The Riparian Preserve at Water Ranch

Last week we finally made it over to our favorite "park", the Riparian Preserve. If you've never been there before, it's not like your average everyday park. It's more like that secret place (if you grew up in the lower elevations of Arizona) that you would go to when your parents told you to go outside and play. I guess I would qualify as a "free range" kid growing up. For the most part, my mother would kick us out of the house for the day and we would take off for the nearest dry wash or semi-shady urban area. To be fair, my mother always gave us the option of staying indoors to help with chores, but we chose the 115 degree heat (sometimes in bare feet) over the slightly more comfortable swamp-cooler and doing dishes. Of course there is one huge difference between a dry-wash and the Riparian Preserve. The preserve is actually a carefully balanced eco-system that is routinely maintained by loving hands. As an added bonus, the preserve contains the Town of Gilbert Drinking Water Treatment Plant among other cool stuff like the Southeast Regional Library.


The "playground" is rather unique. You won't find swings or monkey bars here. Instead, they have what I would call an abstract concrete castle-like structure that kids (and parents) can climb on. When I was a kid, this would have been a perfect spot for a game of cops and robbers. The rest of the park would have been ideal for adventure games. I had an overactive imagination when I was a kid and I could conjure up stories out of thin air. I would give each of my siblings a role to play. Sometimes I was even nice enough to allow them to choose their own "character". I was the oldest if you haven't figured that out yet. I think I'll stop right there before things get out of hand. I'm already imagining my younger self roaring down the hills and through the brush on my bike pretending it was a horse. Below is a picture of the "castle":

I was also obsessed with treasure hunting (what kid wasn't?), and the dino-dig in the picture below would have been favorite of mine. Of course I would have added other cool stuff for us to dig up, but I think it's cool that they already have built-in "treasures" to find. Any kid that likes dinosaurs will love this spot.

Obviously, since the place is a preserve, you can find numerous desert plants throughout the park. Signs are posted with plant names and information, and there are so many great spots for a picnic that I wouldn't even try counting them all. Kylie wasn't too happy that I asked her to stand in the middle of a bunch of cacti for a picture, but I think it came out well. It's not as crowded as it looks. Plus, the house in the distance reveals the proximity of city life. Which brings me to another excellent feature. You can actually camp overnight in this park. You are required to make a reservation and pay a $30 fee, but I am already considering this as a good way to introduce Kylie to camping. If things don’t go well, our house is ten minutes away!

Next, the observatory. We haven't taken advantage of this great opportunity yet, primarily because my work schedule doesn't allow me to visit when the observatory is open. They allow visitors on Friday and Saturday evenings. The East Valley Astronomy Club runs it. If you have participated in it's operation, please share what you experienced. Eventually we will make time to visit, and when we do I will post the details.

The last two photos are of Kylie's favorite feature (second only to feeding the ducks). By the way, they have rules about feeding the ducks. The yeast in bread is bad for them, so we take one of the approved foods…chicken scratch. There is a feed store/Uhaul rental place on the Northwest corner of Power and Williams Field Roads…I can’t remember the name. I'll add it to the comments if I remember it. You can pick up a good sized bag of chicken scratch for about $2.

Anyway, the photos below are two-halves of a giant snake…I guess it would be called a sculpture. The reason Kylie likes it so much is because over the last few years, we have used it as an obstacle course of sorts. I used to watch a lot of TV, so bear with me. G4 has a show called Ninja Warrior (from Japan). In this show, contestants go up against an intense obstacle course. The race is timed (except for the second to last course which is endurance-based) and at the end of each course is a huge round button that the contestant must hit to stop the clock (assuming they have time remaining). Well, nearly every kid at the park wants to climb up on this snake and run from one end to the other. The first time Kylie tried it, she had some trouble. She was about three and hadn't had much experience with uneven terrain. As you can see, the snake has all kinds of contours and bumps. So when I watched her navigating it, it reminded me of Ninja Warrior. As luck would have it, each end of the snake has a bump near the end. So each time Kylie would reach the end, I would tell her to smack the bump as if it were the timer button. It has turned into a ritual whenever we visit the park. Now that she has it down, I may actually start timing her.

I could go on and on for many more pages about the guided tours, the hiking trails, the different types of birds, the fishing, the biking, etc. Instead, check out their website and go check out the park for yourself. Pack a lunch and take the whole family down. You will easily spend a few hours just wandering around and playing with the kids. This is prime Arizona weather time. Get out there and explore!

