Neighborhood Watch

Hello again! Yes, I feel like I have fallen off the face of the earth. I wasn't going to post anything until I could catch up with the news of the last busy month, but instead, we're skipping it and pretending it didn't happen. So, onward with the news of my latest project...the annual Getting Arizona Involved in Neighborhoods (GAIN) event! I learned so much from last year about simplifying and asking for help in bigger ways, so this year was far more relaxing and fun for me personally. My sweet co-captain, Stephanie, came up with a Fiesta theme to involve more of our Spanish-speaking neighbors and it was a big hit. On Saturday night we closed off a section of our street with barricades and set up tables and chairs, a basketball hoop, and orange cones for soccer and bike riding. My other awesome neighbor Tabatha provided the cute decorations. Everyone brought a potluck Mexican food dish for dinner and my good neighbor Carol brought drinks. My super-amazing-saved-the-day neighbor Brenda had Spanish music playing and invited her professional musician brother to play guitar and sing. Two adorable little girls that also live on our street dressed up in darling dresses with big skirts to dance for us. So cute! We had a pinata, also provided by great neighbors Linda and Arturo. And then several visits from our city councilman, some motorcycle cops, and an undercover police commander bearing gifts for the kids topped off the evening! What a great night. Of course my awesome husband just "made it all happen" as usual...Thanks honey! We had 12 families from our street participate, which keeps us on the Neighborhood Watch roster and helps us meet each other and keep our street a safer place for everyone.