"Credit where credit is due. The dog's name is Nigel."--Christina

First off, yesterday didn't end where the blog ended.  It's just that my pictures ended there.  :)  The evening continued on with the Akiukers going to see Now You See Me. They all seemed to enjoy and were surprised by the ending.

We got back around 10:30 PM.  I finished up loading pictures from Marilyn and then played on Facebook for a while before making a legitimate attempt at sleep around midnight.  I woke around 2:00 to the noise of the boys and Alaina not sleeping for another night.  I was nursing a bit of a sunburn so it took me a while to get to sleep.  But what I have on my shoulders doesn't hold a candle to the burns sustained by everyone else.  Everyone took turns throughout the night putting on aloe vera and by today everyone struggled with moving their arm around.  I am referring to the painful act, and those of you who have had sunburn can relate, of getting dressed.

I guess Marilyn eventually called the kids on their noise making around 3:00AM.  I was SHOCKED to find everyone interested in checking out some sales at 9:15AM.  Unfortunately, my parents hadn't anticipated this either so when they left for tai chi that morning they took the van keys.

With seven passengers we had to make two trips.  So rather than going to specific sales for specific items we went to Sunrise Mall.  This is about a ten minute drive.  But it's long enough for this...

So here's the deal, Day Five is going to be a photo drop with limited text.  Tomorrow we're going to Santa Cruz early in the morning and I am driving.  Sleep is needed. Sorry.  Priorities.

Shopping was had at Sunrise Mall where everyone spent more money than they wanted to spend on items that they really wanted to have.

Then we tried to go to Old Navy which was having a fantastic sale.  However, there was a line outside, and no sale is worth standing outside in 108-degree weather.  So we went to Target where we could have spent little money on things no one wanted. 

After Target, my parents were able to pick us up, rather than continue either the illegal squeeze of seven in my car or the two-trip-drive.

We then went to see The Wizard of Oz at the Music Circus. I had assumed it would be the first live theater play or musical for these kids.  As it turns out four of them had seen Hitler's Daughter in Anchorage just a few months ago.  It was still a first for Yago and Marilyn though and as other pointed it out, it was still a FIRST showing of The Wizard of Oz live.  Even though they were tired and the theater was dark and comfortable (temp wise), only two of them admitted to "almost" falling asleep.  They agreed it was "cool" and "fantastic" and "awesome".

We parked on the seventh floor of the parking garage and experience has told us there is really no reason to try to move the car for at least 30 minutes after the show.  So we walked to the Old Spaghetti Factory a mere seven blocks away.  Seven blocks in 111-degree heat with six sunburned Eskimos.  I suppose we could have been more kind.

But we did make it okay.  No one passed out or anything.  My dad struggled to get Alaina's phot to take a picture but I don't think that was the heat/sub exposure as much as a LACK of exposure to iphones. 

My friend Dee joined us for dinner.  Dee and I go back to the fifth grade.  She was my best friend then and is my best friend (shared billing with Amantha) now.  It was great to have her join us.  The girls in particular enjoyed her company as she encouraged them to continue to Facebook hack me at their leisure.  Dee's a real gem that way.  She made them feel famous all the while making my life more difficult.  If not your best-friend that who would?

We asked a busserto take our group picture.  We then observed him shakily snap this shot.  I think he knew it was blurry as he gave back the camera.  And he even paused a moment to ask if we wanted another one but I told him it was okay.  It must have been intimidating to have our group of ten people stare at you--even if you are behind a camera.

After dinner we split into our separate cars and headed back home.  The girls car (minus my mom) stopped at Old Navy (no line) and Target again and then got in at about 8:30PM.  I quickly dropped shopping bags and passengers and then headed off to the dog park.  Reha won't be joining us at Santa Cruz tomorrow so I thought I would give her a last shot at playing before being left alone for tomorrow.  Unfortunately the still then 99-degree weather didn't put her, nor the other dogs in the park, in very social moods. 

In the end we only stayed 30 minutes.  Partly because it was getting dark.  Partly because she was not her charming self with other dogs.  And mostly because there was a basketball accident back at the house.

 
This is the window in the second story bedroom where Marilyn, Alaina, and Henrietta are sleeping.  And at that exact moment when the window shattered Marilyn and my mom were comfortably catching up on Facebook.  There was glass on the bed.  But, thankfully, no one was hurt.  Just perhaps some egos and maybe so licking emotional wounds as the 30-ft-away-from-the-basket-shots-at-the-house are on a permanent hiatus.