March 1, 2013

Desert Sky, Apache Junction, AZ

(Children’s Museum of Phoenix)

What an absolutely beautiful day it was!  I sat outside most of the day

 








while Monte continuing working on the solar installation project.

  Today he cut the plywood for the area where the batteries are going to be stored. 

 

He took a break for lunch

 

and then got one of the guys working in our park to move the batteries from the trunk of my car to the front storage area of our rig. 

 The batteries weigh over 90 pounds each and not wanting to reinjure the arm that he had surgery on a year ago, he felt it was well worth paying someone else to do the heavy lifting.

 

Once they were placed where he wanted them he secured them by drilling brackets on all four sides.

 

 

 

 

 

 

We drove into the city to the Children’s Museum of Phoenix to meet up with my daughter Renee, granddaughters and a friend of the twins that was going to be sleeping over their house.

  Target sponsors a free night the first Friday of the month so admission was free.   According to the museum’s website,” Acting on the principle that learning is a joy, the Children’s Museum of Phoenix’s mission is to engage the minds, muscles and imaginations of children and the grown-ups who care about them. With hands-on, interactive exhibits designed for children ages birth to 10, the Museum focuses on learning through play, with emphasis on early childhood education and school-readiness.

 

 

 



The Target free Friday must be well publicized because it was a mob scene of strollers, children running and screaming and parents yelling for lost children.

 Our first stop was at the Art Studio where the children made a St. Patrick craft. 

Daphne

Kennedy

 

 



We then moved on to The Market where all the children fought over the limited number of carts to fill with cans, boxes and vegetables.

  Then they moved over to the “check-out” counter to scan their purchases. 

 Was coming here my idea?

The next room held an assortment of pots, pans and cooking utensils with work stations and a pizza oven complete with paddles to remove the “hot” pizza from the oven.   

Utensil art.

Germs, Germs, Germs

Daphne creating sand art.

And doing another one of her favorite things-climbing.

The girls went through Noodle Forest over and over again. The forest has oodles of noodles suspended from above.   

 

 

 

 

 

 Drums were banged on before moving onto The Climber. 

 First Grandpa Monte went through the tunnels and got stuck (although he claims he was only kidding around.) 

Then I took a turn (don’t know what I was thinking as I just recovered from a back injury).  I kind of got stuck myself at the top because there is only one way up and down and so many kids were coming up that I had to wait at least 10 minutes for an opportunity to go down. 

 

Even Mommy took a turn.

 

Just prior to exiting the museum, Renee took the girls through the gift shop and bought necklaces for Kennedy and her friend. 

 

 

 

 

Daphne chose binoculars. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

"No, it can't only be 7:30!"

 

In the parking lot we hugged and kissed goodbye.  Renee was taking the girls for ice cream.

We passed because we hadn’t eaten dinner yet and were in the mood for pizza. 

 

 We ended up picking up a mushroom pizza at Gino’s for $5.00.  It was delicious.

February 28, 2013

Desert Sky, Apache Junction, AZ

I planned on spending the day at my daughter Renee’s house.  Before I departed I assisted Monte. 

First he drilled a hole underneath the stairs leading to the bedroom.

 

 

 

 

 

 

He used his telescoping video inspection camera to see if there would be any obstructions.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Then he went up on the roof and fed heavy duty solar wire down that I then pulled through the hole he had drilled. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Before we even started with the wire we had to harness Pumpkin because he tried getting into the space under the stairs when Monte unscrewed the grill covering the space.  We tied his leash to a gallon water jug and put him outside.

 

 

 

 Normally whenever we open the door we have to prevent him from running out but with the harness on he becomes what I call "statue cat."  He stiffens up.  After a few minutes outside he started crying and scratching at the door because he wanted back in. 

 

 

After helping Monte, I gathered up our wash and was on my way.  Later in the afternoon I took a ride with Renee to pick up my twin granddaughters from school.  But first we stopped at Fry’s for a couple of items and I treated us to a Starbuck’s Caramel Frappuccino.   

 

 

 

Back at Renee’s house Daphne snacked on a large spoon of peanut butter

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 and I quizzed Kennedy on her spelling words and listened to her read three short stories.   

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

After finishing their homework the girls spent some time on the trampoline. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Then Daphne skipped rope. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Kennedy helped unload the dishwasher

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

and Daphne looked through a box of jewelry trying to decide which earrings she wanted to wear.

 

 

 

 

 

We played the board game Payday.  The objective of the game is to have the most money at the end of the game.  The board used is in the form of a calendar month, with each day having a different event resulting when a player lands on a space.  There are many lessons to be learned from playing this game one being it is wise to save money.  Sometimes bills are accumulated during the month that must be paid at the end of the month.  I was pleasantly surprised to discover both granddaughters put money aside every time they received a bill to insure they would have enough money at the end of the month to pay their bills.  

When I got home Monte filled me in on all he had accomplished with the solar installation project while I was gone.  (Details to be posted at completion of project)