Weather Station

Our High School is now a local Weather Station for the area :)  As you can see above with our little wunderground 'sticker' app.  It seems to update about every 15 minutes.  If you click on the app it will take you to our local weather for the day, week, month and year.  Now when I say we got 67 inches of rain in a year, I have back up!  I also noticed that the highest high for last year was 117!  That's crazy for here!

Isaac has come and gone.  We still have overcast skies and probably will still get a shower or two, but we ended up with only a little over an inch of rain.  Not nearly what they were expecting.  That's fine with me :)

Sea Camp!!

It's finally here!  

Sahara (and I) had to wake up a little earlier then usual. 

 She had to get to school by 6:15 to have her bags 'checked' for illegals.  She drove herself there and by 7:10 they were on the road.  

(Her friend Paige gave me a ride to her car later to pick it up and bring it home)

12 HOURS LATER...

(on a school bus, YUCK!)

They arrive at The University of Southern Mississippi Gulf Coast Research Laboratory.

This picture was taken I believe on the way to dinner at Isle of Capri Casino.

She took it with her phone and said the bus hit a bump at the same time...causing the wave.  I have never seen something like that!  I'd expect it to be blurry, not wavy!

At Isle of Capri

This is her roomy Kendall.  

At least they look like they like each other.  So hopefully there won't be a bunch of drama!

Day 2

They FROZE in the dorm room last night!  Apparently they couldn't turn down the air without affecting everyone, so they 'rednecked' it (according to Sahara)

The following sign in the dorm explains why it is so cold.

The report I got for today is that they netted off the beach. 

The picked through everything to find small fish, shrimp, crabs, and clear tiny jellyfish.

Back at the Laboratory, they dissected a pregnant shark.  Sahara said the baby sharks were really cute.

She said one of the teachers decided to keep all the 'seniors' together, leaving out Sahara and Kendall.  That teacher also chose a certain Junior to be in the 'senior' group.  How convenient that all the people chosen to be in this 'senior' group all are the wealthy kids.  Whatever, Sahara said she really couldn't stand to be stuck with that teacher anyway and is having fun in the group she's in.

Some of the kids in her group.

Sahara and Kendall

Day 3

Today, Sahara and her group left bright and early for Ship Island.  

They had to sift through the sand for shark teeth.  Sahara found 4.

She said the crabs were hysterical to watch.  They would "attack' with their pincer claw out doing their side-ways walk.

They also got to tour Fort Massachusetts.

They have to keep adding beach to one side of the island.  The fort use to be on the center of the island but the island is moving and the beach is disappearing on one side so if they don't add new beach to the disappearing side, the Fort will end up in the ocean and under water.  

Back to the University for dinner and to pick up airbrushed shirts they ordered.

All the Seniors (including Sahara and Kendall  this time!)

I Think they say Senior on the back and Biloxi on the bottom and have a picture of a light house and sunset.  I think that light house actually doesn't exist anymore because hurricane Katrina took it out.  On the front they have their name.

The Senior girls below.

Day 4

Today Sahara's group went fishing for sharks out on a boat.  The boat they were suppose to take had a bathroom issue.  Wasn't working I guess.  So they had to take a bigger boat.  She was glad because she said the smaller boat looked like it was off of the Jaws movies!  

 Their group caught the largest shark at 13 kilos or about 29 pounds, and as long as and almost as long as the 'wrangler' Jeremy.  They were all Black Fin sharks.  

This his him being taken from the water.

They grow to around 6 feet like this guy.

The day before, in the same area, a 10 foot Tiger shark was caught!

Sahara and her group had to catch them, weigh and measure them, and take blood samples.  Then release them.  She said the grossest part was trying to get the circular hook out of the cartilage of their mouths.  They were bleeding and the sound was like a crunching noise.

They were not aloud to actually 'wrangle' the sharks.  The pros had to do that.  But this poor girl didn't make it so they passed it around for pictures.

They also caught a manta ray and before measuring the wingspan, had to cut off the barb for safety.  Sahara couldn't remember what the wing span was.

Back to the university for dinner and then the plan was goofy golf.  I don't know if they made it there or not but they ended up doing some shopping and Sahara sent me pictures of prom dresses.  Hahaha - we actually bought her prom dress for next year when they all went on 60% off in June!

While out shopping, they found a Hard Rock.  She said they went in but just looked around.

It's 11 pm and she is packing for her 12 hour ride home tomorrow.

Day 5

Up at 5 am and on the bus by 7.  She finally makes it home at 6 pm.

First Day!

 

One Last Hurrah!

ParaNorman in Real3D
Sahara and Canyon saw Brave in Real3D with their Dad, but this was my first Real3D experience.
It was totally awesome!

Kind of like how Pixar totally out did Disney (to me anyway) making animated movies look so much more real...Real3D is the same.  Now I am going to be spoiled to this new way of watching animated movies and not want to go back to basic Pixar!

