A Visit from Family

 Me's brother and his family visited us for a few days. The kids were super excited that cousins were coming to visit and U and Me were happy to see family. They happened to come during a heat wave (115+ temps). Unfortunately Kinley got heat stroke on the day they arrived and she had to go to the ER. Thankfully, she recovered. We made sure that everyone drank a lot and no one else got sick. We enjoyed our time with them. 

A great horned owl sitting on the fence by the park. Aspen spotted it and pointed it out to us.

Marci, Me and the 6 youngest kids went to AZCEND Thursday morning. The kids especially liked restocking the shelves and putting cans in the carts. They also flattened a lot of plastic bags.

Back row: Josie, Aspen, Megan
Front row: Zach, Matthew, Quincy

Matthew, Zach, Megan and Josie playing Twister.

We enjoyed cooling off at the pool.

Megan and Aspen

We went to the zoo Friday morning. Because what better thing to do when the high is 117??? We did arrive early--around 6:30 during member hours.

Me, Matthew, Megan, Zach, Kinley, Sarah, Quincy watching the elephant.

Megan riding a bucking bronco.

Cute squirrel monkey

Zach and Matthew

A trip highlight was petting and feeding the stingrays.

Zach, Kinley, Matthew, Marci, Quincy, Josie, Aspen

Sarah and Megan pet the stingrays while their cousins look on.

Our plan had been to walk part of the zoo and then take the Safari Tram. This allows us to see some of the less shaded parts of the zoo from the comfort of a moving vehicle. However, when we went to buy tickets, we discovered that the trams were not running. We slathered on the sunscreen, filled up water bottles and walked quickly along the African Trail. I was quite impressed with our speed!

The fennec fox. I fully expected it to be sleeping since it's nocturnal and is usually sleeping. But it was awake and alert. Zach was excited as it is one of his favorite animals.

Quincy, Aspen, Zach, Josie, Kinley, Matthew, Megan and Sarah on the treehouse bridge at the end of our trip to the zoo.

More games!

Zach and Matthew playing Castle Panic.

U playing What's Up with Quincy and Josie.

Josie and Aspen riding the ATV around the yard. The ATV was very popular!

The whole fam: Kinley, Jon, Zach, Josie, Marci, Aspen, Quincy

Jon and Me

Summer swim 2019

It's summer in Arizona so that means it's time for swimming. The kids are all participating in the summer swim team again. Here's the results and some photos from the first few meets.

Team picture day. Sarah wasn't in the photos as the timing did not work with summer school.

Megan. The girl to the left is Isabella. Her mom and I chat a lot during swim.

A couple shots of Matthew. It was a bit hard to get a good picture because of where he was placed.

Meet 1

For the first meet, the swimmers swam against members of their team. It made for a faster meet. Sarah didn't swim as she was at Girls' Camp. Both Megan and Matthew improved their times relative to last year, sometimes by a lot!

Megan (25 yard)

Freestyle: 30.65 s

Backstroke: 29.16 s

Breaststroke: 42.37 s

Butterfly: 41.04 s

Matthew (25 yard)

Freestyle: 44.51 s

Backstroke: 45.54 s

Breaststroke: 1 min 7.45 s

Butterfly: 1 min 0.06 s

Megan diving in for her first race.

Matthew getting ready to dive in for his first race.

Megan starting backstroke. I love that the picture captured the water coming up around her.

Matthew starting backstroke. Again, the water looks amazing.

Matthew adjusting his goggles before a race.

Megan stretching before a race.

The haul. Between the two of them, they got all the colors of ribbons. Eight races, eight different ribbons. Last year, Megan's goal was to get all the colors so it was exciting that the two of them got all the colors in one meet!

Meet 2
The second meet was a home meet. Both U and Me helped out with timing which the kids really liked. Unlike the previous meet, the kids did not get all the colors of ribbons between them. However, they all got 4th on breaststroke.

Megan (25 yard)

Freestyle: 31.58 s

Backstroke: 30.17 s

Breaststroke: 40.15 s

Butterfly: 41.42 s

Matthew (25 yard)

Freestyle: 37.86 s

Backstroke: 37.31 s

Breaststroke: 47.84 s

Butterfly: 43.86 s

Sarah (50 yard)

Freestyle: 32.56 s

Backstroke: 41.85 s

Breaststroke: 48.25 s

Butterfly: 39.56 s

Matthew, Megan and Sarah in their team suits before the meet.

Matthew getting ready to dive in.

Doesn't Sarah look all professional here?

Megan swimming backstroke.

Megan swimming breaststroke.

Two shots of Matthew diving in. It's amazing how much water splashes up with just a bit of his let in the water.

Matthew swimming breaststroke. Sarah was taking the pictures and loved how his mouth puckered while he was swimming.

A few shots of Sarah swimming breaststroke.

Megan ready for butterfly.

Matthew swimming butterfly.

Sarah swimming butterfly.

Meet 3
The third meet was technically an away meet but at our pool as it was hosted by the swim team that swims there in the afternoon. Megan and Matthew were troopers. Sarah opted not to swim.

Megan (25 yard)

Freestyle: 29.03 s

Backstroke: 32 s

Breaststroke: 40.03 s

Butterfly: 42.06 s

Matthew (25 yard)

Freestyle: 36.36 s

Backstroke: 46.00 s

Breaststroke: 46.96 s

Butterfly: 41.74 s

Megan getting ready for freestyle.

Megan swimming freestyle.

Matthew, ready to swim.

Matthew swimming freestyle.

Megan ready for backstroke.

Megan swimming backstroke.

Matthew starting backstroke.

Matthew swimming backstroke.

Megan jumping in for breaststroke.

Megan swimming breaststroke. It was a close race but she kept her lead.

Matthew looking around before breaststroke.

Matthew swimming breaststroke.

Megan diving in for butterfly.

Megan swimming butterfly.

Matthew stretches before butterfly.

Matthew swimming butterfly.