Wake Me Up When September Ends...

...Isn't there a song about the end of September? It's on the tip of my tongue...I'm sure it will come to me eventually.

Anyway, September tends to be one of my least favorite months in Arizona, mostly because of the weather. Although I've grown to (usually) love my adopted state, I still get frustrated at how long summer takes to end. Today is the last day of September, and the high temperature's going to be in the mid-90s. And the temperature's going to remain in the high 90s for the whole rest of the week--we're talking about October, now, and it still won't let up!

As you can imagine, this makes it hard for me to get into the "holiday mood." When all the leaves are still green (or when the tree has no leaves at all!); when I try to put up the Halloween decorations on our house and end up sweaty and hot; when I think about hitting the pool just weeks before my birthday; when the A/C is running in our house while football is on the TV--all these things make me annoyed at Arizona and its pathetic excuse for "fall."

On the more positive side, the weather has been cooling off a bit (especially in the morning, which has been wonderfully mild and balmy), thus enabling some pretty fun activities. We've managed to cram the last week full of stuff, and we're ending the month on a high note.

Last Saturday had its highs and lows. Celeste begged to play with some sticky "goo" that she'd received during a science project activity over the summer. I'd kept the goo hidden above the fridge for several weeks, but I finally relented, because what could happen?

Um...that. Turns out, the goo (a mixture of Borax, glue, and water) bonds remarkably well to hair. Aurora tried the same trick, but luckily only a small section of her hair was affected. I frantically managed to comb Aurora's hair clean, but the goo was very tenacious; the comb I used lost several tines and was warped beyond further use. Looking at the rubbery pink mass hanging from Celeste's head, I began to quietly panic and started imagining my beautiful daughter in a buzz cut...

By the look on her face, you can tell Celeste is thinking the same thing.

Luckily, I have friends who know a lot more about hair care than I do. I took her to my friend Tawnya's house (she cuts & styles hair out of her home), and she was able to calm me down and come up with a solution. We put Celeste's head under the kitchen sink, turned on the warm water, and applied lots and lots of shampoo. It took several minutes and much patient, gentle massaging, but Tawnya managed to work all the goo out of Celeste's hair, without needing to cut any hair! Whew...what a relief. The goo, needless to say, is now off limits once again.

Later that night, our family headed to the church building to set up for the Primary's second activity of the year...a Family Dance Party ( pretty much what it says on the flyer above). This was a great activity because planning it was super easy. We already had a two-hour-long playlist left over from a similar activity the previous year; all we needed to do was borrow an iPod from our previous primary president! We decided to sweeten the deal by serving ice cream to everyone as well. Setting up tables and chairs took maybe ten minutes; after that, all that was left for the presidency to do was keep kids from running riot through the building (that, and serve up lots of ice cream). We had kids' dances (like the Hokey Pokey), line dances (Macarena, anyone?), and recent radio hits (Taio Cruz's "Dynamite" was a particular favorite). The turnout was bigger than we expected, and we were happy to see so many families. The kids had a wonderful time, and many of the adults were out their shaking their stuff alongside their children. Our bishop even suggested we do it again next year! Here's hoping.

Primary was much on my mind the rest of the week as well, since my presidency spent its time finalizing the annual primary sacrament meeting program. We put the finishing touches on the script this week, then spent a long Monday morning in the chapel, trying to figure out where all the kids were going to sit.

I spent a lot more time later in the week copying the program and organizing it to hand out to all the teachers and students in church on Sunday. Sigh. Organizing a sacrament meeting program is always more work than you anticipate. This year, our first counselor is writing her first sacrament meeting program ever. Naturally, the second counselor and I have helped out more than we otherwise would, so the program has been in the back of my head constantly. We're scheduled to present the program on Sunday, October 28th; we'll have two full Sundays to prepare. Two long, grueling Sundays, in which the out-of-routine kids will no doubt get very wiggly and our patience will be frayed to the breaking point. Double sigh. Fall is not my favorite time of year as Primary president.

