Spring Break 2015 - Soccer Camp

Idris ran a soccer camp for kids ages 4 and up during the second week of break

Idris with the "ladies" on his team.

Idris and the boys.

The kids had a lot of fun and can't wait for the next soccer class!

Spring Break 2015 - Pinewood Derby Car Race

Jamil missed the Pinewood Derby Race for his cub scout pack,

so we decided to make our own cars and race them down the driveway.

Pinewood Derby

 

Getting started, the kids helped drill holes in their cars.

after sanding the cars, then we painted them

my car

Oliver's

Leila's

Jamil's favorite color of blue

 

Then we made room for the weights in the back of the cars. 

My car, "The Holy Cow"

Leila's

Jamil's

Oliver's

Weighing the cars to make 5 oz.

We used rocks from the back yard and coins in the cars for weights.

All the cars weighed the same before the race.

Jacob our neighbor friend came to help out in the race.

He raced my car for me

Here we are with our cars

Jamil was the grand champion with Oliver in second by only a few inches.

We all went for ice cream that evening.

The cars were fun to make and race.

Spring Break 2015 - The Zoo

The next activity the kids voted for was to visit the zoo! 

We picked a nice cloudy day and all the animals were out.

 

Reid Park Zoo

Idris, Oliver, Jamil and Leila at the zoo entrance.

Jamil and Oliver in the bird enclosure.

The tiger getting a meaty treat on the log.

Nourani and Leila near the elephants

The boys!

 

All the kids!

 

The new exhibit at the zoo is the camel ride!

Jamil and Oliver had fun riding the camel.

 

The most fun we had at the zoo was when the lion cubs were wrestling and playing with each other. 

We got rained on at the end of our tour, but over all it was an educational and fun afternoon.

Spring Break 2015 - Vegas, Hoover Dam and a Ton of Driving!

The "Gunner's" Idris's club soccer team had a college showcase in Las Vegas during spring break, so we all decided to go and watch.   It was a stressfull (to watch),exciting and successful weekend, with his team winning the championship game for the U-16 boys age group.  Many college coaches were watching the games.

Sunset on the road just outside of Flagstaff, AZ.

The Vegas lights, blurry but bright!

 

Soccer

The Gunner's gathered around the coach as he gave out the gold medals at the end of the championship game.  They played 5 games in 3 days! 

 

Idris with his team!

We spent the majority of the trip on the soccer field or in the hotel sleeping however the kids behaved and got to swim in the hotel pool every once in a while.  On the way out of Las Vegas the traffic was real slow, so slow in fact that we travelled 20 miles in 4 hours.  We took the only detour and saw the Hoover Dam.

Hoover Dam

Hoover Dam with the Pat Tillman bridge behind it.

 

Kiddo's

Nourani and Me

Idris with his medal, and yes I made him take the pic!

Jamil

Heading back to the car

Pat Tillman Bridge that took nearly an hour to cross because of an accident 5 miles up the road.  What should have been an 8 hour drive home became a 12 hour drive home. 

 

We slept most of the next day. 

 

 

Glad to be home!

Spring Break 2015 - When Life Gives You Lemons, Make Lemonade!

So the kids were out of school for two weeks for Spring Break.  I asked them to give me their top 5 activities they wanted to do over break, then we would vote for what to do first.

The list came in and the first activity came in at a unanimous vote for fishing at Rose Canyon Lake on Mt. Lemmon.  Great!  We packed the car with snacks, fishing poles, bait, firewood for roasting marshmallows at sunset, we were set.  We drove up in the morning to find Rose Canyon Lake was closed!!! What, how could the lake be closed, the kids were super disappointed, however,  I wanted to make the most of it, so we drove further up the mountain to find a camp ground so we could at least roast some chicken and marshmallows.  All the campgrounds were closed too!!!   Uuuggghhh!!!!  We drove nearly to the top and found one picnic area with only a picnic table, so, we got out and this is what we did.

First the boys had a race to find the

tallest and fattest pinecone within 5 minutes.

Jamil lined up all the pinecones to find the biggest one.

 

Idris won, he found "Andre the Giant!"

(We watched, "The Princess Bride," the day before)

 

Then they played pinecone golf and pinecone baseball

 until all the pincones were gone.

 

 

 

After all the pinecones were gone we played

Picnic Table Bowling

 

 

 

We were on a pretty steep hill so if we weren't careful

the ball would roll all the way down the hill.

Here is Idris running to catch the ball down the hill.

 

 After a few hours on Mt. Lemmon we packed up and headed back to Tucson to do some urban fishing at Lakeside.  Jamil passed off all the requirements to get his fishing belt loop for cub scouts.

 Let's go Fishing!

Jamil writing the fishing rules on his scout worksheet.

 

I was watching Leila play on the slide at the top of the hill when Jamil came running to tell me Oliver caught a huge fish.  We had only been there for about 10 minutes at the most.  So I grabbed Leila and we headed toward the lake.  Idris was trying to help Oliver bring in the fish, when it wriggled loose and swam off.  They all swear it was at least 12 inches long. 

 

Jamil and Oliver waiting for the big one, again!

Leila thinks that anytime she sits

down she needs to take off her shoes.

Idris had multiple poles set up

Oliver with his pole

Jamil with his pole

Idris with his pole

Leila hanging out eating snacks.

 

This tree was at the top of the hill above the lake,

it was just perfect.

 

Although the day did  not go as planned, it was still fun and we learned

 how to make the best out of a disappointing situation.