Arizona History Lesson

The fourth graders have a project called Wax Museum where they do a report on a famous Arizonan. Then they dress up like them and do a presentation. 

 Dax chose John Wesley Powell, the first person to explore the Colorado River, and also Lake Powell was named after him. I thought that was a good choice since John Wesley Powell is one of my Dad's favorite people and had plenty of information on him. Dax did a fantastic job. Here is a picture of him posing as a wax statue (that was his idea) holding a boat oar. He chose to dress in a Union Soldier costume. John Wesley Powell lost his arm in the civil war before he moved west to explore the Grand Canyon/Colorado River. I thought the kids did a great job, and I actually learned a few things. I thought it was interesting that Dax's friend Phuc chose to do John McCain. Not that it was weird that Phuc (whose parents immigrated from Vietnam) dressed up as a very white man, with white hair, but the fact that John McCain was a POW in the Vietnam war. Phuc did a great job. I was surprised by the list of famous Arizonans they had to choose from. Most were well deserving of the title, some I had never heard of even though I was born and raised in Arizona. Some I thought probably were not even famous outside of Arizona (Jane Hull), and some people I thought should have been on the list but were not (Pat Tillman, Stephen Spielberg, etc.) I think the list should be revised,

More than a vegetable garden

We've had some excitement in our yard the past few months. 

 First, the kids were playing outside before school one day and Derek happened to notice a bee hive in one of our trees. EEK. Luckily it was a fresh hive and wasn't too big, so it was easy to remove. The man that came to remove the hive raises bees. He didn't come out and say it but I think if it is possible to salvage (based on the size and age etc.) he saves the hive and takes it home to raise. I was totally fine with that. I know bees are a good thing just not in my backyard. 

 We started a vegetable garden. This is my first success. I finally went to a little class on gardening and found out I was doing everything wrong. No wonder everything died. I had a man build me a raised garden and put in the premium soil (better than regular dirt) planted seeds and what do you know, things started to grow. We have tomatoes, corn, zucchini, yellow squash, strawberries, carrots, and artichoke. It has been a lot of fun. About a month ago, I was checking the water and it looked like someone had dug a hole in my garden. I was bugged for about a second then I noticed there was an egg. Our friendly ducks have come back and started a nest. The duck has laid 8 eggs, and the kids have named her Clair. She is very diligent about sitting on those eggs and actually lets us get quite close to her. More duck updates to come.