Annual City Celebration

Our Annual City (of Casa Grande) Celebration was held this year on Friday, May 15th at Peart Park. Of course, Kobukan Karate of Casa Grande had a booth there to promote our summer programs. We had a good spot this year -- we were in a shady spot, right up along the main sidewalk.

Here is our booth from the front. Mike and Steven helped set up, and Kylie, Haley, Lorenzo and Diego helped me man the booth itself.


Lorenzo's job was to pass out fliers and answer basic questions. The Park and Rec building is in the background, across the street.


Diego's job was to play various games using the blockers, including "Mandi the Snake" and "Gladiator Races." I think he had a lot of fun, especially here with Steven early on. They did attract quite a bit of attention! Nick, my contact at the city's Park and Rec department, was impressed with the activity -- it will probably be standard at any booth we do from now on.









Kylie's job was to help the kids make Japanese fish.







Haley's job was to take pictures and to supervise the blocker games behind our booth. She also filled in as needed when someone needed a break.

The gal who teaches the T'ai Chi classes was right next to ours. We shared stories and techniques. It's been a really long time since I've tried to do T'ai Chi, and I got frustrated because I couldn't watch her in the mirror and couldn't see what she was doing. But it was fun to just get up and do it.



She even had drills for Diego.

Here is Lorenzo with her sword. It's an authentic Chinese T'ai Chi sword. The blade was engraved ... it was beautiful.

Of course, nobody worked too hard ...

Here is Steven resting a bit before he and Mike went home.

Our Back Yard

This is the back yard in the early stages -- we laid the grass last May and planted the trees shortly thereafter. Mike worked on the deck into the fall. This picture was taken from my office window (through the screen). The tree in the back is our apple tree.

Here is the partially completed deck during a late summer monsoon. We were out chasing stuff that was blowing around the yard, and collecting the power tools to bring inside. I think it only took about 10 minutes of rain to collect that much water.

The garden boxes. Mike has to finish them somehow, probably in the same pattern as the rest of the yard. In the corner is an orange tree, and you can just see the tomato plants in the tallest box. There was stuff planted in all of them, but the dog got to most of it first (Mike just finished building a fence to keep her out, I guess I need some newer picures). I think we have carrots, one squash and one watermelon plant that made it -- and lots of tomatoes!

Here are the tomatoes, when we first planted them. They are huge and overgrown now!

The orange tree.

A grape vine.

The apple tree.

The pomegranite tree ... before it started really blooming. It's all green and full now.

This is a mandarin orange tree, but it's a lot smaller than the others.

Strawberries. Steven actually picked a handful and ate them early in the spring. Hopefully next spring we'll get a whole bunch more.

I saved the best for last -- the nectarine tree. This was in the spring when it really flowered.

After the blossoms wilted, we had nectarines. We picked a bowl full this week -- they're not very big, about the size of a golf ball, but they are juicy and delicious. I've never tasted anything so yummy!

Hiking CG Mountain

Here is a brief glimpse of what it looks like here in Arizona, from Kylie and Steven's hike last spring up nearby CG Mountain. Just ignore the date on the photos; it's wrong. And Kylie took the majority of them so we have lots of Steven.

I think this one is a self-portrait.

Steven seems to attract the jumping cactus. Apparently he stepped on one on purpose to show Kylie what happens, and got it stuck to his thumb. They don't pull back out, either; they break off and remain embedded for a while. Ask us how we know that!!

Sunset on Sunset Drive

One of the things I've really enjoyed about living in the desert is the sunsets! The steeple in the center of the first photo is from our stake center, where we meet for church on Sundays. The elementary school is at the end of the street, we just walk through the school yard and across the street and there we are!

Here's one of the moon. It's not quite even dark yet, but the moon shone through the wisps of clouds in a bright, shiny sliver.

And here is our house at dusk. Huh, I just noticed ... this picture was taken before Mike put in the rose bushes! Notice the clear blue sky.