I know Ruth Bell would be very disappointed to think the summer was just one ball of fun!
So, here is evidence of the children hard at work, practicing penmanship and multiplication tables! They all have to use fountain pens at their new school, and we found some great children's ones in a wonderful stationery shop (including a left-handed one for Emily). A few cents more on a notebook each, and I get quiet mornings while they are seemingly loving the novelty of writing in ink!

We eventually found the beach, and Shoreline village (very fancy shmanzy), and the Queen Mary (which is now moored up as a floating hotel). We tracked down the bike rental place and had gone about ten yards when there was a scream from the back seat!

The pedals go round whether your feet are on them or not- a difficult concept for an eight year old, who it appears was having a little rest! Her foot got trapped under a rapidly revolving pedal, and she spent the rest of the hour moaning and groaning. She ended up sitting right on the front complaining about how it wasn't just sore, it was smashed!! When we got back to the car we took her trainers off and prised the sock off the blood, bringing a whole load of skin off too! Today, it is swollen and blue, and we are feeling slightly more sympathetic!

We drove over to the coast yesterday with the intention of renting bikes and cycling along the beach front. Obviously took a wrong turn on the 'scenic ocean drive' and ended up in the port with all the massive cranes and ships. Then we realised this was Long Beach, and this is where our container was taken and loaded! The kids suddenly became a lot more interested and we spent ages watching all the activity.......

Ahoy there!

On Saturday we went to an 'interactive pirate dinner adventure', which was pretty much that! It was a mix of panto and a musical with tables tiered in the round. The stage was a floating galleon. We all were assigned one of six colours relating to six pirates, and we had to cheer loudly whenever our pirate was involved in the battle. We all were waving flags and sloshing glasses of Coke around, and generally having a great evening!

Refreshing

Many of you will know I am not really a novel reader- I like to read books with a purpose. So, I came across a recommendation on Eddie Gibbs' blog (the church then and now) and thought it was obviously a relevant book for the emerging church (after all, it was in the 'relevant books' section!!) Water for Elephants, by Sara Gruen, and I decided to give it a try.

About half way through, I realised it was not particularly relevant to anything on my radar!!

It is about murder, getting old, elephants, and dark secrets.....

However, it is absolutely wonderful- beautifully written, and totally captivating, and also about love, being young, sequins and horses!!!

Couldn't quite work out why it was on his recommended list, then found a blog entry called 'sorbet for the brain'- a refreshing change from theological tomes- have to agree there!!

More fun!

After the fair, we headed into town to the Corvette diner, for a true taste of America!
The waitresses were all dressed in 50's outfits with beehive hair. They chewed gum, and threw straws and bubble gum at us. Tony and Emily had a spit wad fight, and there was some table football (American style) with sugar packets, root beer floats, and burgers with peanut butter!

Tony and Bobbi were fabulous hosts and now rank as our kids' favourite adults! High praise indeed.
Bobbi delighted us all with her bubble blowing prowess, her homemade blueberry pancakes, spaghetti and meatballs, and gallons of ice cream, and the kids even got to love Luke (the very playful dog!) by the end of the stay!

The Fair

Deep fried Twinkies, chicken sandwiches on honey -glazed Krispy Kremes, Dr Seuss hats, dodgem cars, pig racing, hot tubs and saunas, turkey stampedes, garden planning, dune buggy trials, prize dahlias, and award winning livestock. The fair was a wonderful mix of agricultural show, fun fair and an Ideal Home exhibition. It was great fun -and managed to keep everyone happy!

Ratatouille

Nigel had the day off school today (4th July!) and we went to see Ratatouille.

It is one of the best Disney films I have seen.

Absolutely hilarious.

Makes me want to go to France, and do some cooking..........

My mum would love it too!!

Finally!

We had to delay our family holiday while we were waiting for a truck! So, we are really glad to have got away, and have just had a fabulous few days in San Diego.

Silly hats, pirates, the zoo, the state fair, and a fun ride on a SEAL (a bus that turns into a boat!).
We stayed with some great friends who certainly know how to have a good time! (More photos to follow). The kids have had ice cream or whipped cream on practically every meal this week!!



Now we have headed up the coast to LA, where Nigel is at college for 2 weeks, and we are going to be chilling by the pool, and trying to amuse ourselves while he is studying. Doesn't look as if we will have too much difficulty.......

We are rich!

This morning we had a garage sale- a half hearted attempt to rid the house of the last few things. We put the signs out last night and drove over to the house for 7 am, to discover people had been waiting since 6 !!

