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.

School Projects

It was time again for the Annual Cub Scout Pine Wood Derby. Last year it didn't go over so well in our house. Neither Curtis nor myself know anything about cutting and making things out of wood. The entire experience was a disaster. This year we bought a pre-cut car. It looked so much better and performed better. Last year Dax's car came in dead last and didn't win a single race. This year he came in 3rd. Last year's appearance was nothing to brag about either. 

 When I took Dax in to weigh his car the night before, some kid walked by and said "you bought that". I wanted to say something smart back to the kid, but I just ignored him. Of course, that kid had a pretty good-looking homemade car. Derek didn't want to be left out, so with the extra car kit that we didn't use because we bought one. Derek made his own "Private Derby" That was what Derek called it. He did a pretty good job, painting that block of wood Black and using the leftover stickers and decals.

 

Dax had a school project where he had to make a Diorama. I had no idea what that was, but it was pretty much a 3D project showing the environment of an animal from Arizona. For some reason, Dax picked the Northern Copperhead snake, which doesn't even live in Arizona, but his teacher was ok with that. We (the parents) had to sign our lives away saying we would help with this project. Examples of what the animal could be made from, are clay, paper mache, wire, or anything making it three-dimensional. This was not something I was very happy about when I read the assignment and I signed my life away by agreeing to help. I was thrilled when I heard Dax was doing a snake. It doesn't get any easier than making a snake out of clay. 

 

As the project progressed I realized it was going to take more than a clay snake to pull off a good grade. We found pictures of this snake living in caves in Ohio, so we tried to create a cave environment. I had never done paper mache before. So we took on that project. It seemed a little bare, and the picture we found had a waterfall. I tried to recreate the waterfall with a hard candy recipe. I thought when it hardened it would look like a waterfall. We tried, but it didn't quite form like I wanted it to. Dax still got an A. YEA! I think I secretly would have loved to do a project like this when I was in 4th grade. It actually ended up being kind of fun (for me at least). Science Projects and Star Student. Dax was the start student and had the Science Fair. He did his science project on metal conductors with his friend Ramon. They did a good job. For the star student, he put up pictures of him and his family, his friend Phuc and his favorite things.

Beck & Call

Curtis has Glen Beck do some of the commercials that he runs during Glen Beck's show on KTAR. Glen Beck came to Phoenix for his show about the constitution. 

 Curtis is in a mastermind group where one of the guys hooks them up with Radio and Television advertising. The group is composed of people from all over the country and they meet in various places depending on what even is going on etc. This time they met in Phoenix for Glen Beck. Most of the group does advertising on his show. They got to meet him and spend some time with him. Curtis really got to know Glen Becks Manager (right) as they hung out for the day on Friday. Then they went the next morning and had breakfast and some more pictures. Of all the celebrities Curtis has met Glen Beck was the most impressive. Very kind, hard worker, smart and genuine all around. He is so polarizing right now and people either love him or hate him for his views. Curtis was very impressed.

Recorder Concert

 

 Dax learned to play the Recorder in music this year. I was happy that the recorder my mom bought 25 years ago finally got put to good use and we didn't have to buy a new one. 

As Dax practiced at home, I was impressed when he learned Ode to Joy and he actually played it well. Still, I didn't think a Recorder concert could be that spectacular. Actually, it wasn't spectacular, but Mr. Landon the Music teacher did a great job and he played background music as they played their Recorders. Considering the instrument and the skill level, it was well done.

MyManMitt.com

Romney draws a loyal following as book tour hits Ariz. - The Boston Globe Posted using ShareThis 

 Curtis went to Scottsdale to see Mitt Romney at a book signing. He got there early to make sure he could get in. He has always been interested in Mitt for his business mind and success. Before the crowd gathered he was wandering through the bookstore. A man came up to him and asked him if he was there for the Mitt Romney book signing. The man was from the Boston Globe Newspaper. He talked to Curtis for about an hour, interviewed him, and took pictures. Click on the link to see the article, Curtis was quoted a bit. You would think for how much he talked to the guy he would have put more than one sentence, I guess he had to cover a lot of people.

Storm Damage

Back in January, we had a huge storm. It was very exciting. We got a ton of rain, and wind, it even knocked down one of our nice big trees in the backyard and threw a chair in the pool.  Luckily the net caught it before it went totally under. You can see all the leaves in the pool. The tree may become a permanent fixture. The kids love to climb in it. They go out there every day and play for a while. We used to have to force them to go outside, but now they go willingly and stay. Most of the neighborhood kids have come over to play and ask how long it will stay. At first, we thought we would get rid of it within a week. It has been such a great addition to our backyard, we are quite fond of it now. 

 Derek had to write about a "Lucky Day" he wrote about the day the tree fell down. Who knew? Our Lawn guy showed up with a chainsaw one day and started cutting branches away. I had to go chase him away. Dax and Derek were so mad when they came home from school and saw that some of the branches were missing. Lucky for them, I was home and was able to stop him before it totally disappeared. Our pool guy, who does odd jobs, even asked when we were going to get rid of it, and he would be glad to do the job. I told him probably not for a while. This storm was so massive that there was even a tornado warning. Eeek! About a week before this all happened Dax was on a preparedness kick. He kept asking me if we were prepared if a tornado or hurricane hit. I told him that we don't get those where we live. The chances of that happening are one in a million. We should worry about being prepared for something that might actually happen. Did I get an earful when this "tornado" hit our backyard?