The ever changing hair.....

Tara and Emily dressed up for 70's day!
The school has a great spirit, and each week there is some sort of theme- odd socks, back to front day, crazy hair day etc. The class with the most participants wins points towards a smoothie party. And the individuals within the class can get their own points too- by collecting character cards (given by the teacher to anyone exhibiting one of the 7 traits). The individuals with the most points get to go to an ice cream social with the principal!! (who is such a cool guy- a motivating factor!)




Tara loved having her hair braided in Mexico, and kept them in for as long as possible. Last time we went she only had the top done, and had been longing for the full head for a while. It was a real battle to get her to let me remove them...



However, when we took them out, she was absolutely thrilled with the amazingly glamorous result- and is now begging me to take braiding lessons , so she can look like this more than once a year!!

Coming of age.....

Emily has finally reached the age where Nigel can impart his glorious knowledge to her, and walk her through the fine details of his legendary Saturday breakfast!!
He is training them thoroughly, in the hope that one day he will be treated whilst in bed!!
We even cracked open a tiny tin of Heinz beans to celebrate her new sausage sizzling skills......

Or.........Wish You Were Here?

We have just had a few days away in Mexico again- it is becoming a favourite place to go....
Aside from the fact it is a relatively cheap trip, the journey is easy, the weather perfect, and the beach wonderfully quiet, we are enjoying the familiarity that returning to the same place brings. We don't have to explore when we arrive, or wonder what we will need to take, or stress over navigating, and so we relax much more quickly each time we go.
We love the beach at sunrise, when the rockpools are visible, and when the shallow water is perfect for skimboarding, but it is also beautiful at sunset when the ocean is warm and the rippled sand is cool, and we love waking from our siesta and hitting the swim-up bar when the margaritas are half price, and sitting in our deckchairs whilst the kids bury our feet, and buying junk from the hawkers, and getting our hair braided, and having breakfast on the balcony, and sleeping with the patio door open listening to the ocean.......... OK, we love it all!!
Well, there is one thing we don't like.........coming home..!!

'Wish you were here?'

Well, you will have to use your imagination, as this pic of our friends was the only photo allowed before the camera got confiscated!!!
Pink Floyd was the very first band I saw in concert(almost 30 years ago!!), and their music was a big part of my teen years, so I jumped at the chance to see Roger Waters (the voice...) at the Cricket Pavillion. The setting is absolutely amazing- an outdoor ampitheatre with seating for 12000, and then 'lawn seating' for a further 8000. Lawn seating involves bringing a deckchair or blanket, and settling down on the grass, with a chilled beer from the 'liquid lounge', watching the sunset, and then listening to fabulous music......did I forget to say it was 25C?
The first half was all the 'oldies but goodies'- lots from Wish You Were Here, and The Wall. The second half was the entire performance of Dark Side of the Moon.
I Loved it, but I was amazed to realise how little I understood of their music at the time!!!
I knew they had a slightly political edge- but that was putting it mildly!! He had just written a new song about Tony and George(as in Blair and Bush), and there were lots of anti war images and comments. The Animals tour which I saw all those years ago had a flying pig (aww how cute.....)- this time, the pig was covered in political graffiti, with a huge 'IMPEACH BUSH NOW' all over its rear end!!
But it was rather surreal as they let it go and it floated off towards the stars, with a big 'free at last' written on its belly!!

Autumn is officially here....

Well, not in the true climatic sense, as the changes are barely perceptible there! On Saturday, it was 39C in the day, falling to 29C by 8pm. Gorgeous for sitting outside with a chilled glass of white wine , but still not cool enough for jeans or sweaters- so not really Autumn. And, definitely no colour change on the cacti!!
So, I have given in to the culture, and bought up Walmart's wonderful autumnal accessories, strewn them all around the house, and we are pretending that the season has truly changed!!

Caught in the act......!

Our 3 reprobates were caught by the paparazzi as they went to school one monsoony morning! Front page headlines of the local magazine- Mallons breaking all the rules!!
You have to read the small print to realise it was not the kids who were misbehaving, but rather an article on poor parent parking!

