FIFTEEN: Crappy picture - Good Memory

Celebration of St. Patty's day and  Casi's B-day at Grandma Chris's

NINE

A quicky post on Tanners B-day party for his ninth birthday. 

Cupcakes and treat bags for Tanners Movie Party.

Invitations

This is what happens to when a 9 year old boy receives a Airsoft pistol for his birthday; utter chaos.

After the "utter chaos", the boys settled down into organized voting in order to determine what movie they would watch first. They settled on a system where they could cast their vote in private and protect the secrecy of their ballot.

This is what Casi and I did during one of the movies. OH! Yeah! You know you want one!

Native North American Palms

Andrea's Canyon trail head, Indian Canyon

A few weeks ago Nate, the kids and I went to Palm springs. 


Say it again.


Palm springs. 


I know! It sounds wonderful doesnt it?

There is a city near Palm springs called 29 palms, and a canyon called 49 palms, and another canyon called palm canyon. From the names, it would seem that palms are pretty important to this area. So I started asking people about the palm trees.

“Are they native?”

Murray Canyon trail, Indian Canyons

  I got a variety of answers but in the end Wikipedia solved it.

“Washingtonia filifera (filifera - Latin "thread-bearing"), with the common names California Fan Palm, Desert Fan Palm, Cotton palm, andArizona Fan Palm. It is a palm native to southwestern North America between an elevation range of 100–1,200 metres (330–3,900 ft), at seeps, desert bajadas, and springs where underground water is continuously available."

Just in case you wonder about Palm trees too.

 Seems like those that discovered the Palm springs area really liked the Palm trees. They liked them enough to count them** and name their city's after them. I guess if you live in the desert, a tree (any tree) would be pretty spectacular. 
And trust, the native “oasis” Palm stands are pretty incredible.
 
** 29 palms is a palm oasis, that when discovered had 29 palms in it. (I looked that up too. The locals, I asked, didn't know shit about their area.)

Casi taking a dip in the waterfalls at the top of Murray Canyon trail.

The other thing I found out about Palm springs - it has a HUGE wind farm. Do you know what that means? IT’S WINDY. so windy. so very, very, very windy.

Las vegas

Tanner wanted a new hat for our trip to California. He specifically wanted a $40 hat from the Nordstrom Rack and when I said “No” to the $40 hat, Tanner, well cried. I have never cried for a fashion item nor have I witnessed crying for one and I must admit I became distressed too. I mean “what if this is THE hat” that would make his trip all the more better. So I took him to F21 and purchased one for $12.00 but there is a part of me that still wants to go back and get that $40 hat.

oh, and Tanner's and his friends running around saying Fedora is pretty darn cute too.

Comes with stache. Batteries not included.

When Tanner told me he wanted to be Orville Wright, for his great American project at school, because he had a "great mustache". My response was "Well, then why not Einstein he has great hair and a mustache and he was known to carry around an umbrella."

Costume: 

• Pants (size 8) purchased at the DI after two trips. 
• White shirt (size 16) also purchased at the DI
• Vest (adult man size Medium) found in flower bed one winter-y day
• Newspaper boy hat purchased at Target. Men's department
• Mustache purchased by Leah. Trimmed by me.