Our First Monsoon

A few weekends ago we experienced our first monsoon of the season.  The monsoon season runs from July through September.  It was on a Saturday afternoon. C was in quiet time, Jeremy was napping and Jake was huddled by my side. The monsoon was very exciting and a very intense. 

It rained almost 7 inches in less than an hour!

This is usually a dry a river bed.  After the monsoon it was a roaring river.  The ground is so dry here that it has a hard time absorbing the rain water. So after the monsoon there is a lot of flooding.

This river is just 1 house away from us. When we go for walks in the evenings, we normally cross this dry river bed to get to some walking paths.  

I was in awe of how fast the water was rising and moving.

After most of the thunder and rain stopped I had C come outside with me. We were walking on the trail right next to our house. We heard a noise and turned and saw a baby coyote standing in that puddle. He looked right at us for a minute and then scampered off. I of course did not have my camera with us.

C asked to go splash in some puddles.  

There weren't that many but she still had fun.

 Stomp, stomp, stomp.

We then went in the backyard to see if we could find bigger puddles there.

We didn't have much luck, but she did spot some bugs swimming in the little puddles.

Happy Arizona girl.

And this is what the sky looked like at sunset after the monsoon. Truly beautiful.

I loved the monsoon and can't wait for our next one!

A Prickly Situation

Yesterday after I dropped C off at camp, I was driving home and spotted a small dog running loose on the sidewalk. I pulled over and called him to me, but he ran off.  I did notice he had no collar. I followed him on foot for a few minutes and then he ran under a fence and I could not get to him.  I drove home worried about him.  This morning again after camp drop off I noticed him again.  He was across the street and when I called for him he actually came running to me.  I noticed he was limping and on 3 legs. When he got up to me I saw he was covered in cactus prickers!!  Then I noticed 2 other puppies across the street with prickers all over them as well. 

Look at big that one on his chest is. I can not imagine the pain he was in.  I flagged down a repairman in his truck. He had some thick rubber gloves in the back of his truck. He put them on and tried to remove the prickers.  

While he was holding the first dog, I was able to go get the 2nd dog. This poor guy had them all over his face and one almost in his eye.  I wasn't sure what to do.  I called Animal Control and it went to voice mail so I left a message. I was debating loading them in my car and taking them to the house. At this time a mom with her 2 girls pulled up and offered to help. Then a man who was jogging by offered his help too.

The man took off to chase down the 3rd dog who wanted nothing to do with us.  In the meantime another car pulled up with a college girl in it. She said she had seen the dogs this morning when she was out walking her dog.  She had some tweezers in her purse and she sat on the hard, hot ground and began plucking the prickers out of the 2nd dog.  Jake has gotten a pricker or 2 in his paws and it is painful to remove it. I have stepped on a few also. Even after it is removed it still hurts and is painful as poison is released when it penetrates the skin.  I can not imagine the pain these puppies were feeling. The prickers were everywhere..their face, lips, feet, tail, bellies and even an eye. These pictures do not do the situation justice.

The jogging man returned with the 3rd dog. He had to chase it over 4 blocks to catch it.  He said he lived close and wanted to run home to get some pliers to help pull the prickers out.  In the meantime a UPS van drove by and told us he saw someone let 3 puppies out of the back of their car yesterday.  Who does that?? The  mom was making frantic calls to her vet to see if she could bring the dogs in there. They said no unless she wanted pay for their care, but gave her a phone number for the animal police. She was able to speak to someone about the dogs. She decided to take the dogs to her house and wait for the animal police to come pick them up.

The jogging man and college girl working on the dogs with pliers.  These dogs were amazing!  They were in so much pain, yet never tried to nip or bite us.  They did a lot of yelping, crying and bleeding.  It was so sad to watch yet so rewarding to be helping them.  I really believe they knew we were trying to help them.  

After working on the dogs in the 104* for over 45 minutes most of the prickers were removed.  We loaded them in the moms car and she took them home with her.  As I drove away I was shaking.  I was feeling so many emotions.  From heartbreak, to sadness, to anger to pride.  So sad and angry that people could be so cruel to release any animal into the dessert to fend for themselves.   Yet to happy and proud that all these "angel" people stepped up and offered to help a creature that could not help itself.  I was also very proud that this happened in my neighborhood and these are the type of neighbors I have.
"You have not lived today until you have done something for someone who can never repay you."

Maya's Visit

My mom, Maya, flew up to see us July 4th week.  We had not seen her since Thanksgiving so the reunion was way overdue.  

On the 4th of July we woke up to cloudy skies.  But the sight of these 2 sweeties brightened our day.

It cleared up a little so we enjoyed the not so hot outside. C danced around for a bit popping bubbles.

She really put on a show, throwing some ballet moves in all the while popping them.

The sun was really not out but we still had to get in the pool. It was 4th of July after all.  

The next day Jeremy told me that it was the coldest 4th of July on record for Phoenix for the last 20 years.  But it was nice to swim without the sun beating down on us.