Rock Face

Nigel has really been enjoying his weekly climbing expedition- he gets into the lovely cool weather and gorgeous scenery up at Oak Creek Canyon, and spends some quality guy time too. However, Emily has taken to praying for him in the mornings as she is never quite sure sight what will greet her on her return from school that day!!
We have had the nasty toes, the scraped legs, the cactus in the finger, the hornet sting, and now the 'rock landing on face from 100 ft up!!!'
He watched it ricochet off several rocks on its way down- but didn't look away in time..........
And now -a scabby bruise!!

Growing up!

Tara was 11 on Saturday, and had 8 friends for a sleepover party.
Swimming, ice cream cake, bashing the pinata (a Mexican tradition, the pinata is filled with candy and bashed repeatedly by blindfolded guests until the candy falls out and is gathered into goody bags!) movies etc etc.
Last year she was so timid, and she amazed us over this weekend. She is getting a great circle of friends, and is now pleading to go to Washington DC next year on a school trip. "But of course, I will need my own cell phone and camera......."

Welcome back!

It is great having the gorgeous Paddy and Mary back with us.
They spent the summer in the UK, and then cruised back to New York on the Queen Mary 2. And, supposedly, are now here until May !
It is good to be reunited with grandparents, friends, and babysitters......hee hee...!

Flagstaff

Flagstaff is a university town, north of us by about 2 hours, and is one of those places which gets better every time you visit. On friday evenings throughout the summer they have been showing family movies in the town square, so we decided to go up for a visit. We found a fabulous brewery for food, were entertained by belly dancers and snake charmers(!), wandered round quaint shops (Christmas has arrived already there....), and then took our deckchairs to the square. We only made it to the interval though, as we froze to death!! It was great to be in fleeces and jeans, but we still could have done with jackets or blankets!!
Then a fun night all piled in one room in a hotel, and the next day headed up to Mount Humphrey (where we ski in the winter) for a little hike around our favourite nursery slopes. Sadly the chair lift was not operating because of storms, but it was wonderful to be cold for a few hours.....
Then, back to the heat again!!!

Instant pedicure

In Nigel's free time he has rediscovered the joy of rock climbing. I have decided he is a 'social sportsman'- in that he is able to do most sports, but is motivated by doing them with friends.
He has discovered a wacky friend, Don, (who last year took him cliff diving into a local lake, waterskiing, and jetskiing.....)and they have been going climbing every friday for the past 5 weeks. But every week he comes back with a new horror story- they have met bats, been stung by hornets, found hidden cacti on ledges, and generally he comes back looking totally beaten up- cuts and grazes everywhere.....
The pedicure came from falling off a rock, swinging back into it and stubbing his toes at high speed.......
I need to show him how to get a 'real' pedicure- way less stressful!!

sunset boulevard

The weather has been sublime recently- we are still officially in monsoon season, and the evenings are cooler and stormy, giving way to some incredible sunsets. Nigel gets very excited by them and is always loading us up in the car and driving off to find the best viewing spot. We now have a new favourite on an estate near us, and even a little hill to climb for full panoramic vision!

Footloose and fancy free.

Nigel's job came to an end in May, and his studies do not start again until the end of September, so he is enjoying an amazingly long summer (and reminiscing on university days....). And, whilst we have done some fabulous stuff with the kids, we are loving them being back at school, as we are able to go out for coffee, lazy lunches, and matinees at the cinema.....

Woo hoo

12 weeks are over......
Today was the first day of school!!
Everyone had a great time, and no trauma - yippee
Let's hope the enthusiasm remains for the rest of the week at least!!

Sea World

Well, of course we couldn't go to San Diego without a visit to Sea World!!
Fantastic !! We saw polar bears, penguins, walrus, and lots of shows. It seemed that the sole intention of the rides and the shows was to totally soak us!! The dolphins and whales splashed mercilessly, and the log flume ride had a waterfall overhead, thus ensuring a drenching en route! It was a fantastic ride -part roller coaster, and part log flume, with an elevator ride taking us back to the top for another drench! But,as it was a baking hot day we quite enjoyed it all......

We drove back through Dateland, and decided to try a 'world famous' date milkshake. And, then of course, it was only a small step to trying the cactus one too.......

San Diego

We had the opportunity for a last minute break in San Diego over the weekend as some friends invited us over to stay with them in their RV(cosy!). Bart is in the air force and has access to the military bases, so we had prime sites right on the beach (where we chilled with margaritas while the children made candles in the sand) and then the following night we were in a marina (sea kayaking in the day, and fish and chips on the pier at night..)
It was a great 'extra holiday' before the kids go back to school.

