The kids and I went on one last road trip  to The City of Rocks last weekend. It was scorching hot on the drive over. We don’t have  air conditioning so the kids were eying the one cloud in the distance that looked like it was raining. “Never mind mom, we don’t want to go to the rocks. Let’s drive to the rain instead!” As luck would have it, the cloud met us at our destination, soaking us to the skin with one of those glorious late summer downpours that start the arroyos running. Almost as soon as it started, it was over. The desert swallowed up the evidence and within fifteen minutes everything was dry. See more pictures from our trip on flickr:

The Last Hurrah on flickr: set | slideshow

SCHOOL
Today is school registration day. We registered at the end of the school year, but it is still a big deal because they post the classroom lists. Who is my teacher? Which room am I in? Are my friends in my class? Today’s the day to find out. School starts for the kids on Monday and I start on Thursday. This semester I’m taking seven classes (18 hours). It sounds like a lot, but I took 17 hours in the spring so I’m sure I can do it. We pay the same tuition for full time whether I’m taking 12 hours or 18. It just makes sense to do as much as I can… get the most for our money!

KIDS
Echo’s birthday is September 7th. He has asked for a clubhouse (above), a four wheeler, a Nintendo DS, a wallet, a transformer, new shoes, a dragon suit and lots of Bakugans. Needless to say, he isn’t getting all of that. But, I had an idea maybe you could help me with. Kristy posted something on facebook the other day about how some kids have never gotten mail. Echo checks the mail every single day and never gets anything. He is very jealous of Bleu, who has hundreds of post cards from his Postcard Project. I thought it would be really great if Echo would get some mail for his birthday. It doesn’t have to be anything too special, but a card or a postcard with HIS NAME ON IT would make him SOOOOO happy! If you want to send a card and don’t know our mailing address, just drop me an email and I’ll get back to you.

PHONE
After months of complaining about not being able to take pictures with my phone, I finally fixed my old T1 Android phone. I can’t use it to make calls, but I can take pictures with it. Happy me!

We Were the Mulvaneys, by Joyce Carol Oates

“It’s the way families are, sometimes. A thing goes wrong and no one knows how to fix it and years pass and–no one knows how to fix it.”

I READ THIS on flickr: set | slideshow

Echo and Jon clown around with AB, 2007

I miss AB. We haven’t seen him all summer! I don’t even know if he is going to come back to school here or not.  I hope he is because he and Jon have been best friends for years.

(for Photo Friday: Best Friends)

I’m thinking about entering a few photos in the fair this year. They must have been taking in the past year, which is hard because the past year has sucked as far as creating anything worthwhile. *le sigh* Here are a few of the photos I especially liked. If I enter anything, it will probably be one of these, but you never know. I may change my mind at the last minute! What do you think? Which one would you choose?