Eric's Eagle Project

Eric has been working on his Eagle Project for the last couple months. We were having trouble coming up with ideas so Eric called the Veteran's Administration and asked them if there was a service project he could do for them. They suggested he collect household supplies for veterans. Eric created the flyer with this description: "Over 131,000 US veterans are homeless. Through a Veterans Administration rehabilitation program, many have found employment and housing. However, their new homes need common household goods. Your donations will help our veterans as they become self sufficient members of our community."

We have been very impressed with Eric because he put in many hours with this project. Hours were spent making dozens of phone calls, sending emails, making neighborhood maps, and finding a printer. Only once did he not want to make a phone call and that was because the man had just lost his wife the night before. He wasn't quite sure what to say. But he made the call anyway and when he couldn't get a hold of him, he went to his house. He found 20 families to deliver his flyers to their neighbors. Today he organized 20 people to pick up the donations. Now he just needs to deliver the items to the VA and write up his final report. Mario and I took him to Chili's to celebrate tonight. I am so proud of Eric and that he is doing so well. He has a couple merit badges to finish up and then he will be able to go before the board to get his Eagle.




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The Cousin's Visit

My sister and her two kids, Justin and Max, came for a visit for a week. This is the third year in a row that they have come to Tucson. Tucson is so boring and ugly (that's probably too harsh, it's just so...brown!) So I am disappointed that she didn't get to visit when we lived in really awesome, beautiful places like Guam, Hawaii, or Monterey. But I am glad they were able to visit. I just wish we had more to do here in Tucson besides look at cacti and sweat to death.

She and the kids flew into Mesa last Thursday. It was Mario and my 17th wedding anniversary. I was really sick from a sinus infection, but was feeling slightly better after the antibiotics the dr put me on. So Mario and I left the kids at home and enjoyed a lunch out and some sealings (what a great way to celebrate a wedding anniversary...it's almost like renewing your vows) at the temple before we got them at the airport.

The rest of the week is kind of a blur since I wasn't feeling well. But we did swim a lot, Mario took all the 7 year-olds to the movie to see Cars 2. Another day Melissa and I took all the kids to the dollar theater to see Soul Surfer. Eric and Erin enjoyed all the time they had with their aunt. Nathan enjoyed playing Legos all day with Justin. Poor Zach was left out a bit because although he likes Legos, he doesn't want to play 24/7. But we tried to entertain him by playing games with him.

My kids have been reading all summer with the library reading program and after 24 hours of reading, you get a free ticket to the waterpark. We were hoping to go with the cousins, but couldn't because I never felt up to it. Then on Tuesday, I broke out in hives from the Amoxicillin. So I couldn't go out in the sun on Wednesday, the day before they left.

We were sad to see them leave on Thursday and I felt bad that I wasn't a better host. But I think the cousins had a lot of fun together and that's what really counts. Justin is a sweet boy who we enjoy seeing each summer. Max turned into a big kid this last year. Fortunately he still has a cute little voice. I tried to talk him into staying with us but he was anxious to get back to Grandma Jeannie's house.

I am glad we had that week together. But since I was sick the whole time, I look forward to seeing them in Florida in September when I hopefully feel a lot better.


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Happy 40th Birthday

Wow! Forty! Good thing Mario's grandparents lived into their 90's. So hopefully he has a long life ahead.

Eric decorated the cake. But he's upset that he didn't make it in any of the pictures. Sorry...he usually avoids the camera.

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Scout Camp and Pinetop

This week Eric and Mario were supposed to attend Scout camp at Mount Lemmon. The camp is within an hour of our house. Due to all the fires in AZ, the Mountain was closed and the boys had to travel 5 hours up to Flagstaff and join another council's camp.

My friend, Rachelle, has a timeshare up in Pinetop, so we decided to take the kids on a little vacation while Mario and Eric are away. But then Mario decided Pinetop sounded like more fun than boys camp and so he decided to bounce back and forth between the two. Pinetop is a nice break from Tucson. It's cooler and much prettier. The desert landscaping gets old quickly! Unfortunately, they have closed all hiking up here too because of fire fears. Mario called the front office and they gave him permission to walk in the wood behind the lodging. So the boys got to go on a little hike. Mario took the kids out on a John boat this morning. The battery died, so the owners upgraded them to a Pontoon boat and Erin and Zach stripped down to t-shirts and their underwear and went for a swim. Nate got pushed in so he got a little swim too. My kids are accustomed to ocean swimming so the lake was a little "dirty" for their liking.

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Erin and Mikki at the Piano

Erin decided to let Mikki sit on her shoulder while she practiced the piano yesterday. I thought for sure he would jump down since Erin was moving so much, but he just stayed there and chirped along happily to the music. Mikki loves his cage so if you take him out and stay near his cage, he will jump down from you, climb up the couch and hop back into his cage. His wings are clipped so he can't fly well. We are enjoying having a bird but I am not sure Buzz likes all the attention Mikki is getting.

Wind Tunnel

While deployed to Afghanistan, Mario made a list of things he wanted to do with the kids when he got home. Going to a wind tunnel was on the list. Fortunately we have one half-way between Tucson and Phoenix. They let you go one at a time for a minute each. They get to do it twice. The first time they are just teaching you how to position your body, the second time, they let you try to fly alone and then the last few seconds, the instructor hangs on to you and takes you high up in the air. Nathan opted out of going up high which was understandable. He did a flip (accidentally) and then looked like a rag doll being thrown against the wall during his first minute. Fortunately the instructor caught him. Going up high did look a bit scary. But the other kids said that was the best part. Now Zachary and Erin are asking to take one friend each and go for their birthdays. We'll see, it wasn't cheap.

The pictures I took were through a window so they are blurry. Fortunately we were given a good quality dvd of them flying. So that will be fun to watch over and over again, especially the part with poor Nathan being thrown up against the wall.

End of School Year

On Monday, Eric and Erin were honored along with about 80 other students at their middle school that earned straight A's for the entire school year. Mario kept tally of how many boys vs girls. Surprisingly, eleven were boys and the rest girls. We were shocked by the huge difference.

Erin in her braces that she got on May 12.

Today, my little baby graduated middle school. I cried when he walked into the ceremony. I realized that it won't be too long before I will be watching his high school graduation and then he will be leaving me. Depressing!

Unfortunately, I didn't get a good picture of him at graduation.