Tahlor the Brave

First a quick story from history about the same momentous occasion that I had growing up. At about 8 years of age during an extended summer visit with my grandparents, my mom finally agreed to let me get my ears pierced. The selection of earrings to choose from were pretty much birthstone colors in a fairly simple and somewhat plain setting. Nonetheless, I selected the earrings that matched my birthstone (amethyst). Later during the visit (possibly that same day), my grandfather was taking video of us grand kids. As I told him that I got my ears pierced, I mistakenly called them my birthmark (meaning birthstone) and I pretty much have not heard the end of it since. But, it is a great story that I can pass on to my kids and the rest of the family for years to come.

Now, on to the story of Tahlor the Brave. Over one weekend, I casually mentioned to Tahlor that I was thinking about her getting her ears pierced (as we have thought about and discussed in the past). To my surprise she said that she had thought about it too and now wanted to get it done. Although I was surprised, I still wasn't sure that she would follow through with it. We made it all the way to the mall and she was still confident about doing it. She even mentioned that she was not afraid or nervous. We got to the store and she made her earring selection and it seemed perfectly normal and not big deal to her. She was so brave, not scared and did not shed one tear or even a flinch. I am so proud of her. She is now in love with her earrings and cannot wait to be able to wear other ones.

Here is picture documentation of Tahlor the Brave (via iPhone camera).



X, or in this case a dot, marks the spot. Tahlors earring placement is all set and onto the next step.



Left ear pierced.



Right ear pierced. Notice there are no tears.



She's all smiles and cute flower earrings. Way to go Tahlor!



Summer vacation...final leg

The last part of our summer vacation was actually, well, a staycation. However, we still managed to get out to do somethings we hadn't done before. One of which was take the tour at the Hoover Dam. It's funny that after all the years of living in Las Vegas and Northern Arizona with trips to Las Vegas, I've never stopped to explore the dam. And now that they have finished the bypass bridge, it gave me even more reason to make it one of our destinations this summer.

The tour started out with a short video on the history of making the dam then followed up by an elevator ride down into the earth and power plant. The girls had fun too. Especially, Tahlor. The tour guide allowed Tahlor to select the different levels in the elevator that we were to visit. Post tour, we wondered around the souvenir shop, picking up a nice commemorative coin and our family photo superimposed over an image of the dam. We also checked the exhibits. There was an upper level that served as an observation area and we captured some nice images outside of the dam and bridge. Across the street we found a great show about the water system within the southwest states which including a large, mapped exhibit.

After leaving the dam, I requested that we drive over the new bridge just to say we did. It was disappointing though because you could hardly notice that you were on a bridge and you cannot see the dam or anything for that matter.

 Underneath us here is one of the several canals of water that are coming from Lake Mead and getting ready to pass through the power generators.

 This is what it was like to walk through the side of the mountains to get to different areas of the power plant.

 The area where the generators are!

 The Hoover Dam, of course.

 The girls cooperating to take a picture at the observation level.

A glimpse of the bridge.