Father's Day, a scorpion and more summer camp

I'm probably the only one in Phoenix who was thrilled that it hit 108ºF (42.2ºC) today.  We needed to dry our paintings fast in my art class and nothing speeds the process along like Arizona sunshine!  Teaching has been keeping me very busy this month. One little girl in my painting class cries and paints all thru class every week. I never discourage her from it, I always say "Crying is a huge part of the artistic process, good job!"

 For Father's day we took Mike to the Olive Garden.  This is a picture of Naomi while we waited outside for our buzzer to go off. That place is packed every time we go.

The girls (mostly Naomi) also made him this awesome Captain America cake.

Chloe headed off to 2 weeks in the mountains on Sunday. She wrote to say that it was "freezing" on their camp out.  Since it's going to get up to 112ºF (44.4ºC) this week here in the city, I'm having trouble feeling sorry for her!

We had our first close encounter with one of these guys while walking the dog a few nights ago. At first when I saw him by my very exposed, sandaled foot, I thought he was  an ant carrying a leaf because of the way he was tottering along.  Now I'm thinking we should get a black light flashlight for our walk, and maybe wear boots....Combat boots.

This is a double page spread from the children's book I just finished.  It's called "Andy Alligator's Bayou Adventures" by Peach T. and will soon be released.  I still have to do the cover design though.

 Anyway it's a charming story and it made me want to visit the bayou in Louisiana after I finished!

So...Happy Saturday, and have a lovely weekend!