Copa Got: Summahtime

Summer is brutally in full swing already. Copa got water. Swimming is really all you can do outside in the summer here. Unfortunately, we don't have a pool in our community (we have the afore-mentioned lake instead though...yay...) But there are a few options out there. The Ak-Chin Reservation nearby has a pool that is free for everyone. It's only a few minute drive from my house and has a waterslide. I have a good friend who is always willing to lend out her community's pool key (Love you, Jen!), that has saved us. In Chandler and Ahwatukee (both about a 25-minute drive from here) there are plenty of water parks with "toilet bowls," lazy rivers, and water slides and these only cost a couple dollars each to get into. We hit these once a week and spend a good chunk of afternoon marinating there.

Dutch Baby kicked off summer with a birthday party at Jumpstreet, one of those wall-to-wall trampoline places. No, not in Copa, but only a half-hour's drive from here. We opened presents across the street at Dunkin' Donuts. Everyone picked a pink donut for their treat- no surprises there.



The kids made us proud this school year. Smarty Smalls got inducted to the National Junior Honor Society in a formal ceremony.


Now he's at Scout Camp all week, where, hopefully, the heavenly rays will protect him from the corruption typical at scout camps.



Butterfly girl was recognized in an end-of-year assembly for winning the school spelling bee.

I'm so glad I can live vicariously through my children. I always wanted to win the spelling bee. In my seventh-grade competition, I got out on the word "gesture" because I thought she said "jester." I was so mad. I was even more mad when the half of the finalists got out on the word "alcohol." Unlike most of my Mormon peers, I could spell alcohol.

I love the spell of alcohol.

So, thank you, Butterfly Girl, for letting me experience a spelling bee win.

We're proud of you, kiddos. Now off to summer.

Talking in Thumbs

I got a smart phone. It's too smart for me. There's a manual that came with it. I don't do manuals. Any time I have a techno-type question, I typically just ask Blake. I can't do that with this phone, because it's an Android, and Blake only knows iPhones. Blake loves iPhones. I call his iPhone The Mistress because of the feelings of adoration he bestows on his. It's almost like he feels disloyal to The Mistress if he spends any time fondling my Android. And so I'm on my own, and the learning process is slow.

I did get text down right away. It's a curious thing, this gift of speaking in thumbs. I always thought I wouldn't do it that much because I prefer talking with my mouth to my friends. But it's become very appealing in all kinds of situations. "Can you walk today?" I can text Alisha while she's at work without disturbing her too much. "Don't forget to pick up your son from school," Blake can text me at 2:55 (I've yet to earn back trust from that one time I forgot him.) And my favorite advantage to texting: I can tell people no much, much easier and forego my tendency to over-explain myself when declining a request. Texting definitely simplifies that process, even though that's the wussy way to do it.

I have a camera on my phone. I've got that down, almost. Tonight, on this blog, for the first time I uploaded a picture from it. Successfully! All by myself, except for all the help I got from Blake. It was a picture I took at the local Walmart. There have been soooo many times I wished for my camera at Maricopa's Walmart. There's always something weird to see there. I've never seen a Walmart so adept at attracting umm, unusual people that I swear can never be spotted anywhere else. (Where did this breed of folks buy food before Walmart opened?)

I took out my phone/camera and caught this parked next to me. What compels a person to decorate his back window thusly:



I'm not sure what is more disturbing about these decals: the skulls with ponytails, or the fact that the driver calls his son "Boob."

???

(Church Lady voice, "Could it be......Satan?" At Walmart with the fam?)