Know the Law - Addendum

Shortly following my post mentioning the couple in New York that were arrested for failing to register home-schooled kids, I was reading Rational Jenn's blog. She mentioned that it's a bad idea to trust sites such as HSLDA for verification of the laws in your area. Allowing a third-party to translate or summarize the laws in your area increases the chance that you may receive bad information. Considering the stakes, it is imperative that you know this specific corner of law inside and out. Anything less is just asking for trouble. I will admit that I myself still need to read through the Arizona Statutes in order to make sure that I will be in compliance when the time comes for me to register Kylie. I will be reading through them, and if I come across anything specific worth mentioning, I will post it. But please keep in mind that I am not a lawyer and any other third-party may not be either. Even if they are lawyers, they can make mistakes. The point is that we all need to go to the source and do our best to understand the law. It's the only way to be sure.

I recommend visiting www.azleg.gov and doing your own search for the relevant statutes. I checked it out and I was finally able to find what I was looking for. However, they must have changed their website recently because their FAQ is misleading as to how to perform a search. It asks you to use a link on the main page that doesn't exist (unless my browser doesn't support it for some reason). Anyway, this is how I navigated to the proper area of their site:

1. Go to www.azleg.gov

2. Roll your mouse over "Legislative Council" on the menu bar just below the banner photo of the capitol building. This will drop down a menu.

3. From the menu select "Arizona Revised Statutes".

4. In the "Search Phrase" box type, "home school". I tried "homeschool" and "homeschooling", but neither of these produced any results. So make sure you have a space between "home" and "school".

5. Click the Search button. This will yield results that I think include the relevant statutes and some that aren't so relevant.

If you happen to find more related statutes, please post your comments here so others can benefit from the time you spent searching.

As Ronald Reagan once said, "Trust, but verify."

Homeschooling Restrictions, Gilbert, AZ

I try not to get worked up about articles like this because the media tends to blow things out of proportion. However, it is still my chosen responsibility to mention such stories when I find them, just in case the story turns out to be accurate. No laws have been passed, but if these types of restrictions are placed on Gilbert homeschoolers, I will certainly consider moving. It would be a shame because I thoroughly enjoy living here, but not at the cost of my freedom of choice.

Board to consider homeschool, online class restrictions

Balloon Starts With "B"

As usual I am falling behind in posts, but I wanted to share last Saturday's adventure.

My wife learned that there was going to be a hot air balloon festival on Saturday.  It just so happens that last week Kylie and I were studying the letter "b".  The festival was a great way to finish off the week while learning a few things about a craft that is often overlooked.

The festival took place in Cave Creek at Rancho Manana (that's manana, as in the Spanish word for tomorrow...I'm just not setup to add the tilde over the "n").  We started with the KTVK Channel 3 balloon.  The guys were just hanging out waiting for things to get started, so I asked for a closer look at the basket, or the "gondola" as the pros call it.  The gondola pictured below is designed to hold 4 passengers plus a pilot.  This makes for a rather cozy ride.

Kylie liked the bumble bee balloons best.  All of the balloons, including the bees, started out lying flat on the ground.  Then each team began to inflate their balloon using a large fan.

Once the team fills the balloon to a certain point, they fire up the burners, heating the air inside of the balloon to give it buoyancy.  Kylie wasn't too sure about the fire.  At first she was concerned for our safety, but she finally decided that as long as we kept our distance we would be fine.

The Spiderman balloon was the most impressive color-wise.  It's red glow was very intense at night.

They ended the show with a skydiving show.  The skydivers wore suits that lit up during their descent.  It was difficult to capture any good pictures, but here are the two best shots.  The first one is of the skydivers directly overhead.  The second photo is of one of the skydivers landing in the sand trap (we were on a golf course).  They sure came in fast!

Kylie is still talking about the show.  I highly recommend a show like this if you find one in your area.  In Arizona, we only have a short time to experience them.  From what I understand, they don't fly very well once the weather gets hot.

If you want a better look at the bumblebee balloons, they have a picture posted on Wikipedia:

Bumble Bees

Know the law

Please don't let this post scare you. This is just an example of what can happen when the law is ignored.

Parents arrested for failing to register home-schooled kids

If you live in Arizona, The Home Education Network of Arizona is a great place to begin learning the laws that affect homeschoolers. I am thankful that Arizona is a very homeschool friendly state.

If you live outside of Arizona, try the HSLDA. They actually have a color-coded map that gives a basic description of the level of regulation for each state. As you can see, New York is heavily regulated which is why this couple had such a bad experience.