Citizenship Ceremony

Today I was lucky enough to be invited to the United States citizenship ceremony of my next door neighbor/friend.  I think that I take for granted how lucky I was to be born in this country and I was completely humbled by the forty-four people from thirteen countries denouncing their citizenship from their home countries.  Some of these countries included: Ukraine, South Korea, Vietnam, Cuba, Mexico, Nigeria, and the Philippines. 
I got a little teary eyed at a few different points:
1.) listening to a room full of people sing The Star Spangled Banner in so many different accents
2.) being led in The Pledge of Allegiance by elementary school students
3.) knowing that some of these people worked for years for something I was given at birth
Sometimes I get a little cynical about the country I live in and this adventure today was exactly what I needed to remind me not to take certain things for granted.
I can vote.
I can speak my mind.
I can...I just can.
If you ever get the chance to attend one of these ceremonies, do it, and remember how blessed you really are if you are a United States citizen.  I forget sometimes for sure and I was glad for the reminder.  It's not perfect, but it is good.

Fall Break Flagstaff Fun

Alliteration totally intentional for the title!
It's been awhile since I posted to this blog, but school started and being a high school English teacher is an adventure that does not leave much time for adventures outside of the classroom or blog posts.  The first nine weeks flew by and I am enjoying a glorious week off from the teaching gig/adventure that I love so much, but do need an occasional break from to keep my sanity.

I decided to head up to Flagstaff for a few days of fun (sorry the F alliteration is not out of my system yet).  It's hard to explain, but somewhere between Camp Verde and Munds Park the air changes.  I think if I was blindfolded and told to say when the car moved from southern AZ to northern AZ I would be able to know based just on smell.  I promise if I was blindfolded I would let someone else do the driving!  Maybe it's the pine trees, the lack of pollution, or just a bit of magic that can only be found when headed home.  When I was younger, think elementary school, we would smell the pine trees.  We said that some smelled like chocolate, some like vanilla, or the extra special ones were strawberry.  It was a neapolitan treat for the nose.  Pine trees, or certain ice cream flavors, will always smell like home

See number one from the list below...the balloon man at the restaurant made us made us heart shaped flower balloons

Flagstaff Fall

Quick top ten list of the four days in Flagstaff (in no particular order):
1. getting to spend an evening with a good friend in Phoenix on the way up to Flagstaff
2. getting a haircut and manicure with my mom
3. seeing Gone Girl with my favorite sister-in-law
4. Scrabble with my brother
5. holding my nephew while playing tag with my niece
6. a family dinner at Mama Luisa's for my sister-in-law's birthday
7. the leaves changing and the crisp weather that comes with October
8. getting some much needed time with loved ones
9. and getting some much needed time sitting (read vegging out) in front of a television since I don't own a TV
10. finishing Run by Ann Patchett- a great book if anyone needs a book recommendation

Bisbee, AZ

Two weeks until school starts, so I decided to go to Bisbee today.  I had never been and it's about an hour and a half one way...why not take a mini road trip  and make an adventure? It's not much different than other AZ mining towns I have been to like Jerome, but if my timing was better I could have gone on a mine tour and there were caverns near by.  I think the next time someone comes to visit I'll explore the area again.  Any takers?  It also meant I drove through Patagonia, Sierra Vista, Sonoita, and Fort Huachuca.  I saw signs for Douglas, Benson, and Elgin.  I swear this state has more random towns then it knows what to do with!  Now if we just had more natural bodies of water.
Here are some pics. 

 Post office...I do love the old brick buildings that are still used today.  Some buildings just had better details in the past.  I mean who doesn't want to go through columns and an arch to get their mail?

 Street views

 I guess this building is a famous hotel with hauntings and ghosts.

 Must be monsoon season since there are clouds!

 The movie theater...

 with a giant fly on the window!?!

 Quite the hike just to get to the front door of this house.

 This altar had a four poster bed frame and it kind of looked like someone had just put part of their house outside.  Everything in the area was well maintained, so somebody keeps it up.

 I guess there are one thousand stairs...

 and there is a contest once a year to climb them.

 I was tired just looking at all of the stairs in this town!

 This was the Catholic church and it reminded me of my childhood.

 My Flag peeps will get the reference to Nativity.

 Always stained glass windows for any old Catholic church...

 even if I don't count myself as Catholic anymore it still seems weird to take pictures in a church, but there's something to be said about these old churches that have to be shown in pictures.

 Once again buildings just aren't made the same way anymore.

 Oh, mining towns

 with your houses

perched on mountainsides.

Lemons or lemonade

When my flight was delayed from 6:30am to 2:47pm I figured I could be angry about it like the guy blaming the politicians and President Obama or take it as it was and enjoy the fact that I could leave the airport and was not stuck on the airplane. 
We found a diner with a delicious Monte Cristo sandwich and sculptures nearby. 
The best part they reimbursed my money for that part of the flight and gave me a $200 voucher for a future flight.

 The sculptures were surrounding this empty lot.

 Yes, you were allowed to climb on some of them and Sarah fit perfectly in this one.

 We couldn't quite reach these flowers.

 This one reminded me of a pea pod.

 Wisteria

 Part of the park had sculptures of heads of 25 people including Susan B. Anthony, Gandhi, Schindler, etc.

And chocolate back at the airport...if the flight had left on time then I would have never had this experience. 

Misc. Northern California

If I had to sum up the trip it would be food and relaxation!
We ate BBQ, Italian, Mexican, pastries, ice cream, more ice cream, cupcakes, homemade sushi, candied bacon, pizza, honey balsamic carrots, chocolate, taffy, cheeseburgers, goat cheese, and more.
Then we just hung out and enjoyed the company.

Putting together a puzzle

 Eating ice cream

 Sarah coloring on the table cloth at the Italian restaurant

 Dancing!

Happy 4th of July!

            
 So the fireworks in Point Arena were on the 5th of July instead of the 4th of July and we were headed back to Oakland on the 5th, so there were no fireworks, but we still figured out a way to celebrate 'Merica


                                   
 Red, white and blue

 Let's go fly a kite

 Up to the highest heights

 Go Sarah!

Can you find the bird?