy... no way. I was shocked when she asked me to pull it today. It was so loose that I really didn't have to do anything. Here is the Tooth Fairy bag hand-made and purchased in Vietnam for this very special occasion:)) Jasmine said.."Since this is such a special occasion, can I have a second popsicle?":))

Memorial Day...

Went into Payson today. Lots of traffic. We thought there was going to be some type of Memorial Day ceremony/celebration at the local park there, but when we finally got there... nothing. So, of course we had to play on the playground...for 3 hours!! The only reason we stayed so long was because Jazzy made a new friend, little 6 yr old "Freddie", a resident of Payson- at least that's what Jasmine told me his name was. They played on the playground the whole time, holding hands. When I finally told Jasmine we had to go, they both cried:( Jazzy told Freddie we would be back next summer:) Probably not, but oh well. Then we went back to the lodge and stayed in the pool for another three hours straight until I made her get out again. Jazzy said in a whiney/crying voice, "Oh Mommy, why can't we just stay here all summer". Well, that would be nice Jazz, but you would have to get a job:) Didn't bring the camera with me. Going home to over 100 degrees tomorrow. Yuk!

Just kind of goofed around today....

Slept in. Went to the playground AGAIN. Then drove over to Woods Canyon Lake. All of the lakes and campgrounds were filled to capacity. Not even any parking spots to get out and walk around. I should have known better on a holiday weekend. There were lots of places to stop and look over the rim though. At 5000 feet at our lodge, it was a comfortable 80 degrees... but at 7000 feet it was around 60 degrees and breezy. Forgot our jackets at the lodge, so had to wrap Jazzy up in a towel that I keep in the trunk for when I go thru the car wash:)) Then went to Heber-Overgard. Note to self- don't ever go there again. Total waste of time. Nothing there. Old run down place not worth visiting. Just sitting on the rim, freezing, looking out at the pretty scenery. Then went on a little pony ride at the stables next to the lodge. Jazzy meeting Tank for the first time. The smallest little pony ever! This was the first time Jasmine rode a horse/pony and was not scared. Maybe it was because Tank is so tiny, or maybe she is starting to get used to it. They have a 3 semester "horsemanship" class at the zoo, and I think I will sign Jazzy up for it in the fall. No way are we doing it in the summer, but there is also no way that any child of mine is going to be afraid of horses:)))) Then she spent the entire afternoon... from around 1:30 until around 4:30 in the pool! She only got out because I made her so we could go to dinner..at the Zane Grey Restaurant. Fun lazy day.