Brian Lopez and Tucson Weirdness

Last weekend was really fun! And we were introduced to Brian Lopez! (I'll explain!)

So, on Friday we went out for some pizza (our first time going out for food!) at Brooklyn Pizza, which is connected to Sky Bar and this lady in a sparkly shirt came up to us and was like "You can't sit here, we are going to set up for the fire show" And we were like whhaaa??? But yep, they had a fire show with ladies throwing fire in the air and eating it....weird. We have decided that Tucson is very strange!!

The fire looked really cool on my camera after I changed the shutter speed haha. Ok so Saturday we drove up to the top of Mount Lemmon to go hiking. We stopped in the town of Summerhaven and got out, ate PB+J sandwiches while walking to the trail, and then hiked! It was really fun! It's also weird up there because once you get to the point where the cacti end, it almost looks like a forest. For about 10 minutes it almost reminded me of Oregon! But then we kept going and saw dead trees and I was like "Yep, back in Arizona!"

Jeff, Erin, and Jen hiking in front of me with the dead trees in the background!All four of us on the hike!

Saturday night, we went to PLUSH, where they have live concerts. Ted (Music/Art teacher from Santa Cruz) invited us to come see Brian Lopez because it was only $5 and Brian was really good! Well, Jen and Erin (and me to a lesser extent) fell in love with Brian! Jen even decided if (when) she marries Brian, her name will be Jennifer Lopez! So, of course we now call her JLo haha. I thought his music was ok, but he was a great performer. And he made all of us like Tucson better. Tucson is just a very strange city. Downtown has 3 big buildings and that's it. We are in the middle of a desert and everyone's house is one story, it's really spread out and....just weird! So unlike Portland or San Francisco, except 4th ave. which is probably the coolest area around here. This is Brian Lopez and his band! We are going to see him again today at a music festival with other local bands. There is supposedly a midnight dance party as well, so it should be interesting!

On Sunday, Jen and I drove to Nogales, Mexico with Mr. and Mrs. Chavez and their children. We stopped by the Mexican Walmart to get supplies and food, then dropped everything off an orphanage for boys. We got to look around a bit and meet the children! So cute! Maria, Mr. and Mrs. Chavez's adopted daughter from Mexico had a hard time letting go of one of the little boys and started crying because she remembered what it was like to be in an orphanage in Mexico. But at other times she was cracking jokes about how they make kids work in Mexico and how Jen and I should find boyfriends there. The whole day was pretty fun!

On Labor day, we woke up REALLY early to do that run I was talking about. We drove to the Quigley's house and Mr. Quigley drove us to the race from there. He was doing the 8 mile and we did the 5k. It was great! I hadn't been running because of the heat, but it felt ok! I ran with Erin until the end when I lost her for the last half mile or so. Ended up getting 26.48ish mins. Not terrible! I do need to start running more tho! It's just too hot later in the day and I'm too lazy to wake up at 5:30 before work in the mornings! But I ran this morning so hah! After the race, we grabbed lotsa free gear (and got free massages! woo!) then went back the Quigley's house where they had a big breakfast for us with homemade biscuits! ahhh!

The workweek went pretty well. On Tuesday, Mrs. Chavez asked me to watch her 1st grade class for the last 45 mins of the day because she had to go to the doctor. It was great! The 1st graders are soo funny. I read them a story about apples and they loved it! I was like "what colors are the apples?" and they screamed out "yellow! green! red!" haha. They also thought they had to tell me every little thing in their lives. When I took them to a bathroom break, one of the little boys was like "Two boys just dared me to stick my head in the toilet." I wasn't so sure how to respond to that, but oh well! I had him tell me their names and I said I'll tell his teacher (of course I forgot their names, but at least he felt heard;)

On Thursday, I taught the kindergartners for the first time! They are adorable!! I got them to turn on the computers and play with Paint for a while. they mastered the click and drag! I was so proud. Once they could determine which side was left and how to hold down the clicker with the mouse, they were golden! When I asked the class why we should be careful with computers, one of the little boys raised his hand and was like "I lost my tooth!" I was like.."ok!" haha.

So, yeah I'm liking work--but also glad it's the weekend! A little rest and relaxation before another week with the kiddos!