THE HEAT

Today, I did something that I haven't done in....forever! Girls night out - or should I maybe say "40 year old women's afternoon out"?? :) Either way - my friend Sharla and I had a great time.

We decided to beat the heat in Yuma (the temperatures reached 119 Fahrenheit/48 Celsius) today, with going to watch a movie. Somehow, the heat made it's way into the movie theater and we watched the new movie with Sandra Bullock. It was hilarious!! So funny, and many times I cried out of laughter. I can absolutely recommend this movie. I love Bullock, even if she has her typical character in any movie really, she is still funny and has a way about her that you just can't resist.

Before going to the late afternoon show, we went to a new smoothie bar in town for a treat and to catch up. It was a bit hard to find, but it was worth it when we were there. I had the "Little Piece of Heaven" A smooth combination of mango, strawberries, orange juice, vanilla yoghurt and banana. But as I don't like bananas, I skipped those. It was really yummy! Fresh and delicious.

We had a great time, and I hope that we soon will be able to do something like this again!

Twins In The Classroom

I came across this link the other day, and as we are a couple of twin moms here that follow each other, I thought that I'd share this with you too. The link comes out too big for the blog to copy in as a picture, but please check out the following link about  

Twins in the classroom. Together or not together? 

We are not there yet, but it's interesting to read and something to think about for the future for sure.

I think that especially identical twins might have more difficulties with this issue than fraternal twins. Identical have often a stronger bond together and might suffer more from being separated, but kept together, they might compete more, they might get compared to each other all the time, or the teachers might have problems keeping them apart.

For us, having a boy and a girl, I don't think that this will be an issue either way. They will have their own friends, their own interests etc. One good thing is though for them being kept together is that even with moving around in the military, they will always know someone in the class. They will always have each other, and never be like Cassie, the new girl...

Another plus I must add is for the family/parents and for the kids themselves, they will have the same homework. Same projects, same due dates, same reports etc to turn in. I couldn't even imagine how it would be with two different ones all the time, different homework, schedules to keep up with. Different recitals or different school trips. 

So personally, I would really want my twins to be together in the same class, but only time will tell how it will turn out. I think it's crazy though, that some states have had to make it into laws about this issue. That parents can't be allowed to make these important decisions on their own..

Family Time

On Wednesday, Chris was off work and went out for an early round of golf and came back just in time when the kids had breakfast. He decided to join me and the kids to Toddler time for the first time. Cassie stayed at home, enjoying playing the Playstation in peace and quiet without two little helpers on her new game.

Benjamin and Isabella loved having daddy with them at the library, they were eager to show him everything, where they sing, where they normally color, where we sit and read stories, where they pick out their book and movies. So fun to also see them dance, sing a long and for him to experience them in this environment.

After the library, we went straight to the store to stock up the fridge, and at home, it was time for lunch. After lunch, we decided to pack up the kids and go to "our" pool, so that the kids could show daddy how good they can swim. As they weren't able to wear their floaties on the last pool adventure we went on, he was also eager to see them and to be able to play with them like I had been telling him about.

A little snack and drink break..

They love to take turns on the ladder to jump.

Isabella had so much fun jumping with daddy, making one big splash after the other, while Benjamin decided to work on his swimming skills with Cassie.

He's working his little legs..

Water in the eyes are something that used to be the biggest drama - 

now she is slowly getting used to it!

"Let me catch you daddy!"

It's so bright that you can't really see anything in the display, and I didn't think about bringing the Canon to the pool, just using the iPhone. But, next time I'll bring the camera along and get some more and better close up pictures. 

I really wanted to get the kids on film when they are swimming, but Benjamin slowly lost interest and Isabella showed some other talents with dancing or maybe it's synchronized swimming as in the end she sticks up a foot out of the water?

Sunday Outing

Sunday afternoon, we decided to try out another pool here in town. We wanted to go to "our pool", but unfortunately, they have closed on Sundays. Well, there are a few to choose from, and we decided to try one that we hadn't been to before.

It looked really good at the pictures online, but I was very disappointed when we arrived. The kid area was great, but the kids are NOT allowed to wear any floating devices. Due to Safety Reasons!?!

Safety for who I asked?! Well, the lifeguards couldn't tell me any reasons, only that this was the rules and that's the way we had to accept it or leave...So unbelievable stupid to be honest with you! It's the parents responsibility - of course - and then shouldn't the parent be the one to decide about the floating devices or not? I even told him that what would one do with more than one young child and you couldn't have an adult per child? Well, I guess you just don't go then, was his answer...

Even if the water wasn't higher than the little one's waist, it was too high for them to walk and run in, we had to watch them at all times, and be right there as any time they would stumble and fall, they would be under water..It was truly a hard job and we for sure needed one parent per child. In "our" pool, where they are allowed to wear anything they want, I have no problems taking three kids on my own, but here, I couldn't take them on my own, as I can't hold on to both of them at all times, as they want to run, jump, swim and play.

Cassie was a bit bored, as she had to go on her own to the deep pool for jumping from the trampoline or go down the long slide, but that was the way it had to be. It was stressful as it was to keep both little ones safe without floaties. But, she played with us in the little kid pool most of the time.

They loved to jump around on these animal mats, and use them as little boats. There was also a frog slide, a long rattlesnake and a water mushroom to play on/with/under, and they had lot of fun. Especially the frog slide was a great hit!! There it was too busy though for me to be able to stop and take any pictures, and all the pictures I took, either Cassie or Chris is within an arms length reach.

 Tried to get a picture with all three...

 Love this one of my girls!!

We didn't stay for too long. It was good to be away and try this one out for a couple of hours, but then it was enough. I don't think that we will be back, especially as we have such a nice pool close by. Without all the extras, slides and water toys, but still - it's like a backyard pool at home, you don't have all the extras there either.

