UNO: Thor's First Birthday

I can't take credit for coming up with the UNO party theme, but it sure was fun to execute.  This was the invite we sent out (I made it myself):

Online I had seen a lot of shirts for the birthday baby that other people made. I thought I would try to use the bleach method that Stacy and I used to make so many shirts for her boys. I scanned an UNO card, enlarged and printed it out, cut out the shape, traced it onto freezer paper, ironed the freezer paper onto the shirt and put straight bleach on the shirt inside the stencil. Usually, it bleaches the shirt white. Unfortunately, I always pick shirts that don't bleed. I left the bleach on for 45 minutes and this is as light as I could get the shirt to turn:

We made a banner too.  It has UNO cards stuck in with the letters and it's spray-painted glittery (because everything is better with glitter!):

We made cards for guests to fill out for Thor--guests fill in the blanks to give Thor advice for when he is older. We pinned the cards on a ribbon for people to fill them out during the party.

And my pinata! Bekkie and Gavin helped a lot with the pinata. I have to add that Bekkie thought I was crazy for wanting to make it. I made these a lot at school when I was a little kid growing up in rural California (ie farmland with migrant Mexican workers). We celebrated Cinco de Mayo every year in elementary school by making pinatas and eating homemade churros (yum!). So I just couldn't bring myself to pay $14 for a star (NOT in line with my theme) pinata.  But I forgot how long it takes.  We spent a good 6 hours making it.

But I loved the way it turned out and the ficus tree was perfect for hanging it:

After Thor's turn hitting it, the kids each took whacks at it until it broke.
And then there was the cake. It's not as pretty as it was inside my mind, but whoa nelly is it tasty!!!

It has four layers--red, yellow, blue, and green, representing the four UNO colors of course!! And yes, those are M&Ms around it.

Thoe was getting tired by this point. He thought the cake was ok--but he did NOT like the cold icecream.

What a cute baby!!!
He kindof got the hang of opening presents. But he wanted to stop and play with everything before he was done opening all of them.

All in all we had a great time.  Thanks everyone that came and celebrated with us!

My Family Comes to Visit

For Thor's first birthday, my mom, two of my sisters, two nephews, my mother-in-law and grandmother-in-law all came to visit. We had a full house!

My sister Bekkie helped me to plan Thor's birthday party. Here we are:

We ran all over! We made a pinata, a banner, a card game, and baked the cake.

I didn't just work them, though. The first day they all went to the Phoenix Zoo.

 Apparently, the only pictures they took with my camera were of Gavin and Thor. I have enough pictures of the animals at the Phoenix Zoo throughout the years, but I wish I had more of everyone else. It is so rare that anyone comes to visit me. Thor liked having lots of people around. He became a ham.

After Thor's party, my mom and Bekkie went to the cabin to open it for the season. It was too short a visit.

Thor's Swimming Lessons

Thor has been taking swimming lessons since he was 3 months old. Here is a short clip of what he is learning:

He does a glide to the wall, grabs on and is supposed to do monkey hands to the steps. Sometimes he gets confused and tries to climb out instead. He really likes going swimming.

Antioch College and Grinell Mill Bed and Breakfast

At the end of April, Sabre and I flew to Dayton, Ohio, rented a car and drove to Yellow Springs, Ohio to visit Antioch College.  It was a strange little town--very liberal, especially to two people living in conservative Arizona.  It was cold, but very beautiful. We stayed at Grinell Mill Bed and Breakfast, a renovated flour mill that was part museum and part bed and breakfast.  It was very relaxing. The campus was small, but beautiful.

Just to give you perspective on how big the trees are leading up to the great hall, that is Sabre with her arms not quite halfway around it. The pictures make the scenery look deceptively small.

What was the most interesting to me is that the college has its own garden and farm on the campus.  Students are expected to help out on it and the organic vegetables, eggs, chickens, etc are served in the dining hall. They are very big into organic food in Ohio--probably because they have farms every 10 feet.  But man was the food good! Each restaurant in Yellow Springs would advertise where their produce, dairy, and meat came from each day.

Sabre was most impressed that they had a raptor sanctuary in the 1000 acre preserve owned by the college.  We went there for a presentation and to see a hawk they had nursed back to health released into the wild.

Here are some of the raptors we saw. I would go back to visit--the food and bed and breakfast were fabulous! We will see if Sabre gets accepted in the fall. If she does, it is with a 4 year, full-ride scholarship.

Bronson's Eagle Project

So I am VERY behind in my posts! Bronson's Eagle Project took place on May 12, 2012. The principal of his school, Hugh Hallman, is also the mayor of Tempe. The City is trying to renovate the Hayden Flour Mill on Mill Ave. 

The Hayden ferry was the first Tempe landmark, followed closely by the flour mill that sprung up next to it. Although it has burned down a number of times, it has always been built back in the same spot. But for years it has just been run down. The City is turning it into a park and museum. The park surrounding the mill needed gabbion walls built. So when Bronson talked to the mayor about an Eagle Scout project, he recommended building the gabbions.

A gabbion wall is a wall made from river rocks carefully placed in a wire form, like this:

So Bronson recruited over forty people to come on a hot Saturday morning and build walls with huge mounds of river rock.

Let me tell you, it is harder than it looks! To do it right, you have to place the rocks in like they were puzzle pieces. The flat sides of the rocks need to be against the wire facing out and there can't be any holes or the rocks will settle wrong and collapse parts of the wall.  The boys from his troop worked really hard alongside their parents and Bronson's other friends and family. They finished the entire first tier of the wall, which was 10 four foot by four foot cubes. That is a lot of rock!

This is Bronson with Bill Tonneson, the landscape architect that is donating his time to renovate the mill.

Even the mayor came to check out the project.

Everyone involved with the project was very impressed with Bronson's and the Boy Scouts' work.  Channel 3 came out and interviewed Bronson.  He was very honest and very Bronson.