2nd grade....here we come!

Good Bye to SUMMER with it's lazy days, swimming pools & flip flops. Hello to SCHOOL days! The boys were excited to get back to school this year. I would have to say I was right there excited with them. Not that we didn't have a fantastic summer (we DID) it was just time.

Cassie gave us a good idea for coming up with summer activities that she found on a blog. We wrote down 50 things we wanted to do over summer break & then tried to get them all done. We did not succeed but we sure had fun trying. Here are some of our favorites....

Going to a Diamondbacks game

going to the zoo

 Running in the sprinklers

Going on a picnic-Ryan found this great spot near the river.  Rex never passes up a chance to climb something.

Going to the summer movies

the air force museum

 Things we also enjoyed but didn't get pictures of.....
 -Ryan took the boys to Sun Splash
 -getting snow cones
 -making ice cream
 -building a fort
 -making puppets
 -summer reading program

Goodbye summer see you next year!

The luck of the Irish

The highlight of being in Ireland had to be the leprachan that we caught! The bummer is that when you catch a leprachan they shrivel up and die. This was explained to all the kids before we set the trap but they figured they would take their chances & try and trap one anyway.

BLIMEY!

While in Ireland we also had the chance to kiss the Blarney stone (at least we think it was the Blarney Stone-we all kissed it any way). We learned that the proper way to kiss the stone was to lean over backwards.

Jett kissin the Blarney stone for luck

Some enjoyed this more than others

Cassie had some instruction for the older cousins & friends on how to river dance. (she was very excited)

But the younger boys were natural Michael Flatley's and needed no instruction. Lord of the Dance look out!

Lucky for us there had been a rainbow that very day and we were able to find a treasure left at the end of it. I got the pleasure of hiding the treasures and decided to hide the older kids really well. They were not all that impressed with my skill.

After a fine meal of cabbage, potatoes & stew we left jolly ol' Ireland

and all her jolly ol' jolly people

 & set sail for India.

Best Friends

We have made some really good friends while living here in AZ. They all touch our lives in some way. Last week we lost some of our favorites who fished school and headed back to Washington. Here are some of our favorite memories with the Smarts....

Our pool play dates

We started swimming in April and swam through October and sometimes every day of the week.

 Date Night

Every weekend that we were in town we would switch off date nights with the Smarts. On Friday we would get the kids while they went out and on Saturday's Ryan & I would go out while they watched the kidos. I think the kids enjoyed date night at least as much as we did.

Halloween

we loved Lore's Halloween party that she had for the kids. 

 Easter

We loved having Easter egg hunts at our home

our Adventures

Diamond backs game

Phoenix zoo

zoo splash pad

Summer movies

Mesa Air-force museum

  

We sure have loved all the fun times we got to have with our friends. Rex & Jett won't know what to do with out their favorite buddy Dalan. We will sure miss you guys!

China

Although we all enjoyed our stay in Russia we were anxious to get to our next destination....  CHINA (of course)!
Before we embarked the group needed to make sure that all their immunizations were up to date and get their luggage checked for stashed Russian things...

Leave it to Merrill to try and get a knife on board, but a cooking knife, come on Merrill!

Then we were welcomed back on board by an enthusiastic Julie.

China was beautiful this time of year. The plum trees were in full bloom (thanks to a little hot glue and tissue paper). The tour group even got some good luck coins and money to help bring in their new year with luck and prosperity (we hope it works).

The group also learned how to fish for Koi,

the boys learned the dragon dance,

the girls learned the Chinese ribbon dance,

and we all feasted on Chinese food (Rex's favorite).

 

Over all a great day in China. 

Xie xie Grandma!