Shootaround with the Phoenix Suns

In August, the Phoenix Suns hosted a "shootaround" event.  You could shoot hoops on the actual game court (it was actually the Mercury court set up that night) or the practice court.  They also had areas for younger, smaller, players to shoot as well as inflatables.  Ryan brought his friend Shawn for the fun.  They had a great time shooting and playing around.

Walkway leading to US Airways Center

The boys posing with the large basketball

Phoenix Suns Operation Orange

Ryan & Shawn on the big court
waiting to shoot

Ryan taking his shot

Having fun with the inflatable hoop

Shooting on the lower hoop

Ryan & Shawn with the Gorilla

I got to pose with the Gorilla too

With Dan Majerle (I didn't realize he was that much
taller than me!)

Going to play in the Gorilla Greenhouse

Ryan's ready for that rebound

And to finish off the evening - Ted's Hot Dogs!

Mazes at the Science Center

Doug & Ryan getting ready to enter the maze

Ryan finding his way around the yellow line of the maze

In August, we went to the Science Museum to enjoy their mazes.  They had all sorts of hands on mazes to weave through and learn about how your brain and eyes function.  It's always a fun time at the museum with lots of hands of displays.

First Day of 7th Grade

7th Grader

And so it begins,  Ryan started 7th grade this year.  He was very excited (and nervous).  He was definitely looking forward to the new experiences.  His school has uniforms.  He has the choice of purple, yellow or white shirts.  On his first day, he choose the purple shirt.

Goodbye to summer

Ryan and Derek

Even though our temps are still WAY up there.  In the beginning of August we had to say "goodbye to summer" getting ready for school to start for Ryan.  The last full week before school started, we took Ryan and a friend of his to Big Surf for some water park fun.  The boys had a great time.  Doug & I hung out in the wave pool almost the entire time.  It was so relaxing.  So much so that when I went to bed that night, I could still feel the waves moving me around.  A wonderful day all around.

Here's a Trip Down Memory Lane

Ryan decided he wants to collect soda bottles.  I have a rather large Coke collection - been collecting since my teens.  I love the look of Coke bottles and all that old diner style stuff.  Ryan wants to collect a variety of soda bottles - and T-shirts too apparently since he has several different T-shirts - Coke, Sprite, orange Crush, Mountain Dew, and more.

The one bottle he really wants, and we have had a super hard time finding, is a Mountain Dew bottle.  I mentioned this to a friend of mine and she pointed me in the direction of a store on the other side of town.  We decided to make a day of it (way back in July) and go to lunch at a Mexican restaurant about halfway there.  And of course, we invited my parents and brother to join us in our adventure.

Lunch was great, but Ryan was anxious to check out this store.  So off we went.  It was a pretty neat place full of all kinds of candy and soda that you can't find anymore.  When, low and behold what did they have but . . . The Pop Shoppe sodas.

Total walk down memory lane.  When we lived in Virginia that was the name of a store - The Pop Shoppe.  You would take these soda crates and fill them up with whatever soda you wanted.  You didn't buy them in packs.  And they had the most fun - and delicious - flavors.  Such as pineapple, black cherry, cream soda, grape, I think there was even strawberry.  Stuff you couldn't get anywhere else.  We all had our favorites and you always knew which ones they were because they were the ones left until the end.  Once you drank the sodas, you put the empty bottle back in the crate and then when you went back for more, you took the empty bottles back to them and got a refund towards your new purchase.  It was fun.  And us kids always looked forward to going so that we could help pick out our favorite flavors.  

To make the day even funnier, while I was standing there reminiscing with my brother Kelly about going to the shop, his cell phone rang.  It was another brother, Warren - who had just moved out of state - calling.  When Kelly told him where we were and that we found The Pop Shoppe sodas, Warren started asking if he remembered that soda place we used to go to and picked out the flavors that we wanted.  Kelly was like, yeah it was called The Pop Shoppe. 

Here I am with my parents holding one of the beloved
The Pop Shoppe sodas.  Yum!



September 2010 Calendar Page

September 2010

Ryan's Summer Visitor

Well, before my family came, we were able to have Ryan's oldest friend come and stay with us twice.  He now lives out of state and the boys have been able to stay in touch through texting.  It was good to see him.

While the two boys were together, they set up a whole photo shoot for me using some Halo figurines around the pool.  If you'd like to see all the photos from that day, be sure to visit my photo website - go to the blog and go to the entries from July 11-28.  Here are some of the ones I liked from that shoot.