Thursday morning C had camp so we dropped her off for the morning.

My mom and I spent the morning driving all around the surrounding cities trying to find a great dog kennel for Jake.  

After quiet time that day we got dressed up to go see a play at the children's dinner theatre.

3 of us before heading out. When I made the reservations Jeremy didn't think he could make it. Turns out he could. But when I called to buy him a ticket there was nothing left our table. So we just had a girls night out.

We went to see Alice in Wonderland. Like I said it was a dinner theatre. They had a buffet dinner before hand. And it was all kid-friendly foods. Everything from pizza to corn dogs, to hamburgers, to mac n cheese.  Then they had a whole dessert cart as well.  Needless to say our tummies were hurting a bit when we left.

We had about 45 minutes in between dinner and the show starting. So we tried to pass the time with iPhone games and picture taking. My mom must have taken 30 photos of C and I and this was the best. C would just not smile.

There's Maya!  During the show I spent most of the time just watching C. She was loving it.  She was laughing, smiling and clapping to the music.  

Afterwards we waited in line to get autographs and take pictures with the cast. We were lucky and were 3rd in line. We waited only a few minutes. C and the Caterpillar.

C and her favorite, Alice!

On Friday we took C birthday shopping where she picked out some music and a doll.  She spent the morning playing with those. We met Jeremy at the golf club for lunch.  Then after quiet time we had an afternoon tea party with real tea.

At first C drank chocolate milk but then she tried the real tea. But she didn't care for it.

But the cupcake on the other hand was devoured. 

Maya enjoyed her cupcake too.

Had to invite her best friend Cupcake to the tea party!

Jake was sad that he was not invited to the tea party. C made a point to tell us that this party was for girls only. No boys allowed.

My mom left early on Saturday morning.  It was such a nice visit. I really enjoyed all the time I got to spend with her. And I loved that she got to see our new house.  She loved the peaceful settings so much she is already planning her return for my birthday.  Thanks for coming Maya.  We love you and miss you!

Happy 5th Birthday!!!

Here is our big birthday girl right after she woke up. You can see the clock behind her says 6:52 am, but we had already been up for almost an hour by that time.  

How old are you?

We couldn't find any birthday balloons so just a Barbie one had to do. C loved it.

I put out all her presents the night before.  After I went to bed Jeremy hid some of them downstairs.

C loved that and had fun looking for them.

Found one!

Even though it was barely 7am we let her open her gifts.

This doll is pretty neat. It is a ballerina and her shoes attach to C's feet and they can dance together. C loved her and named her Bella Rosie Johnson.

C loved the gift Jake got her. She couldn't stop thanking him.

She asked me why he got her princess music.  I told her because he loves listening to it with her during quiet time. She thought about that for a minute and then said "You are right Mom. He does like to listen to that with me.  And he likes to watch me to dance to it."  

One more picture with her "brother".

After some breakfast and cartoons we got loaded up and headed to the movies. 

C insisted Bella ride in the car with us. She even lent her sunglasses to Bella so the sun wouldn't hurt her eyes. Such a sweet friend!

We went to see "Brave".

I had heard from numerous friends that the movie was dark and scary. However C and I thought it was great. She was not scared at all and I think the message was great.  Perfect start to our day.

C was sporting her "5" shirt and birthday ribbon all day. The lady at the concessions noticed it and asked if it was C's birthday. We said yes and then she gave us a voucher for a free medium popcorn!! 

We ate every last bit of it. Yummy!

After the movie we came home for lunch and then played with some of her Pop beads from Grandad. They are really cool. We made all sorts of fun jewelry.  C insisted on taking my picture.

C even made Jake a pretty necklace. He was oh so thrilled!

Then it was time for cake. I made it this year.  Double chocolate Dr Pepper cake with cherry icing.

She doesn't look too impressed with our singing.

Make a wish!

After cake it was time to swim.  Sparky and Pops got her flippers for a present.

She took to them right away and can now book it around the pool so fast.

After swimming we got cleaned up and headed to the mall for a dinner of C's choosing. She went with Chik Fil A.  We weren't thrilled but it was better than McDonalds, which she originally wanted. 

She had gotten some $$ for her birthday and she spent some of it to ride the 2 story carousel 3 times!!

The lady at Chik Fil A noticed her shirt and ribbon and gave her a free ice cream after her meal.

We ended the night with a quick trip to Toys R Us.  We have to take back a few gifts that didn't work out for us and so C got to pick out a few things. The employees gave her a balloon, crown and made an announcement in the store.  We had a very sweet and busy day with our big girl.

C is a wonderful child. She is sweet, smart, honest, funny and very compassionate. She is fiercely loyal to her friends and loves playing with all kids, even ones she does not know. She is the answer to all my prayers. I could not imagine loving another child as much as I love her. I am so proud and honored to be her mommy.  I hope she always knows how very much we love and adore her.  Happy 5th birthday to our big girl!