Camping, Chapter 2

We went camping at Knoll Lake again last week. It started raining just as we finished setting up, and it rained for a few hours, but it cleared up and stayed nice the rest of the time.

We stopped to look off the edge of the Mogollon Rim this time...

Erin found a swing to play on...

Rob taught the kids to shoot the BB gun...



We ate s'mores...


The kids hollered at each other through the pipes under the road...



We played cards & ate Swedish Fish...



One day we drove down to the store at Woods Canyon Lake & ate ice cream sandwiches...

The water in the lake was warmer this time, so we had a lot more fun swimming. Rob and I took turns swimming across the lake and jumping in off the rocks.

Now we're back in the Phoenix heat! I'm glad we both have today off so we could get everything cleaned up and relax after our vacation. It's always nice to ease back into the work week!

Robbie's 4th Birthday

Robbie turned 4 on Saturday!


We blew up some balloons...

Covered a good portion of the floor with bubble wrap (the checkerboard pattern are squares of bubble wrap)...

...and had a few friends over to pop balloons, stomp on bubble wrap, eat cake, and play games.

The friends brought presents, which are always lots of fun.

We found out that Robbie is really good at making stuff with Legos! He got the little instruction manual out & followed it until he made the picture on the box. He needed zero help from Mom.

That Robbie, he's a smart kid. We love him so much, and we're glad he had a fun birthday! A little about Robbie:

- He is very kind. He pays attention to how other people feel, and tries to make sure nobody feels bad.

- He loves to figure things out. Always wants to know how things work and what they do. He absolutely loves the show "How It's Made" and will pay close attention when it's on. He's been drawing a lot of factories lately.

- He has always loved animals and treated them well. Some of this he learned from his sister, but I think he's also just naturally drawn to them.

- He has a lot of faith. Often times if something is wrong or if someone is hurt, he will light up and say, "I know! We can ask Heavenly Father to help!" And then after the problem is resolved, he'll remember where the help came from.

- He is terribly funny! And he knows when to tease or turn on the charm.

- He adores his big sister. That probably comes easily because she's super nice to him. As parents, Rob and I love to see how he looks up to her.

We love you, Robbie!

Camping

We went camping at Knoll Lake a couple of weeks ago. It was nice as usual! It never rained, never got too hot, and wasn't super-cold at night. Not much to talk about, so I'll just post pictures.

Kids on a log:

Wildlife... lady bugs:

A caterpillar... Robbie let it crawl on his tummy & all over the place for about a half hour before I finally had him put it in a tree. He laughed his head off when it would crawl around his neck! He was very gentle with it.

We even brougt swimsuits and got in the lake this time! It was COLD. We couldn't stay in very long, but when we go back in few weeks, it should be better. I'm noticing how nasty and green the water looks in the pictures, but it really wasn't disgusting, I promise.

See? That's not gross.

We got a good campsite. Near the bathrooms, but not TOO near, if you get my drift. (and drift is exactly what I'm talking about - no thanks!) The kids' tent is behind the screen room, and you can see part of our tent off to the right. We love our new tent - I have to take a picture from the inside next time because that thing's huge!

OK, so that's a terrible picture, with the shadows & everything. I didn't take too many this time. We had a great time! Nobody was sick with the Plague of the Public Pool like last year, and it was just the getaway we needed.

We're planning another trip in July, so stay tuned.

Tres Rios Wetlands

On Saturday, we went to the Tres Rios Wetlands area. It's been closed most of the spring due to flooding along the river, but it opened up a couple of weeks ago, so we checked it out.

It's an interesting place... not the most spectacular, but only two miles from home & it had some neat stuff. It's actually a wetlands reclamation area next door to a huge water treatment facility. So all the water is reclaimed (creepy) and sometimes you get questionable whiffs. But it was never all-out stinky, so we stayed a while!

One of the first things we saw was this boardwalk/pier that wound through a bunch of trees. There was no water under it, but I could see there had been at some point.


There are two large ponds, which are completely covered with bright green goo. You have to walk around a while before you can actually see the ponds, because the grass is so high. But there are several places where little piers go out onto the ponds, and one leads to a little ramada on the water.


Checking out the "water"... yeah, not a good place to see fish by any means! I guess it's a good place for throwing rocks.


So it's an odd place, but still kind of a nice oasis in some areas. One of the trails led down close to the river, and there were lots of cottonwood trees.


Caterpillars love cottonwood trees. They make these really gross sacs that look like spiderwebs, and when the caterpillars are ready to come out (hatch? whatever) they're all over the place. I can't remember what time of year they usually make their debut, but something was a-brewing here! Most of this path was covered in the stuff... looked like snow:


Conveniently, there's also a butterfly garden there. Here are the kids outside the garden:

Sitting still, watching the butterflies...

You can't tell from the picture, but it was a pretty little garden with lots of flowers. And there were a lot of butterflies and hummingbirds. it's not enclosed, so they come and go as they please. I managed to get a picture of one of the butterflies...