But, even without the floaties, it was nice to get away and for the kids to enjoy the slides and water. With the weather we have, there isn't much of variety, either you stay inside or you go outside to a pool. There isn't many other outdoors activities that you can do in this heat.

HOT- HOTTER- YUMA

That it's hot here in Yuma, I've complained about many times. Here are some more HOT news. The National Weather Service has following alert for Yuma, Arizona:

Excessive Heat Warning

Now - Sunday, Jun 30, 8:00pm

We will get record high temperatures here, and I personally will witness temperatures that I never have seen or felt before. Pretty hot don't you think??

 120 Degrees Fahrenheit

 49 Degrees Celsius

It will be interesting to see if the temperatures actually goes over 122F/50C. THAT will be a picture to take and remember! Growing up in Sweden where the temperatures hardly ever climbed over 30C, and never over 35C. To actually then see almost 50C is almost crazy. But, here in the desert, it's possible. Either way, we will be hot here this weekend. As long as our A/C doesn't brake down - we will be just fine!

Arizona State Flag

My friend Martina asked about the Arizona State Flag, and instead of commenting in the comments about it, I thought that maybe someone else would be interested to hear about it and therefore I dedicate a post to this to be beautiful flag.

I must say, I do think that this is one of the most beautiful State flags in the US. There are 50 of them, as you all know, and most of them contain the color blue to represent liberty. But there is only one flag with a sunset!! I've told you before and showed you pictures of our beautiful sunsets here in Arizona. 

The flag of the State of Arizona consists of 13 rays of red and weld-yellow on the top half, the colors of the flag of Spain, representing the 13 original states of the United States. 

 Flag of Spain

The red and yellow also symbolize Arizona's picturesque sunsets. The copper star represents the copper mining industry in Arizona. The rest of the flag is colored blue, representing liberty in the same shade of blue used in the Stars and Stripes.
 

There was also the question of if the Flag of Arizona is similar to another flag. And I must say that no, not really. The colors sure, the blue is represented in most of the State flags, but otherwise no. Nevertheless, I do think that it's very beautiful, and it's nice that the sunsets are represented!

I had to look up some of the information even if I did know some of it, but to be correct I wanted to check the information before writing something wrong. 

Source: Flag_of_Arizona

Desert Flowers

Found some really pretty flowers outside the library the other day, actually before Ben had his haircut I just realize looking at the pictures. Still, I love this orange/red color and I have no idea what the flower is called, but it's very pretty!

The Star-Spangled Banner flying high with the Arizona State Flag below

My three little flowers on the way home!

Pool Time

On Thursday afternoon, we went to "our" pool again, as we hadn't been all week due to all the doctor and dentist appointments. A couple of days earlier, we had bought new pool toys for the kids, as the caterpillar that they got a while ago to play with, turned over too easy as they didn't weigh it down enough. Such a shame, as the idea of two kids on one float toy was so much more appealing, than two separate toys. It's not easy to have twins/more than one little one all the time, especially not at the pool when it's playing, jumping, swimming and all kinds of things that crave my full attention all the time.

 Trying out the Caterpillar at home!

Trying out the Seahorse and the Dragon too..

New arm floaties - Mermaids and Pirates..

As the water toys weren't as sturdy as I had hoped, I didn't want to leave them on there on their own, even with floaties, so Cassie was a great help getting some pictures with the phone from the side of the pool while I was holding on. I didn't want her to step inside the pool, as I was too scared she'd drop my phone in the water, therefore I had to crop the pictures down a bit as they weren't zoomed in, but they came out great I think.

While I had one kid on the water toy, the other one had to sit by the stairs and play with the other little toys that we had brought. They are good at swimming/bopping around in the water with their arm floaties on, but with eyes on the camera, I only wanted one child in the water and they did good with this. We also were happy to see another family that we know. Their middle daughter went to Cassie's class, and they have been hanging out a few times together. It was also with this family Cassie went to check out the pool in the very first place, before I got our monthly pass. Laura, the mom was also helpful lending a hand where needed, as her girls are bigger and doesn't need constant attention.

Trust me when I tell you that you don't want to even tough that stair rail! It was so hot that even I couldn't put my hand around it without burning myself. Funny enough, as we had just talked about that, me and Laura, the staff came out to put a new cover on for it. Very much needed here in the heat!!

Cassie & Alissa

Snack time and even more important - DRINK time!

Cassie my Cassie...<3

My little model...:)

This little girl also wanted to pose with her seahorse. "Mommy mommy, take a picture now with my Sea horsie"! "Mommy mommy, look at me, mommy, mommy take a picture"...Some days she just loves the camera!

Sea Horse Love!

While Isabella was busy posing, Ben was chilling on the blanket in the sun. This time we had parked ourselves at the other end of the pool area, where they have a small grass area. I thought that would be great as there is a few higher palm trees right there, but they didn't provide that much shade, but better than nothing. It was great though, having the kids on the blanket and not on the sun chairs and up and down on the hot concrete. Now they could lay, sit around and be more comfortable, as Ben right away took advantage of.

Isabella testing out the fake grass, that also was almost too hot to stand on!

After seeing Isabella posing with her Sea horse, Ben did want to show off his Dragon in the end, before we went back into the water. They had great fun with the water toys, and I'm so happy that we found this pool, as these kind of toys you can't even bring to a public pool, as it's not allowed. Here, they don't care, you bring what you want, drinks, snacks etc etc, and as there is no lifeguard on place, and it's swimming at your own risk, there are no rules about arm floaties or not, which is great!! We love it, and I will for sure sign us up for another month when our pass expires.