Got Their Eyes on Me


Ryan & Adrian setting up another scene for me

The Picture of Relaxation

Water Slide

The Mountain Top



My Sam

The Path

Lazy Summer Days

 

Have you heard of a strange peach?

We went to Big Surf twice this summer.  Once with my family and once with a friend of Ryan's.  When we went with family, it was Ryan & I with my sister-in-law and three of her kids.  It was fun.  The wave pool was great - refreshing.  And the people watching is always interesting.

After the park, we headed back to my parent's house for a bit.  I saw the strangest peach I had ever seen.  It was all split open.  So, naturally I had to take pics of it.  Since I didn't take any of my cameras to the water park, I used my phone.  Not too bad really.

Smiley



Drive-Ins in July

So, I'm a little bit embarrassed.  I thought I was all caught up on pictures - or at least mostly caught up.  I went through my folder marked "To Process" this morning.  That is the folder that I put all photos in when I download them from my cameras.  They don't go anywhere else until I have, well, processed them.  Well, right there in that folder were some pictures from July.  Yikes.  So, let me spend the next little bit getting caught up.

In July, my brother - Roger - and his family came out for a few days visit.  They live the farthest away and so we don't get to see them as often.  The last visit they made was two years ago.  They are also the only family that has a boy cousin Ryan's age.  They are two months apart.  It was fun to see how much they have both grown over the years.

So, let me see if I can remember everything that took place in the few days they were here:  when they arrived we met at Culver's for lunch and chatted for hours, Ryan had two teeth pulled (after losing two on his own just days before his appointment, he still has a pretty holey mouth), saw Cars 2 at the drive-in, went to Big Surf, and one of Roger's boys - Austin - got sick with strep throat (as far as I know nobody else did).  I'm sure I'm missing some of the activities, it was a pretty busy couple of days.

Some of the family at the drive-ins.  We love going - even if it was
pretty hot that night.  We hit QT before going to bring some
drinks and brought food to snack on as well.  It was the
first time my mom had gone to the drive-ins for a long time
and she really enjoyed it.  I keep checking the schedule so
we can go again - they need to put on some good movies!

Ryan & Garrett in the back of our car.  They've got blankets
spread out to lie down on, pillows and of course their iPods
touches to play games on before the movie.

August Calendar Page



August 2010



Happy 4th of July 2011

This year, our 4th was a little stranger than normal.  We celebrated with my entire family earlier than usual - one of my brothers and his family (at least his kids that are still living at home) have moved out of state.  And all their packing and such was taking place right around the 4th.  So, we had one last get together at their house early, complete with lots of food and even some fireworks at the end.

And then on the actual day, we had my parents and one brother over for a very small cookout.  Instead of going to see fireworks (our fireworks family - The Halls - moved out of state last year) we stayed home and enjoyed a show put on by Ryan and Doug.  Our state legalized fireworks to be shot at home just this past year, so that is what we did.  And I of course had a great time taking photos of the fireworks.  I love night shooting - and this one was a challenge since I've never really gotten good firework shots.

One of the desserts I made and took over for
the last big family gathering.  The other one
was homemade mint chip ice cream - that
picture did not come out very well.

One of many fireworks Ryan had fun
shooting off for us.

Doug & Ryan with sparklers. 

Aaah . . . Xbox Fun

Ryan and his friend enjoying Xbox

And, apparently it was crazy hat day at our house.  Ryan has gotten into collecting some pretty strange hats.  The one Ryan has on is pretty normal for him.  Just out of the camera view there is another hat, like the large one that Derek is wearing, that Ryan got from the circus.

A Great Combination of Things for Us

In the beginning of June, the Science Museum had a - are you ready for this - Star Wars Lego building competition.  It was open to all ages.  And since we love both Star Wars and Legos, how could we not go?  Well, I was not feeling that well that day and so the boys went without me.  I manned Doug with my camera and off they went.  They had a great day and came home with lots of pictures.

Ryan getting ready to build for the competition

His creation in the beginning

Room full of builders

Building away

Look at all those Legos

Coming along

Ryan's building completed - he made Jabba's Hut

The inside of Jabba's Hut - I like the fish hanging on the wall

New to Lego Land is a Star Wars section.  How cool is that?

Ryan and Darth Vader

Ryan and Max

After building they were able to go through the rest of the
museum and enjoy the exhibits.

Ryan pulling himself up on one of the exhibits -
on the hardest level

Lunch

Ryan enjoying his chicken strips

There's an exhibit there that distorts your face.
It's always a hit with the kids.
This is Ryan's grumpy old man face.

And, I'll leave you with this cutie.