Other January Happenings

Sarah attended a quinceañera for her friend Elizabeth. She had a ball.

Grandma O gave us a box of love which has been very popular.  Matthew and Megan especially like to have a good dose of love every day. (The box had cinnamon sugar in it.)

We went to the Gilbert Riparian Preserve for a bird walk.  We saw lots of birds and really enjoyed our time.

Random trip to the park.  When did they get big enough to do crazy things?

Megan and Matthew gave U a LEGO set and some treats for a date.  They built the submarine and ate gummy LEGOs.  The gummy creation is a multi colored alligator.

Our domino game ended up looking like a tree.

Megan and Matthew had Math and Science night at their school.  We got to see inventions based on animal adaptations and do a bunch of different activities.

Matthew with his "Sun Shield" 

Details of his invention.

Megan with her "Jackhat."

Details of her invention.

The Phoenix Herpetological Society was there with lots of interesting reptiles.  Megan of course loved being with the animals.  Here she pets a baby alligator.

Matthew created a giant gear creation with his friend Micah.

One of the teachers was organizing the kids to make a giant tower and trying to beat another group that was making one.  Megan and Matthew were both helping out.

Megan also started her own tower with a friend.

Sarah did her science experiment on how the color of cloth affects heat absorption. 

Megan and Matthew had their second running club race of the season.

Megan ran the 1.5 mile course in 15 min 33.16 sec. She timed herself on her watch.

Matthew ran the course even faster since he finished before his sister.

A few memorable quotes from the month:

Megan About Magic Erasers

"They really are magic! I wonder what they are made of? I hope it isn't rainforest stuff."

Matthew on getting taller

"I'm going to be a little taller than dad. I told him that, so if thoughts make it happen then I will be taller than him!"

Defying Gravity

For Christmas, the Adams got us passes to go to Gravity Extreme Zone.  We went early on a Saturday morning and started off with the whole place pretty much to ourselves.

See all the people that aren't there?  Sarah and Megan are on the climbing wall.

Sarah makes it to the top of her first climbing route.  She ended up making it to the top of four different routes.

Me and Sarah climbing side by side.

Me made it to the top of the pink route!

Megan at the top of the blue route.  She also made it up four different routes.

U at the top of the red route.

Matthew on his favorite route: orange!  He is looking forward to getting a little taller so he can reach some of the handholds better and make it the whole way up.  It was only for lack of inches, not lack of trying.

Matthew was the first to Climb to the top of the "Stairway to Heaven."  He noted that the taller the poles are, the more they wiggle.

Megan at the top.  The hardest part is jumping off once you are up there.

U at the top.

Me up there as well.

Finally Sarah at the top too.  She looks so nonchalant about it.

Sarah and Me also did the sky walk again.  Megan wanted to go but she has to be a little taller and three years older before she is eligible.

Sarah was flying through the course.

Me said it was a lot easier this time around.

Matthew and Megan getting ready to battle over the foam pit.  What could go wrong?

Let it be said that fighting can make us all losers.

Matthew takes a Leap of Faith.

Megan enjoyed the bungee apparatus.

Matthew really enjoyed swinging really high.

Megan on the bungee tramp.

Look at that flip!

Sarah coming down the slide.  This is fun as they have you hold onto the bar and they crank you up to the top slowly.  You can let go whenever you want.  Sarah made it all the way to 10 which has you higher than the sky walk.

Here comes Me!

And Matthew!

U had a dodgeball hit him right in the face which broke his glasses and cut his nose.  It made it hard to see the rest of the time but he still had fun.  Very thankful for glasses most of the time though.

K.K. and the M.A.C.

There is a secret war being waged in our schools.
A war that you may not even be aware of.
A war that has hit close to home.

A little before Christmas, Megan and Matthew came home from school very worried.  It appeared that another third grader in their class was hypnotizing other school children and taking over their lives.  Kaylee was using her powers of persuasion to take over the whole third grade with obvious intentions to extend her nefarious rule over the whole world...  Matthew and Megan were taking this threat very seriously and started organizing a resistance movement, the M.A.C.

The Matthew Anti Corps (pronounced corpse, not core) was formed by Matthew and Megan and a few friends that are trying to liberate the school from K.K.'s (Kaylee's) despicable clutches.  In their surveillance activities they have witnessed K.K. "literally" hypnotizing people by waving her finger in front of them and repeating "lolli-lolli-lollipop" and thus taking their free will.  The M.A.C. is the last bulwark against the tide of robot-mind-controlled-zombies that will certainly overwhelm us all in the near future.  Even now, recruiting agents are looking for new members and strategies to defeat K.K. and her mindless minions.  Can they count on your support?