Girl Scouts - Fall Encampment.

Cassidy and I, along with most of our Girl Scout troop, ventured up to Prescott, AZ, for our first Fall Encampment Friday-Sunday.  Of utmost enjoyment was the weather: high 79, low 50 (in Chandler, we're still hitting 100 degrees pretty much every day).

It was a busy, activity-filled weekend: horseback riding, tie-dye, arts & crafts, badge work, songs, SWAPs, and campfire (with s'mores!).

Cass in front of our cabin.
We were in an area with 5 cabins, a bathroom, and a ramada.

Inside the cabin; Cass next to her bed.
Each cabin had 5 beds. Luckily, our cabin had electricity (not all of them did). 

While we heard about summer camp folks having mouse problems, we didn't encounter anything unfavorable.
Thank goodness! 

Valerie, Cassidy, and Kathryn ready to walk over to the Riding Arena. 

Cass got to borrow boots for her horseback riding lesson.
She was beyond.thrilled with her pink and white boots. 

Ready to ride Misty.

Cass weaving Misty in and out of cones.

Big smile.

Cassidy, Valerie, Kathryn.
Done with the riding lesson, getting ready to learn about grooming the horses. 

Cass brushing one of the horses.

Cass with messy hands after tie-dying a t-shirt. 

Listening to and learning Girl Scout songs.
Cass is still singing many of the songs she learned.

Our troop at camp!

The girls enjoying downtime, playing in the woods by our cabins.

One of our troop members found this excellent log, deemed "the bazooka". 

Camp girl.

Girl Scouts often make small tokens of friendship to exchange with other scouts. They are called SWAPS (Special Whatchamacallits Affectionately Pinned Somewhere). Below, you can see what Cassidy made to trade.

Tiny sleeping bags.

Shrinky Dinks with the Girl Scout Brownie Elf.

summer hoops.

For the third summer in a row, Matt coached Lincoln's summer basketball league. This year's team was the Dust Devils. They didn't get to play in the championship game, but did get to play in the 3rd/4th place game. They ended up in 4th place after a rough game.

Linc had a great season (Mr. Rebound) and I know he loves being coached by his dad.

The season was capped off with ice cream at Baskin Robbins. Way to go Dust Devils! 

softball.

Cassidy is having a go at her first team sport this fall: softball!  She's on the Purple Panthers. She's the only rookie on her team, as the rest of the girls (ages 6-9) each have a few seasons under their belts. She's holding her own and is enjoying it so far and is making new friends. I'm so proud of her for trying something new. Go Cass!

In addition to learning a team sport and all that goes along with it, one of my favorite things about the girls softball league is the fun socks each team chooses to go with their jerseys.
Cass loves her purple polka-dot socks and her fun visor! 

First time at bat.
Ok, she struck out, but she did make contact with some foul balls.

Cass after her first game.
It was super hot (103 degrees or something) and it was great to still see smiles on the girls faces after playing in the heat and losing 15-2. 

NFL day @ school.

To kick off the NFL season, students got to wear their favorite team jersey to school. Unfortunately, Lincoln was sick with strep throat, but Cass celebrated with her Lions jersey and eye black. She really, really liked wearing the eye black.

rough week.

The week following Labor Day was a rough one in the Gough house. Matt was in Chicago for work Tues-Fri, Linc had strep throat and missed three days of school, and the cherry on top was Dunkin undergoing surgery to remove rocks that he'd eaten from his stomach. Whew!

Above pic was Tuesday after I picked Linc up from the school nurse's office. He complained of body aches/headache, no fever. He was napping on the couch and and later developed a fever. By Wednesday morning,, I could tell his throat wasn't right by the sound of his voice so we took him to the doc and found out he had strep throat. He's a great patient. He rested, took his medicine, and recovered in a few days.

Dunkin, on the other hand, had rocks in his stomach in the above picture. Matt & I could feel them before he left on his business trip and we were waiting to see if he'd vomit them up as he'd done a month ago when he ate rocks. Well...he did vomit some of them up, but when he began to refuse food, I took him to the vet. X-ray showed 3 rocks still in his stomach/small intestine. This news brings me to tears and, in a panic, I call Matt out of his meeting to discuss with the vet what to do. After much discussion, surgery proved to be the only safe option.

So, Wednesday afternoon, Dunkin went under the knife, had successful surgery, stayed overnight at the vet and came home on Thursday. A week and a half later, he's still wearing the cone until the staples are removed...just a couple more days to go. Let's hope this is the last of the drama with this puppy (wishful thinking, I know). He's giving us a run for our money...and is using up all of our money!  

The return of Duncone, this time with staples in his belly. 

Forlorn puppy sleeping on the Detroit Tigers pillow and blanket. 

Depressed puppy sleeping with dad. 

We're confident that Dunkin will be back to his usual antics when the cone comes off. He sure likes to test us.

grandparents day.

The kids were thrilled that one of their grandparents was here visiting when Grandparents Day was celebrated at school!

Granny joined Cassidy in her classroom, where the kids played board games and Cass showed Granny around her classroom.

Lincoln introduced Granny to his class pet, a bearded dragon named Thor. He also interviewed her about how school is different today than it when she went to school.

With Thor, the bearded dragon.

Linc interviewing Granny. 

dunkin no-nuts.

It was time, in July, to have our little Dunkin neutered. The procedure went as expected and recovery went well. With the cone around his neck, our very active puppy was docile and a bit forlorn. After about 10 days, the cone came off and his wild personality came right back out.

Duncone. Get it? 

Lincoln and Duncone lying down together.

Cassidy reading to Dunk. Awww...