Career move...

We went whitewater rafting on the American river near Lake Tahoe and ordered the photos on disc- they arrived yesterday, and are a great reminder of a brilliant day.
Emily has decided she wants to teach rafting all summer (and snowboard all winter!!). She was totally fearless and actually sat on the front for part of the journey, dangling her legs in the river......
Last summer she got into jetskis too- she obviously likes the fast and furious lifestyle- I am keeping her away from motorbikes for a while........!

(double click on the pics to see her expressions!)

Gorgeous!

We organised some photos last night, and I love this one which Nigel took on the banks of Lake Tahoe.

Watch out!

Seeing the Grizzly Man reminded me of how powerful the visual image is, and how it shapes our behaviour.
Watching the Discovery channel (June 23rd post) and seeing signs like this had an amazing effect on the kids at the beach!! They refused to go in further than ankle deep, and so boogy boarding was out of the question! We did discover the answer though....a skim board! And had a lot of fun in the very shallow water, whilst watching the rest of the world 'surfing USA'....

Grizzly!!

Well, life is back to the mundane again. The kids have been back in VBS Bible school this week, with a Western theme- so they have been 'hooting and hollering' with a few 'yee haws' thrown in!! I am not sure what they are learning, but they are having fun!
We watched 'the Grizzly Man' last night, about a man who spent 13 summers in the wilds of Alaska with grizzly bears. It was a documentary, and I have to say I was expecting a 60yr old man with a fuzzy beard- a shock to discover an Owen Wilson lookalike, with blonde hair, shades, and bandana! He was a Hollywood dropout who decided bears were nicer than people- but of course they weren't really, and he met a grizzly end! Great film if you don't like sleeping!!!I was seriously disturbed by it- and jolly glad not to have seen it before going to Yosemite!!

Las Vegas

We broke the drive from Yosemite to Phoenix by stopping in Las Vegas for a night. On the first 7hrs of the journey we saw 1 gas station (eek!), 3 brothels and an ice cream parlour!!! It had to be the most tedious journey of all time! Vegas then loomed upon us......
We arrived to 106 degrees and a dust storm, so we walked 'the Strip' with our eyes closed- and declared it was probably the best way to do it! We saw the amazing dancing water outside the Bellagio, and some of the weird hotel fronts. The pirates at Treasure Island refused to climb the mast in a thunderstorm (meanies!)and cancelled the show, so we jostled back along the road with the crowds. Busy, loud, bright and brash, and a total assault on the senses- and despite the amazing pools in the hotel (5 pools- lazy river, wave pools etc...)it was an experience we would not wish to repeat in a hurry!

Back to Phoenix via the Hoover Dam, more spectacular scenery, and a journey a million times more interesting than the previous day!

Yosemite

Absolutely stunning.
The photos do no justice to it whatsoever.....

If you go down in the woods today.....(you're in for a big surprise!)

We drove throught the fabulous Yosemite park- awesome scenery, the sort of stuff which makes you think about God...
And, at the last minute decided to camp in the park, and were directed to a wooded area full of pines (and apparently bears...). We were totally shocked to discover that our next door neighbours were Mark and Lizzy Smith!! Lizzy and Nigel led worship together over 10 years ago(when St Toms was only at Crookes), and then they moved to Nottingham and now worship at Trent Vineyard.
So, we had a lovely evening by the campfire reminiscing and drinking wine, and encouraging and praying for each other- a real Kairos moment in an awesome place.

Amazingly, Ben has just finished GCSEs and the other kids are looking pretty grown up too! (Jess was still a baby when they left)
I love stuff like this happening in life......

$93.00 v. $3.90

We took the gondola up to the top of Heavenly ski resort, with fantastic panoramic views over Lake Tahoe,and made the 0.8mile(!!) hike around the top. Sweet music all the way- "are we nearly there? how long will this take? my legs hurt....."
We came down and found a toy shop,and spent pocket money- on a very cheap pack of plastic Cowboys and Indians, complete with tepee and covered wagon. The rock at the back of the campsite was quickly converted into a fort, with twigs, stones, mud and even a lake, and the day was declared the 'best ever!!'