Elizabeth’s kindergarten class did “The big blue sea of fish.”  First they colored the fish, then made seaweed, and dirt.  We they also painted the big blue sea, glued the fish on, and finally glued on sponge bob macaroni.

Nikki’s second grade class did “ABC what do you see?”  They used a letter from the alphabet and had to make their own picture with the letter they were given.  Nikki had the letter P.  She chose to make a butterfly with a girl that was laying on the ground, watching a butterfly up in the sky after playing tennis.  She also was picked to do a second drawing with the letter O.  She drew a girl running the track at school.

Jason picked her up from school and brought her home.  She threw up one more time.  She slept from 7pm until 3am.  When I couldn’t get her comfortable again even after Tylenol I put her in the tub.  She liked that and fell back to sleep pretty quickly after the bath.  When I looked at the clock again after she fell back to sleep it was 5:30am.  Lucky me…I got to go to work tired.

Jason took care of Elizabeth while I went to work.  I called him after work and he informed me that she had a temp of 103.  I talked to the school nurse and she said as long as she is keeping fluids down she should be okay.  I came home and shortly after I got home her fever broke.  I guess it was a 24 hour bug after all.

Elizabeth is feeling much better and even went outside for a few minutes this evening.  She’s playing on the X-box and hopefully she will feel even better tomorrow.

When we got up this morning Elizabeth immediately went looking for the puppy.  Jason explained to her that sometimes puppies like to run around and when they get hungry or tired they return home.  She took it pretty well.  Nikki was told by her sister that the puppy was gone so we didn’t have too much drama over the puppy.

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Originally uploaded by stephyc93

At the same buffet that Jason had frog legs-Elizabeth tried sushi for the first time. Jason gave her a piece of his sushi. Elizabeth liked it at first, but she only took one bite so I’m not sure if she decided she didn’t like it very much.  Elizabeth and I were just talking about this picture and she says…”It was good.” and gave me a thumbs up!

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Originally uploaded by stephyc93

The day before school started the girls got to go and meet their teachers. As we headed in to school they saw Danny Bear (the DDB mascot). They wanted to have a picture with him. I was able to take a picture of both of them. Aren’t they cute?

Elizabeth going into her Kindergarten class.

Today was Elizabeth’s first day of Kindergarten.  She was so excited to go to school.  It was also Nikki’s first day of Second Grade.  We took lots of pictures.  In front of the school, in the cafeteria, and in the classroom.  Elizabeth told me she learned how to walk in the halls.  She enjoyed playing with the puppets.  Nikki said she learned lots of rules.  Both of the girls brought home lots of homework for Mommy and Daddy to fill out.  Elizabeth’s teacher told me she was a big helper today.  Nikki got to ride the bus home today and Elizabeth and I met her at the bus stop.  It seems they both had a good first day of school.

Nikki, Elizabeth, Adam, and Brian in Sedona.

Today my husband is taking my brother Kevin to the airport.  Kevin is flying up to Utah to help Emily move down here to Arizona.  I can’t wait they will be here on Saturday.  I am watching Kevin’s boys today because Michele has to work.  The kids are excited to see each other.  Little do mine know they will get to see Auntie Em and Jaylee in two days!  I didn’t bother to tell them because I already have them asking me if today is the day that they go to school.  I can only imagine what they would be doing if they knew their Auntie and youngest cousin are coming.

Flowers on Mingus Mountain

First of all I have to say that this hike was a serious butt kicker and reminds me that I need to get in better shape.  We started at the top of Mingus Mountain at trail head #106 with a wonderful view of the Verde Valley below.

Little did we know that the views would only get better.  Trail #106 immediately starts downhill and is covered in loose rocks.  We had a few falls on the rocks.  Mostly our feet slipping out from under us and landing on our butts.

As you descend you start to see lots of vegetation including flowers, cactus, trees, and shrubbery.  Some of the flowers were just beautiful.

This is my favorite nature picture from the hike.

There were rocks that were so pretty that my girls couldn’t keep their hands off them.  They are our “pebble puppies.”  Of course they come by it honestly, because Jason and I are considered “Rock Hounds” and let’s not even start talking about their Grandma’s!

Elizabeth tired quickly of the downhill climbing. She was so tired she wanted to take a nap on a downed log she found on the way.

She even resorted to dragging her backpack instead of carrying it.

Nikki was having a ball and wasn’t complaining at all.

When we came around the end of Mingus Mountain we got to see wonderful views of the Verde Valley. We could even see the San Francisco Peaks up near Flagstaff, Arizona.  We met up with Trail #105A.  Here we took a break, snacked and looked at the incredible views.

It was so pretty in spite of the fact that I hadn’t eaten and was fighting a killer headache. I know I should always eat, but when we left the house I wasn’t hungry. Stupid me…

We met up with Trail #105 which is the way back to the car.  The girls were having a great time.  They even took several pictures at the trail head.

Then we found out that our hike back to the car would be uphill with lots of switchbacks.  We later calculated it at 700 feet from the beginning of the trail head to the part where it flattened out and a lot of elevation change.

After starting up this hill Nikki started complaining.  Her feet were hurting and she didn’t want to go any further.  To her rescue came her Daddy.  He had me help her up on his backpack and he carried her quite a way up the hill.

When we were almost back on even ground she got down and hiked again.  It was on this level land that she found the ladybugs (check out my lady bug blog).  We also found animal tracks including this one…

I’m pretty sure it’s bear tracks.  We also found some four leaf clovers.

Our path took us near the hang gliders launch and we had to check it out.

We ended up near the cell phone, radio, and TV antennae on the top of Mingus Mountain before heading down hill to the car.

We went 4.3 miles total.  We ended up at 7, 815 feet at the summit of Mingus Mountain.  With a minimum elevation change of 700 feet.  Our feet were hurting.  We were exhausted.

We are no worse for the wear today!  We can now look back with fond memories.  We won’t be doing that hike again anytime soon.  Maybe right before the snow starts falling…

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Originally uploaded by stephyc93

On our hike on the Mingus Mountain Rim Loop Elizabeth found a rock to take a break on. She looked so cute I had to take a picture. I love the scenery in the background too. Just to let you know it was a huge drop off into the canyon below on the other side of this rock.