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.

Megamind in D3?

The weekend before Thanksgiving, we joined some friends at the movies to go see the new animated movie Megamind in 3D.  It was a very fun movie, with lots of laughs from the adults and the kids alike - just not always in the same places.  Plus it had a really great soundtrack!

We had no idea that we were seeing the special D3 version.

Ryan with friends Shawn & Matt sporting the very cool
3D (or is it D3) glasses.

And a wonderful Halloween night it was

It was the perfect weather for our Halloween evening festivities this year.  Not too hot, and not too cold.  We did our usual, set up tables and the whole family came over for some food, trick or treating and entertainment.

Ryan and I in our costumes.

 And, here is another video, so those of you getting email updates, you need to go to the sight to see the video of Ryan's costume in action.

Baylee dressed up as Jesse from Toy Story.  Too cute!

Ryan and his friend trick or treating.
That's right, he's a banana!

Doug made Boba Fett for our pumpkin this year.

And Ryan's pumpkin had a ghost.

Part of the family enjoying the movie of the evening -
Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone



My dad getting a closeup view of the movie.  Ryan and my dad recently
read this story for the first time, so I thought they would enjoy seeing
the movie.  And, I think the rest of the family enjoyed it as well.



September Calendar Pages

Here I was all excited because I caught up on my entries. WOOHOO!!! Then I looked at the calendar and saw that it was September 5th. That means it's time to change my desktop wallpaper to Septembers Calendar Page - which means it's time to post the calendar pages too! So here they are for September.

I hope that you have enjoyed looking at the pages from over the years to see where we have been and what we have been doing.  It's been a fun journey down memory lane!

2007

2008

2009

2010

There have been many fun times over the years.  Much growth and many new experiences as well.  We have loved sharing with our friends and families over the years.  Thanks for all the great times and we look forward to more in the future.

Movies and Lunch

The last of the summer movies was a Muppet movie.  We have been getting The Muppet Show on DVD through Netflix and Ryan has loved watching them.  We couldn't wait for the movie as our last of the summer movies.  Well, that morning about an hour before we needed to leave I was texting Brittany.  They had done the summer movie tickets for a different day of the week and a different theater but were unable to go to the Muppets.  I casually mentioned that they should come with us.  And they did!  It was great!  I'm so glad that they decided to join us last minute for the movies.  I had a great time watching Payton eat his Whoppers.  It was too cute for words!

After the movies, we met them for lunch at one of our favorite spots.  And that was tons of fun too.  Thanks guys for making the last Friday before school started an extra special one!

It must have been a little muggy that day.  It was monsoon season after all.  Check out the pepper shaker with half of the pepper sticking to the top of the shaker.  Pretty crazy.

Ryan playing around with the napkin ring, anxiously awaiting the arrival of the yummiest burger in town.  Or at least the on of the yummiest, In & Out Burger ranks up there too!

Doesn't that look like a scrumptious treat?  I heard it wasn't as good as it looked.  That's too bad!  Ben, Brittany and Baylee got this cupcake.

A Long Friendship

This summer has been a bit of a challenge for the Harper house.  Well, now that I think about it, the past year has had it's share of ups and downs.  I will be glad to put this summer behind us.  With school starting tomorrow, I'm hoping that that will be the beginning of better things for us.  I don't believe that Ryan will agree with me - he is not looking forward to school at all.

We had been hearing the rumors for a few months, but didn't know when or if they would actually come true.  And then one evening in June, we got the phone call.   Ryan's oldest and closest friend was moving away - out of state.  He would be leaving in two days.  After making some last minute changes to activities, we were able to have him come to our house for one last sleepover and spending the next day at our house.  It was very bittersweet.

The two boys have been friends since kindergarten.  Adrian moved away about two weeks into second grade into a different school.  They stayed in touch and got together as much as they could.  When Adrian would come over to our house, the two boys would just play and play and play.  I have only seen them fight once, and rarely did you hear "we're bored" from them.  They constantly used their imaginations.  Lots of great memories and great fun was had.

Here are some highlights of the two boys together over the years.

One of the first times that Adrian came over.   I think maybe this was first or second grade.

Whatever they played, they went all out.  They would setup elaborate games and then their imaginations took over.  It was really fun to watch - and to listen to!

A fort they built out of every single blanket in the house.  They had so much fun with this - trying to get the dogs to go in there with them.  I just heard lots of laughing in there.

Bowling.  Ryan has done a bowling league for several years with some other friends.  This day, the rest of the team was not there, so Adrian filled in.

Playing with the Star Wars figures.  They would setup battles and stuff.  It took them as long to set everything up as it did to play with them.  Either way, they had fun doing it.

Setting up another Star Wars battle waiting for dinner at one of my favorite places to eat.

3D movie

Adrian went to so many of Ryan's activites.  He came along to friend day at karate, attended every piano recital and went to a couple of his flag football games, just to mention a few.

We went to the drive-ins several times.  We would get there early to get a good spot.  The boys would bring along different acitivities to do in the car while waiting for movie time.  On this particular day, they were playing Yugi-Oh.

Legos was another favorite activity.  This day, they decided to build a long "rope" of Legos.  They measured it to be 25 feet if I remember right.

Another time bowling with some of my family members.

Their last day together swimming.

Adrian & Ryan

New Years Day - Avatar

Ever since seeing the trailer for Avatar, we have been counting down until it hit theaters. I decided that New Years Day would be the perfect time to organize a viewing for family. I invited my family to join us to see it in 3D on New Years Day. It ended up being me, Doug, Ryan two of my brothers, a cousin and a neice. We loved it! What a great movie! Now we are counting down the days until it comes out on DVD!!!

I didn't take many pictures, just this one - how unlike me I know. In my defense I'm not sure I was fully awake and was too excited for the movie to start!

AZ Science Center Free Weekend - Beware there are LOTS of pics

It has now been over a month ago - yikes! I can't believe it's taken me that long to get these pictures posted! After you see how many are on here, you will understand. And I only put the REALLY good ones on here! Just one day after we went to the Pumpkin & Chili Festival, we went to the AZ Science Center. They were offering a free weekend to Fry's VIP customers. Woohoo! I LOVE FREE!!!! We had a great time. It's actually been a couple years since Ryan
& I were there on a school field trip and Doug has never been before. They are always changing things up there. Many of the displays stay the same, but about half of them get changed up and rotated around with other museums so it's always fresh. Check out some of the fun things we got to do.

The music room, where you get to see music come to life!

This is a favorite display. You stand on this stage like area surrounded by large screens, wind machines, misters and even heaters to simulate the forces of nature. You get blown by the wind, you get rained on and have the heat turned up like the desert. It's way cool!
Doug & Ryan when the heaters are on. It got pretty hot - even to me.

A display that allowed you to morph yourself on screen. Ryan looks pretty crazy with such a large upper head.

Building circuits:

Checking your weight at different angles:

Ryan had a great time with this trying to ring the bell when the lever was pulled over to his side.

Checking how fast your reflexes are:

This bridge felt weird, everything under your feet moved independently:

We even went to an IMAX 3D movie for only $5 per person - bargain!

Ryan & I waiting for the movie:

These are the largest 3D glasses I've ever seen:

Wheel chair races:

Ryan laying on a bed of nails:

An interactive water feature. The kids press different buttons all around and the water shoots to different areas:

What a great day we had. We got to do so many fun things and all for only about $20. Thanks Fry's for sponsoring a free weekend!