Last Wednesday, we were able to have dinner with the missionaries...and we didn't even have to cook anything! The reason? We went to Grandma & Grandpa Barrett's lovely new home, and they fed us some delicious manicotti they'd made. We were stuffed afterwards; Sandra is a really good cook, and eating everything on your plate is par for the course at their house.

We've only been over to their new home a few times (they only moved there in early summer), so I'm still impressed by its beauty every time I see it. Of the (several) houses Glenn and Sandra have bought in Green Valley, this is by far the loveliest. The location, the interior, the furnishings...everything screams "retiree heaven." The girls love having their own dining table too, right in the huge Arizona room!

They love the big patio, too, and the golfing green beyond the wall (they call it "the valley," and love to run out and go exploring. We have to constantly remind them to stay out of the sand trap, and to be careful with the grass!)

Grandma and Grandpa are headed to Mexico for a week on Monday; we're glad they were kind enough to have us over before then!

We finished up our weekend on a *ahem* much less spiritual note; we attended the eighteenth annual Fiesta Sahuarita. It's basically the "birthday party" for the Town of Sahuarita, and the whole town is invited. Vendors from all over set up shop. There is food, dancing, games, music, demonstrations, and lots of activities for the kiddos. Oh, and trains too:

My girls can't get enough of the little train! They also enjoyed the many bouncy houses, as well as the fire safe house:

I have no idea why Lorelai (who is terrified of candles, let alone any open flame) loves running through this safe house. Essentially, it's a small mock-up home which has smoke alarms blaring and "smoke" pouring through all the vents, in a simulation of a burning house. The goal is to "go low" and crawl your way to safety out the back window. I went through once, and the mist in the air, the smoke alarm, the screaming children, and the general claustrophobia convinced me that I never needed to go ever again. But my kids love it. Go figure.

However, the best was yet to come...

...GIANT INFLATABLE WATER SLIDES. Yes, that's right...

...GIANT INFLATABLE WATER SLIDES. As you can see, I was a little excited about this new addition to Fiesta Sahuarita. They opened up a whole new section of the Fiesta this year...an inflatable water-park with several of these inflatable slides (not all of them quite so large). Admission was 2 canned food items per person, to benefit the local food bank. No problem! I confess: in order to ride the water slides, I skipped out on the broadcast of the LDS Church's General Relief Society Meeting, since it was being held the same time  (don't worry, I listened to the meeting on the Internet this morning; I'm not a total heathen!). I wanted to hang around and help my girls have as much fun as possible at this new attraction...and I wanted to have a little fun myself!

Boy was Lorelai excited to go down those slides!

After we paid our canned food admission, there followed many many minutes of waiting in long lines to climb a swaying, rickety wet piece of blown-up plastic, then sliding down it again very fast while getting wet. Nathan--and, as it turned out, Aurora--were not fans of this particular form of entertainment. They waited patiently with the stroller while Lorelai, Celeste and I braved the heights. Nathan is not a fan of "splashing" activities (he doesn't like log rides at amusement parks, either), so this was not surprising. Aurora, however, wore her swimsuit all afternoon in anticipation of the water-slides...and then she burst into tears every time we tried to take her on one of them. Poor kid was probably overwhelmed by the crowds, noise, and heat. Maybe when she's older.

Lorelai seemed okay the first trip down the hugest slide, so I suggested that she go down again with Celeste and I. Suddenly she freaked out and tried to go back down the stairs. Crying and screaming, I managed to drag her to the edge, and we all went down together!

Thanks Nathan for capturing the excitement on camera!

After our long afternoon at the water park, we headed home, heated up some pizza rolls, and watched our newly bought "Avengers" DVD. Nathan and I loved the super-hero action flick just as much the second time through, but we were awaiting Lorelai's seal of approval. Halfway through, she said, "It's not as awesome as I was hoping." We held our breath. Luckily, by the time the Chitauri invaded Earth (and Celeste and Aurora were fast asleep), Lorelai was fully invested. She was imitating the Hulk the rest of the night and into the next morning.

So now September draws to a close. Will October be as interesting? Knowing us, the answer is probably yes. We've got birthdays, camp-outs, Disney on Ice, Fall Break, a Primary program...and that's just for starters.