ROADTRIP!

THURSDAY, July 24, 2008
2:00 PM Leaving Phoenix

3:22 PM Picacho Peak
40 miles outside of

Tucson and Daniel

in the back seat

4:51 PM Dinosaur trys to gobble McDonald’s sign and make off with Daniel in Benson, AZ

5:10 PM Rock formations between Benson and Wilcox near “Cochise’s Stronghold.” These are the “Teasers” for the Chirachaua Mountains a little south of Wilcox. If you think these are cool, you gotta go to the Chirachauas!

6:13 PM Welcome to New Mexico (and that’s all we saw in NM cause we slept through it)

9:00 PM Welcome to Texas! (Of course they don’t have a sign, they have a monument! As they say, they do everything bigger in TX…)

11:00 PM Got stopped at a border patrol checkpoint. Two officers checked us out. One had a German Shepard sniff our car for drugs and the other asked if we were US citizens. (Didn’t even ask for our passports! And here I paid all that money for them…go figure!)

12 Midnight AZ time and 2 AM Texas time. Stopped at the Ramada Inn in Van Horn, TX We’ll wait till morning to take a picture of the place.

FRIDAY, July 25, 2008
9:45 AM Ate a hot breakfast in the hotel day room. The usual somewhat scrambled eggs, dry muffins, dry cereal, dry humor…juice and we’re still not drinking coffee. They did have a waffle iron that made pretty good waffles though. Chevron gas is $4.07 at the pump but they fooled Gary into buying the $4.17 per gallon because we were at the “expensive” pump. Gotta watch those gas stations every minute! It’s about 75 degrees and windy. Looks like rain.
10:15 AM Yup, we’re going “straight” through Texas!
10:20 AM And Daniel is doing his Brainage on his DS. He’s reached the mental age of a 67 year old. The mental age of a 20 year old is the goal. He’s got some work to do.

MORE PICTURES TO COME...I'M HUNGRY AND HAVE TO EAT.

Our Home School Space

I got the table and chairs at a garage sale. The table is an old diningroom table with lots of scratches in the top so we don't care if we scratch it some more. What do you want for $35 anyway? We use the white board for math practice and notes. The 1st picture is taken while sitting on a couch we use to read together or alone or doing worksheets on a clipboard. We use both computers during the day. The one on the left is my older son's. He's at work and doesn't mind. Over by the globe is our printer/scanner/fax. The bookcase holds spanish books and Daniel's subject folders on the top. The rest of the shelves are my bill folders and educational paraphranalia. The silk plants make it "homey." Our "classroom" is the third single bay of a 3-car garage so it's pretty roomy and so serves our purpose quite nicely.

Larger Than Life - Amy Frye - Circa 1950 to 2004

There once was a girl,
Who had a little curl,
Right in the middle of her forehead,
When she was good,
She was very, very good,
But when she was bad she was horrid
- Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

Wow! Amy Frye is dead. There is a distinct loss of energy radiating from the city of Phoenix upon this occurence. The universe seems just a tad more lonely without her.
Meeting Amy Frye is an experience one never forgets whether one wants to or not. Amy made her presence known not only to the universe, but on an individual basis upon numerous lives. The loss of that presence will be felt for as long as the life of this blogger continues.

We miss you Amy Fry, you were our friend. We will always cherish the good times (and even the difficult times...we understand that we all have our moments.) We prefer to, and will continue to, remember you fondly and with the laughter you brought to us. Our one shared memory of you will always be of you marching down our hallway, brandishing your cane like the leader of a marching band, with Daniel in tow of course, marching and marching back and forth to one of our Kingdom Melodies.

Thank you for the experience of knowing you and for the memories, Amy Frye. It was quite a ride, but I, for one, wouldn't have missed it for the world!

Julia Child - Death of an Icon

i must take this moment to note the passing of Julia Child. i loved watching her cook. i loved her voice. i loved her way of not being anything like martha stewart. i had nothing but the utmost respect for the way Julia Child ran her public life and how she did not let her age stop her from following her later in life goals. she has been a part of life as i know it for as long as i can remember and i will miss her television presence.