Friday, May 11, 2012

LA Day Trip - Hollywood Sign

Well, talk about a well-read individual.  I should have gotten much closer and taken better shots of this as I think every book title is legibly painted (and no two alike) on this garage door we passed on the way to the Hollywood sign.

 Here is the community nestled in the hills once you pass the view to the sign.

Here is the sign from across the way.  Apparently the closest you can get by driving, I wouldn't doubt many people figure out a way to hike up there. 

A tighter shot of the sign. 

Quite a big house (I think it's a house) seen from where we parked to take pictures of the sign.

 Downtown view was a bit hazy.  'May grey' the call it.  I'm not sure if it is better or worse than the 'June gloom.' 

Saturday, May 5, 2012

Erik's Bamiooj

What's a Bamiooj? It is a musical instrument made from junk.
This is a sort of xylophone made from scrap wood (I had Erik pull nails and then ripped it down to a smaller size), an old piece of nylon laundry line, an old pool chair and the 'drumsticks' are superballs on an old, broken piece of dowel cut in half.



For his musical appreciation class, Erik's instrument has to have at least 5 distinct pitches.  We have more, but the shorter the piece in his instrument, the less distinct the tone.  He actually added three larger pieces because those sounds came out so much better.

Thursday, April 26, 2012

1st Saturdays

Home Depot does a little free project the first Saturday of every month.  We have been going most months for a year or more now.  Jake does very well, but I'm not too sure how much longer he'll be interested.  So far so good; I'm just thinking that many are getting a bit too easy for him.

This is a birdfeeder with suction cups to attach to a window. 

As you can see, we were the first ones there.  Jake is often awake early on the weekends, yet he has trouble waking up later during the week.  Go figure.


Saturday, April 21, 2012

The Borsts came to town last week and we spent a little time together.  Unfortunately, I didn't take a whole lot of pictures...


Here is Anna beside a saguaro cactus.

Gail, Anna and Jake relaxing on a bech at the Desert Botanical Gardens.

Lunch at Chevy's with Gramma, too.

The Arizona Science Center is always entertaining. Matt and Anna are using their shadows to interact with virtual beads.

Jake was launching balls in jets of water

Matt tried his luck at it.
 
And managed to get one to 'float' in the air.

After all that fun, there was more fun to be had.
at Gramma's pool.

I didn't get anything with Erik in it - he did spend time with the Borsts, though!

Sunday, April 15, 2012

New Paint

This was the house shortly after we moved in. 


If I knew how much better the house would look, I would have done this years ago.  Probably should have replaced the shingles earlier, also.

That front section had four panels of glass for windows.  Not exactly the best idea as the summer heat practically comes right through them.  Now it is a single double pane window.
Back is now coming along and the sides, well, they're next.

Saturday, April 14, 2012

Here is the most recent shot of the family.  The boys would say this isn't our whole family - Scampi, our rescue shelter cat isn't in it. 

This was taken during Spring Break week 2012 when we visited Vegas for a couple days.  We went to a magic/comedy show which was pretty good.