They quickly snapped up our 'tat' and the kids were very excited by the whole thing. They labelled all the stuff- one of Emily's plastic robots was on sale for $20, whilst a whole box of wine glasses merited a mere 10c !! We were aiming for enough money for family ice cream (not that we are obsessive about this, but we are making the most of our last few days in the land of frozen dessert!). After a while we realised we would be able to see a movie too, and with the grand total of $130 will get spending money in California thrown in.

Over 50 of the dollars were in $1 bills, so there was a massive pile, and the kids were absolutely delighted to be so rich!!

A welcome sight in the neighbourhood!

Today the truck arrived.

We count our blessings.

1. the truck arrived!

2. we are not removal men!

Just watching these guys move our boxes and furniture was enough to make us melt.

The kids splashed in the pool while the men struggled for 4 hours in the heat.

We kept giving them water, but felt helpless to do more- can't really turn down the sun, can we?

Get me out of here.......

We are really glad we made the decision to leave here in the summer! The heat is really on at the moment- the last week has seen an enormous leap in temperatures, and we are all feeling fairly wiped out by it. I took these photos today as we got into our car! Fortunately, the heat coincides with vacation time (ie. ice cream and pools), but Tara and Emily both came down with a bit of sun-stroke today. We dropped off our golf cart this morning to the new owners, and Tara spectacularly vomited all over their garden!!!

The girls then spent the afternoon lazing under the fan and sipping iced water.......oh for the joy of torrential rain !!!!

All packed up with nowhere to go!

Well, the house contents are all in boxes, and we are living out of suitcases for the next six weeks or so. Could be longer- as the stuff still sits in our house!

They packed us on Thursday and were supposed to load the container on Friday. But, it turns out that shippers are like airlines, and they overbook their containers, hoping that one or two will be cancelled. So, we are waiting for a container to become available, and feeling pretty helpless in the wait.

We have an option to pay more money and do a 'double load'. ie They load it onto a truck and then drive to LA and load it into a container there and then onto the ship. Don't really want to pay any more, but don't want to delay much more either.............urghh!

Fortunately, our innovative friends bought the kids some ice cream gift cards as a leaving present, so we are having great fun spending those, and watching the Disney channel, and splashing in the pool........hey, if our stuff is in suitcases we must be on holiday surely!!

Celebrations!

Nigel graduated from Fuller yesterday with a Masters in Theology, and it was a very special day. Paddy and Mary were able to be with us, and several friends cheering him on -we were all encouraged to make loads of noise, and there was lots of 'whooping and hollering!'
On friday night we had a big party to celebrate, and also to say farewell to friends out here. There was a spectacular turnout (very unusual in this culture!) and it was a fitting end to our time in Phoenix.
And, as if that were not enough, today we celebrated Nigel's birthday! It is not the real date, but we were on a bit of a roll, and decided to make a celebratory weekend. Also our packers arrive this week and our stuff gets shipped on Friday- I decided it was way too complicated to buy presents which have to fit in a suitcase, so he has 3 days to play with his toys and then will not see them for another 6 weeks!!
Paddy and Mary left last night on their journey back to Sheffield, and another chapter of life is rapidly closing for us too. But we still have a little holiday planned in California before we return- which is great to look forward to after the chaos of the move!

Home

I have just been back in England again looking for houses......

and have just had an offer accepted on this oasis. It is walking distance from school, work, some small shops, and lots of friends.

And yes, all those trees are in the garden!!

It was fabulous to keep bumping in to people I knew throughout the week, and I realised how much I have missed community living.

Out in Phoenix we have lived in a desert on so many levels, and at times it has been really draining and hard work. We have loved the experience, but are now tired of being out of culture, and soooooo looking forward to being 'home'.

Emily's Birthday

A new bike, a cake made out of cupcakes, an Egyptian mummy competition, and the indispensable pinata- and our big girl is now 8!

Bobcat!

Last night we saw a coyote on our back wall , strolling round the neighbourhood.
We went outside for a closer look, to discover it was a bobcat!!
They live in the hills behind the estate, and we have seen them running across roads before, but walking on our wall felt a little bit close.......
There are always signs up for lost cats and puppies on the lamp posts, and we may have solved the mystery!!

Blog catch up

Well, haven't been very inspired to blog lately- not because we haven't been doing anything, but beacause life has been full of activity and house guests for the last 6 weeks.

The other Mallons have just visited at the end of their world tour-and the cousins have got on amazingly , as always.

Shown here on a horse ride around Cave Creek- real cowboy stuff!!

Ecuador

Nigel had a fabulous time away.
Took out about 300 teeth in the 2 weeks, saw llamas in the street, ate guinea pig (ewww!! ) and made some great friends.
There was a huge line of people waiting each morning for dental work, and they also provided people with glasses in an optomotery clinic. He loved overseeing and training the students, and saw the power of God at work- healing eyes, ears and even gums!