WFA Weekend!

Wilderness First Aid Certification thru Solo Wilderness Medicine Group. These guys work for the MCSO (Maricopa Sheriff's Office) and do many amazing rescues- which I hear about on TV all the time. People come to Arizona thinking they can go hiking in the summer, or even in the winter, with very little water or supplies. They get lost, dehydrated, and sometimes die:( It was a long weekend of very few breaks. We did much outside work "rescuing" people from various scenarios -from more simple cuts and bruises to major fractures, spinal traumas, etc. Jasmine was doing her homework part of the time (sort of), and playing with Leslie's dog- Candy- most of the time:) With "Sparky" the owl- who is kind of difficult to see. He is called Sparky because he was caught in some electrical wires apparently! Leslie, my very long term client and her dog Candy who is a "rescue dog" among many other talents. Leslie is a professional dog trainer who has a habit of taking dogs (German Shepherds in particular) from German Shepherd rescue groups and turning them into herding dogs, rescue dogs, or a service dog of some type. Candy is a great example of that! There were Wilderness EMT's taking the class as part of their CE requirements. I didn't realize that EMT's had "specialties". A wilderness EMT has much more experience and responsibility than a "regular EMT". My partner was Andi (a wilderness EMT) who was taking the class and helping out. In this photo, she had fallen off a cliff, fractured her wrist and ankle and had dislocated her knee. After making sure all else was well, I was supposed to splint her for transport with anything we could find. Luckily, she had many of the items in her backpack. In front and in back of the North Mountain Visitors Center.

My birthday card:)

My birthday party:)

Today after skating and running around, Jazzy and I went to Circus Vargus in Scottsdale. It was an amazing circus- especially since I got the tickets on Groupon:) They pride themselves on being an animal-less group of performers. It was a really nice mix of kids events, high rise performers, gymnasts and motorcycles. There was a family- man, woman, and three kids who were *amazing* gymnasts- very unique performers. Also, the people who perform by wrapping themselves around the cloth hanging from the ceiling... nice bodies on those guys:)) Then, I have seen the motorcycle performers in the circular cage on TV, but this time I was very close to them. A father and his twin sons- wow. Then...the fumes made me nauseous for a couple of hours:( but amazing to watch. Afterwards, Jazzy and I went to the "5 and Diner" in Scottsdale. Terrible photos- my phone battery ran down. Nice birthday party with my little girlfriend!! These guys were amazing- jumping from the ceiling and bouncing in impossible positions back up to the ceiling! Jazzy at the 5 and Diner!

Ice Den Party then Trick or Treating!

Skating and dancing all night. More candy!!:( Trick or treating with Jim, Jacky and Katie. Their neighborhood just goes NUTS! People come from all over just to trick or treat in their neighborhood. Literally every driveway has tables/chairs, candy of course, some kind of party, and haunted houses. One guy chased me down the street with a chain saw:)) There was no chain on it. He was dressed as the chain saw massacre guy! He chased a bunch of other women too! The saw was REALLY loud! Jim, Jacky, Katie, Jasmine. Jasmine giving me a dirty look because she wanted me to go home and not take her photo! At next door neighbors house. Spider attack. We remembered this house from last year!

SO many Halloween Parties!

Zoo party, Choir party, School party today, Ice Den party tonight, Trick or Treating tomorrow night! So far, I've been able to confiscate most of the candy and deposit it into the trash can prior to Jasmine eating it! Today was CEE "field day". They had lots of games, relay races, etc. Here is Jazzy with classmates: Mrs. Swane, McKenna, Addysyn, Braden, Kadence and Jazzy.

Howl-O-Ween at the Zoo

Howl-O-Ween at the Phoenix Zoo! There must have been around 10,000 people there. Most crowded I've ever seen the place. It was divided up into "scary" for the older kids, and "non-scary" for the younger kids. Of course, we did all of the non-scary things like crafts, the carousel, trick or treating on the Arizona Trail..which took forever since it was so crowded. The most fun thing we experienced was the new 3-D Theater at the zoo. We watched a movie about some ghosts- which was not scary at all. Every time there was water in a scene (which was often), sprays of water went all over us. Any time there was a loud noise, the chairs would shake. In one scene, rats were scurrying across the floor, and there were little puffs of wind on your feet which felt like rats on the ground:) They even had hot and cold "wind" that corresponded with various scenes:) Luckily, it was still in the high 80's outside, or we would have been cold from getting so wet. Here is Morticia- without her wig which she took off prior to even getting out of the car-due to the heat. Hair is flattened down:) Trick or treating- too hot to wear costume!

Saturday...

Saturday morning skating, ceramics class, then Jazzy spent all of last night and the rest of today writing 400 sentences because she was caught stealing again:(( "I respect other people's property. I leave things alone that are not mine". I am hoping she learned her lesson this time- maybe.