We also saw three bunnies and some bobcat poop. From their website, I see the bobcats like to come feast on the bunnies and the birds. Here are the kids checking out an egg shell:

So there you have it. We'll probably go back sometime. There are lots of picnic tables, and it might be fun to go early in the morning when more animals are out.

It's a strange place - some really pretty areas mixed in with creepy things and occasional views of the huge industrial-looking water treatment facility. We laughed, we cried...

But entertaining nonetheless, and very close to home!

In a Van Down By the River

The other day, the kids and I went down to the Gila River.

Every spring, several people drown there - but it's usually people who are drunk or swimming at night (or both). The current is pretty strong, and it's easy to see how someone could be swept away so quickly. That freaks me out, so we never wade more than a foot or two in.

You can see the Avondale Blvd bridge in the picture above. There are several good places to access the river, but I like to go by the racetrack, since there's a parking lot. I feel better about leaving the car there than along the side of the road; although we've done that a time or two.

I don't know what it is with little girls and shells, but Erin went nuts with the number of mussel shells there! There were places where we were walking on piles of them, just like gravel. Erin was excited when we found a live one with its shell still closed. We opened it up, and I'm not sure what the kids had in mind, but I'm pretty sure the gooey slime of a mussel wasn't quite what they were expecting. They were still really interested, though, and we spent a lot of time raking our fingers through the sand to find mussels & re-bury them.

Here they are under the bridge with Monument Hill in the background. We hiked that a few months ago.

As much as I hate graffiti, the underside of the bridge was kind of pretty, with all the different colors of paint. It was kind of fun to climb up the embankment and get right up under the roadway. The cars souns like thunder when they go over.

Avondale Boulevard...

Here's a little wider spot in the river - if you look REALLY close, you can see the very light purple Camelback Mountian on the horizon in the center of the picture.

The best part is that is only a couple of miles from the house! A good way to get out of the city for an hour or two.

Fat Man's Pass

A few weeks ago, the kids and I went hiking on South Mountain. I wanted to hike through Fat Man's Pass, but I apparently chose the more difficult of two ways to get there, and I did it too late in the day. We failed.

Now, I don't like to leave a hike unfinished, but this one might have to wait til fall, unless we go way early in the morning sometime. It's not a difficult hike at all, and it's only about 4 miles round-trip. But it was a LOT warmer than I anticipated, and there's absolutely no shade on that particular trail. We had plenty of water, but the heat was rough. Erin didn't complain one bit, but Robbie started having a hard time. He's usually a trooper, too. I think we were JUST ABOUT there when I decided we'd give up and go back down. So that stunk. But we did take a couple of pictures while it was still enjoyable!

If you've never been up South Mountain, you should go. If you're not a hiker, you can just drive right up to the top! We drove around all the TV & radio antennas not long ago, and Robbie really liked that. Right now, they close the park before sunset because of budget cuts, so you can't see the city lights at night, but it's still pretty neat. I was glad we had Robbie's binoculars so we could see everything pretty well.

After the hike, we went over to my parents' house to visit. On the way there, we saw an old lady on a go-ped. Erin thought it was hilarious, and since I had my camera handy...

That lady was cool. I hope I have a go-ped when I'm old.

My Dad was using a grinder to remove their old broken diving board. It was pretty spectacular, with sparks flying everywhere, and the kids liked seeing him take it apart. He did get the new board on, but not while we were there. But it's hot and I'm ready to use it next time!

We got to visit with my brother Chris and his family for a little bit on their way through town. It's always good to see them.

So now when we pass South Mountain, it mocks me. I'll post some pictures when we finally finish the hike!

Roommates!

At the beginning of May, I got together with lots of my old roommaes from EAC and drove to Thatcher for a reunion. Yay!



Front: Kandice, Amy, Monica, Megan, Jeannette

Back: Becky, Mitch, Jodi

I had so much fun. We don't get together very often - although hopefully that will change - and boy did we have a good time. Sometimes when you get together with old friends, you run out of stuff to talk about after a while, but not with this group! We talked & talked & talked all day and a lot of the night. I like that we're still friends now, and not just old roommates who only have college in common. Okay, and one of them wasn't technically a roommate, but who cares?

Three of us rode to Globe together and picked up two more on our way to Thatcher, where we picked up two more, and one drove in from Willcox to meet us there. How's that for coordination?

Jeannette's husband volunteered to watch whoever's kids - if he wasn't crazy for volunteering, he certainly is now after watching four kids plus his own four! But we really appreciated that, and Robbie was especially excited that he let them all check out his DPS car and the lights & sirens. That was a big deal!

We ate some good food (...and some questionable food) and told lots of crazy stories. We even squeezed in a tour of the Gila Valley temple while we were there, which was very neat.

Becky, Megan, Jeannette, Amy, Monica, Jodi and Mitch, that was so much fun! What are we doing next?