Can cross that off my bucket list....

A good friend of ours has been a balloon pilot for some time and has his own hot air balloon company.
Bryce went up about 15 years ago and today was the rest of our turns!



Shane: our EXCELLENT pilot!



Helping with the rising



Getting final instructions



Kids playing on the floor of the basket up in the air (Shane's son and ours)



Leigh enjoying the view


Good Morning East Valley!



A parachute the kids threw out, at one point we sank below it...



Landing on a vacant home lot...to the delight of the neighborhood.




First flight prayer and ceremony:



THANKS SHANE!!!

and if anyone wants to ever hire a balloon company for a flight, we HIGHLY recommend them!!

Aerogelic Ballooning

Does this make me a bad parent?

These are my kids two new favorite songs...

Summer is flying by!

Well, it is HOT here! In the 100-110 range.
I suppose its always this hot but,
I tend to forget about it every year around January when its in the 70s..

We've done a lot already this summer.
Kicked it off with a little pool party for the kids' friends in our tribe:


Then went on an annual camping trip to Flagstaff,
enjoying some cooler weather; and drumming.

Some friends from Utah came down for that:


Spent time at the splash pad at the Zoo with Aly:


Celebrated Aspen's 15th Birthday!


Had a visit from Grandpa Scot


Went to the aquarium at Tempe Mills, Sealife




Then took off for an extended TX visit.
We went to Austin first, visited UT:



Then went to San Antonio for a weekend and saw the Alamo!


On the way home, we stopped and stayed at Balmorhea State Park:

Its about half way between Austin and Tempe.
It is a spring fed natural swimming pool where 1 million gallons of water flowing through
an hour. It was built by the CCC in the 30's. It is huge and the depth ranges from 3 to 25ft.


It has a constant year round temp of 72-73 degrees.
Leigh jumped off the high dive


I think we're gonna spend the rest of the summer in the pool. We're off to a pretty good start.

Come September, we're off again! Back to PA!

....And while we're on the subject:

A classic but one we try to view frequently here:

Making more changes

Already using reusable bottles/jars..
Thin I'm gonna start the move away from the large water jugs in our dining room.

From the maker of The Story of Stuff:



Anybody want to buy a crock?

Doing, doing, doing

We have had some busyness here lately. We're planning our months a week at a time.

In the last few weeks, we learned about Egypt and the kids have a "mummy in progress" on our kitchen cabinet.



They got up at the crack of dawn one day to 'assist' with a balloon launch





And then they planned, created decorations for and hosted a Valentine's Party for their AP Group.









I took them bowling for Valentine's Day also.




Having good times.

Lisa Leonard Design Giveaway

Lisa Leonard Designs, Check her out! She has some great hand hammered jewelery for all. She also does baby spoons, key chains and rings.

my favorite is the My Heart necklace.

This woman makes the most beautiful jewelery and now she doing a giveaway at Walk Slowly, Live Wildly

Go over there and leave a comment to be eligible to win!