Arizona Trip - part II

One of the great things we did was visit the butterfly museum in Phoenix. Henry, Molly, Lucy, and Grant had a great time chasing, looking at, and learning about butterflies.

The room where they keep the live butterflies is like a jungle and very wet, due to the misters. But the butterflies would land on people, and they were eating nectar out of the flowers and out of bowls of fruit that were placed around the room.  It was pretty fun for the grand kids - and us.

Arizona Trip - part I

On our way to Arizona to help with Olive's blessing, and to play around with our fun kids and grand kids there, we stopped at the George S. Patton Memorial Museum. It sits way out in the middle of desert along Hwy 10. I always thought Patton was an interesting character, and the museum is situated on the military training base he established there in 1942 to prepare GI's for war in the deserts of Africa. Melody's Dad was stationed on the 18,000 sq. mile base before leaving for Europe. She has letters of his written from there where he complains about the 100+ degree heat. (He didn't get much relief when he left - he went straight to fight in the Battle of the Bulge in sub-zero winter weather.)

Anyway, we spent an hour and a half there talking to the director and seeing the sites.

A cool jeep, almost as cool as mine.

An amphibious craft.

A Sherman tank from the beginning of the war.

A tank from the more recent wars.

 A couple of the tanks had a port hole cover removed and was able to get some pictures of the insides.

It was well worth the $5 entrance fee. I'd do it again.

Bodega Dunes 2014

We were able to get away for a few days last week and camp over at our favorite spot north of Bodega Bay. The first day ended up having periods of heavy mist turning to light rain, especially in the evening. but the second and third days were very nice and quite warm. Mom likes the campsites closest to the bathrooms/showers (which were free that day) so we usually pick one of the sites like this one or those on either side. The great new EasyUp shelter gave us protection from both the rain and the sun.

The tent was big and comfortable, as were the sleeping arrangements. But then, I always sleep well when camping. And the Jeep (hey, how did that get in the picture?!?) was perfect for hauling all the stuff we took.

This photo was taken the second day, but actually, it was nice like this early on the first day as well. I got in two good days of boogie boarding, and could have made it on the third day, but didn't want to push it since we were packing up to leave. This view is from Bodega Head, which is out past the  Spud Point Crab Shack. The BEST clam chowder ANYWHERE! Bar none. We shared a pint of that and a fresh shrimp sandwich on a toasted roll. Manalive!

Warm water, warm weather, good food, good sleep, good traveling. What's not to love?

State Fair 2014

We don't too many pictures (that we haven't already Instagramed), but we did have a real good time at the fair. I think it was a good day for Melody in spite of the heat - mostly because before we even started to the fair we stopped at Hobby Lobby. It was enough to keep her going throughout the day.

I always like seeing the artwork, especially the big mechanical jobs that some guy does. The one this year was very good. But I really liked this very cool sculpture of a rock splashing into a pond, only it's wood.

I was impressed.

As for food (the main reason for going to the fair), the day included a Jumbo Corn Dog, walnuts, three Hawaiian Shaved Ices (sour blue raspberry, sour green apple and root beer), we shared a very nice cinnamon roll, and later on a big bratwurst on  roll with onions and peppers. Mel had a HUGE turkey and avocado grinder, and before we left we wrapped things up with a chocolate dipped cone and a Very Berry Gelato. What a Day!

 

What I've Been Up To

This year's 4th Level Girls Hike was to the top of Castle Peak (9,100'). Castle Peak is just north of Boreal Ski Resort. It was a beautiful day, and a fairly difficult hike for the girls. In fact, only 3 actually made it to the very top. Rich and Peter and I went up with them. Here are a few scenes from the trip.

The view from a distance

Getting closer. We took the trail through the green just to the right of the ridge.

On the way up there was a cool pinnacle that needed holding up

Near the top. We ended up above the rocks.

The view from the top looking north, and the view looking south (Boreal in the distance).

As always, we ate really, really well while camping. Rich brought mini

cinnamon muffins and I brought bacon. Do you see where this is going?

(By the way, that's not what it looks like in Uncle Richie's mug, it's dark chocolate cocoa.)

Yes, that's a bacon-cinnamon muffin sandwich. Almost as good as a bacon crusted maple bar. Yum!

Errata

Here are a few photos from my phone that I haven't gotten around to posting anywhere yet. The first is of a cool looking tornado kind of thing that Rich and I saw on our way out Hwy 20 to Zion's Camp for the Fathers and Sons outing. The farmers were disking and leveling the rice fields, and the wind picked up the dust. It was pretty fun to see.

The next night, we took grandma out for dinner (for Mother's Day) at Mimi's in Natomas. Good food in the form of burgers, french toast, salads, egg sandwiches - Yum! Mom and I even took a few minutes afterward over in World Imports looking for fun stuff. I love going in there, they have great ginger ale. Very strong stuff.

And finally, this last week has been beautiful weather! I'm so happy to finally be getting some warm afternoons. The thermometer on my bike computer shows what I've been enjoying. Someone at work asked me if I was from AZ because I was saying I'm most comfortable in 90+ degrees. Nope, just love hot weather.

Next week it will be down in the 70's. Rats.

Happy Birthday Melody!

Trevor and Michelle brought their kids and came down for a visit over our Easter vacation. (Easter and Melody's birthday being the same day this year.) The other kids decided to make her 60th a birthday one to remember by coming as well. It was all very "hush, hush and hoosh, hoosh."

The airline gods were smiling on us, because Pam and Lucy. Kim, and Davis were all on the same flight. I said I was going to run some errands, and drove down to pick them up after returning from Fairytale Town with Michelle's family. We had Lucy knock on the door and ask grandma to come out, she had something to show her. I haven't been able to get the video to load, but you can view it at:

https://www.dropbox.com/s/zhzdhv7ki08ovew/2014-04-18%2015.41.09.mp4

The plan was to have Chris bring his family up Saturday too, as a surprise. But it was too hard to keep the cat contained once it had been partially let out of the bag. So when they got here we took all of the children over to the Church for the ward Easter Egg Hunt and lunch while the adults took Mom out to lunch. All, that is, except Trevor. He took the duty of staying with the kids who were having a little separation anxiety (and maybe a few other anxieties as well). We owe him a lot.

Mel decided to go to Full House Chinese restaurant, where we hadn't been for years, as seen below:

The food was good, and the company was great! The girls had a book made for their Mom with lots of fun photos from the past, and a list of "60 Reasons Why We Love You" scattered throughout it's pages. Something she will treasure the rest of her life.

We're still in the middle of partying, so there will be more to follow. Stay tuned!