Lake Michigan...

Really, what is a trip to Michigan without a visit to the greatest of lakes??

Brown's Clearing Survivor Games

(Please take no offense that I didn't tell anyone except for one friend that I hadn't seen in 8 years that I was going to Michigan. With having just been there a month ago, I wanted to make this more of a family time trip.) Muchas Gracias por your understanding. :)

We just returned from 10 days in Michigan with the familia! On our flight home there were 2 rows of kids behind us. Both rows had some major screaming children. Which, sadly meant Ezra didn't nap for as long as he probably could have, but on the positive side, it also meant that not many people realized Ezra was a screamer as well. :)

The day we flew in, we drove straight to my parents cabin for the 5th Annual Brown's Clearing Survivor Games. Some of the family arrived on Friday and spent a couple of nights sleeping at the cabin as well. And then everyone else arrived on Saturday for "the games".

This year the games were divided into 3 groups. The Young'uns, School Age, and Tweens/Teens. Some of the activities included: parachute games, scavenger hunt, bb guns, sling shots, water fight, water balloon toss, pie eating contest, gunny sack race, etc. It was fun...and the kiddos loved it (so did the adults...who, speaking for myself, ate wayyy more food-blueberries in particular, than I really had room for, but they were Michigan blueberries, so I had to indulge).

Water Balloon Toss (Ryan stood in so everyone would have a partner)


Water fight--boys vs. girls...










BB Gun...


Sling Shot...


Pie Eating Contest...


The Pie Eating Champion!!


Fun at the creek (or crick depending on where you are from)...








Just chillin'...

my nephew, Roger...


Ryan and our niece, Lizzy...


Haleigh (niece) and my dad...


Roger and Nichole (my sister)


Jammin...
Ryan and Lydia (niece)


Ryan and Ezra


Thanks for organizing a fun weekend Dad!

Camping on Mt. Lemmon

This past weekend we went up to Mt. Lemmon with friends to camp. I was reminded again that I love Mt. Lemmon, and we definitely don't go there enough. It's really quite amazing that door-to-"door" we can be at Rose Canyon on Mt. Lemmon in 45 minutes. It's 20 degrees cooler, 7000 feet higher in elevation, and a totally different world than Tucson.

Given that it is monsoon season, there was a nice rain shortly after we set up our tents. Fortunately the guys were thinking ahead had already hung the tarp so we had a nice area to hang out under while the rain came down.


And, luckily for us, Tucson Water's newest employee was in our presence and dug a nice little trench for the run-off water from the tarp to flow into the wash.


After the rain though, the rest of the evening and through the night was gorgeous.








Ezra loved the freedom to run free and explore...


Estrella showed Ezra all the ropes since she's been going camping for longer than him...


The fact that Blanca stores raw chicken in her leftover breastmilk bags was brought into question...


...as was the way she dresses her son (in case you can't see everything...Moses is wearing fleece camo pants with a onesie buttoned on the outside of his pants, a cinderalla shirt and pink socks...but really, this is why we love Blanca.


We had a campfire with s'mores, and we played an entertaining round of "two truths and a lie"...


Ezra read Harry Potter to get ready to watch the latest movie...


We sang and prayed...


Played with water (when Tucson Water Matt wasn't looking, that is)...


Cuddled with dad...


And loved having time with our friends...

Puffed Rice and Watered Plants

Some friends and I have been talking about ways to keep our toddlers entertained and stimulated during these hot summer days. Jen suggested putting a bunch of dried beans or rice in a bowl with spoons, measuring cups, etc. I was pretty sure Ezra would try eating the beans or dried rice, so instead I used puffed rice (and yes, he did eat a lot of it)...but he also LOVED playing with it. For two days, he was totally entertained by this little set-up in our backyard.




And, he is also a huge help with watering the plants everyday.

scrabble!

...and the photo from yesterday's post of that pre-monsoon sky was the start of a massive monsoon storm!! It was by far the best monsoon rain we've had in years. We sat outside under the patio and played scrabble. That is, until we were pretty sure we were going to get struck by lightning sitting on our metal chairs. :)


I decided to put one of Ezra's sand pails out to catch the rain. And it was literally overflowing within a minute. So then I decided to put his pool out, and the whole thing was full in less than 30 minutes. Ezra was thrilled the next morning to see the pool fuller than it has ever been. He was body slamming into the water and laughing.


I have started this little competition with myself of wanting to use the least amount of water possible in our home. So, this pool has aided in these efforts because we've been able to turn off our drip system and use the pool (rain) water to water our plants for the last 4 days!!..and there is even water left for another day or so. We soo need to invest in some rain water barrels for next year.

Retro shorts.

I recently made Ezra a pair of retro shorts (tutorial found here) and I am totally in love with them. They are a little long, but that was the look I was going for (compared with the Richard Simmons option for length)...hopefully this means they will fit for a very long time. There is something I find to be so satisfying watching Ezra run and play in clothes that I made for him. Perhaps this is why I dress him in the same clothes day after day. :)

We tried to photograph the shorts, but let's be honest, our model is 15 months old and a bit non-compliant when it comes to showing off his new shorts for the camera. He was however in quite the mood for posing and making us laugh.






(mom, I thought you'd like to see the pre-monsoon sky in this photo)


"oh, hi guys...just doing a few push-ups before we go into the playground area...these are my new workout shorts afterall..."