As far as the actually movie...it was good, not what we expected.  Not really for kids smaller then 2nd grade or for kids prone to nightmares.  It was scary and thank goodness for that.  The obnoxious kids who kicked and talked and cried and everything else behind us got too scared and grandma took them out half way through.  They looked to be about 3 and 5.  I am so glad I have behaving kids.  Even when they were small, they behaved.  I got complimented all the time on that.  :)

School is tomorrow!

About that time!

We have one more day until our school year starts.  I realized that I had not gotten out the nifty school years books so when I was putting away end of year awards from last year, we had to make time to get them filled out.  Sahara's book only has 1 more page!!!  That seems so crazy!


Also, just in time for school, Sahara has new prescription glasses.  Apparently she is far sighted in one eye and not the other.  The constant battle between both her eyes trying to focus at the same time was causing severe headaches.  Hopefully, she will remember to wear them and notice that her headaches have improved.

She likes her glasses and has been wearing them at home.  They are just for reading, but the Dr. said if she feels better wearing them full time or driving she can.

Summer Horse Therapy

Last day of horse therapy.  He will still go through the school year, but since I have had classes all summer, this last session was the only one this summer I was able to attend.  It's been Sahara's job to take him.
 

He LOVES horse therapy.  I am so glad he has the chance to be able to do this!

The Chinchillas are gone....

back to their home at the middle school.  However, they live on here too in the form of their many dust-bunnies left behind!!
(and I thought their poops where outrageous!)

As you can see above, it's not only the hair, they take dust baths and the dust gets everywhere too!

 

 

We have LOTS of cleaning to do!

Play-date

Gunner (Jared's dog) got to come over to have a play-date with Sascha and Malaki.
They all have a great time together.  
 

Summer II

My Summer classes are over!  Yay!  I know I got an A in the computer class because I was able to finish that one early.  But the Math final was yesterday and it usually takes about a week for the grades to be posted.  Now I have 5 days of summer until work/school starts back up.  Oh Joy!  5 whole days of summer!  What to do, what to do?!

Room Re-Do

I woke up Saturday morning with an itch to get SOMETHING done this summer.  Canyon's room was in bad shape.  Why is it that projects always cost at least twice as much and take 3 times as long to finish!?!
Canyon had a re-makeover 4 years ago, but as you will see in the following pictures, it was needed again!

RAZORBACKS
is the new theme.

First project is new toy buckets.  Instead of oversized toy tubs that would lose everything down at the bottom, we went with 5 gallon buckets.  They had these at Lowes which inspired the whole makeover.


I made labels for different types of toys such as 'matchbox cars', 'people', 'animals'...  It was Canyon's job to sort everything.  Plus 2 bags went to donate, 2 bags went to trash, and 1 bag went to Jared's house for his new Nephew when he gets a little older (like toddler Legos, road carpet, preschool laptop...

This is the damage we have to repair.

 

 

This turned into a HUGE job!
The peeling paint would not stop!
Thank you so much humidity!!

The buckets are ready to go.  He usually enjoys playing with one thing at a time.  Cars, or stuffed animals, or whatever.  I am hoping he will pick up and put away before he takes down the next bucket.  Time will tell.

Finally!  Primer is going on the walls.  A step I usually skip and hope for the best, but I'm glad we did it because Sunset Orange is hard to cover.

Primer done (day 3!!!)

Then I lost 2 helpers to the Olympics.  Can't really tell, but swimming is on.

Then, a disappointment.  We bought trim and painted it red.  The only piece we were able to use is the one here on the protruding corner.  The other corners of his wall are so damaged and bowed, the trim would not lay flat or stick.  Nails split the wood.  It was $60 we spent and couldn't use or take back.  So, here I sit trying to figure what we are going to do with these horrid corners.
Day 4

LOTS of joint compound, primer, paint and another day (day 5) and the corners are done...let's hope they last!

Since red was now pretty much out of the picture, we had to do something to make Canyon happy.  He was sad that his room wasn't a color any more.  So, I bought a flag and for now it is just tacked up.

This is the extent of his toys!  Much better.  We also eliminated a piece of furniture.  It was a red cabinet that mainly held 5000 books.  He has a handful of books he likes to look at.  We kept about 25.

We also found him a Razorback licence plate with the diamond plate that will tie in with his dresser and light switch plate.

A poster we framed and the background has silver to tie in too.

Last was a night light for the wall, but it turned on and off at will so I took it back.

For his birthday he will get a new blanket/quilt and curtains and maybe some pennants.  There is lots of stuff available but kind of pricey because they have to be licensed.  Anyway...that's that! and Day 6!!

Birthday ideas if anyone is interested :)  Sahara said he should have a Razorback b-day to go with it!