Sacramento Wedding

It was wonderful to get together with everyone to celebrate Jake and Kirsten's wedding. I loved seeing my brother, his wife and son, my cousin and of course, my mom. We had so many great meals in Sacramento and were beginning to really know our way around the town.

These two photos came from Kirsten.....samples from the photographer. We took pics in the park by the Capitol before the ceremony.

Jake and Kirsten are in Hawaii relaxing and having fun for a week.

Jake and Kirsten

Jacob and Kirsten are getting married on Sunday in Sacramento. We are so looking forward to this event! Pictured with them is Roscoe....their Catahoula hound.
More photos to come as we will be seeing lots of family and friends.

Stephanie and Ryan Visit

Stephanie and Ryan arrived last Saturday from Maine. We were so happy to see them!
Stephanie is enjoying the view from the rocks in our backyard.

The rains finally cleared and we were able to take a ride up to the top of the Rim. Things are pretty green around here as we have had a nice amount of rain.

Love this view from the top.

We stopped the car on our way out of the Woods Canyon area to look at a small herd of elk.

We went to the Grand Canyon for a day. Raining there too but we did get a bit of a hike in before it poured.

Lots of green across the Canyon too from the rains.

On to Walnut Canyon near Flagstaff.

The Indians lived on the sides of the cliffs.

Stephanie is posing by one of the entrances to a dwelling.

We are still picking tomatoes. These are going to the gal who cuts our hair.

We also explored Sedona and Oak Creek Canyon with Stephanie and Ryan. Today we are packing up and heading to Sacramento tomorrow for Jake and Kirsten's wedding on Sunday.

Just Stuff...

It was drizzling outside but the dogs needed a run so off we went. The sun came out and this beautiful rainbow surprised me when I turned a corner and the trail opened up.

More hiking with the dogs......they get us out at least twice a day. We are lucky to have quite a few places nearby for them to run off leash.

In this photo I can't tell who is who....Argo is now about an inch taller than Cooper and weighs about 7 more pounds. I am a little nervous about how large he is going to be.

We traveled up to the top of the Rim today for a brunch in a beautiful log house. The owners open their house once a year and treat us to fabulous food, and our little local museum keeps the profits from the ticket sales. This is the original site of the Zane Grey cabin which burned down in the 1990 Dude Fire.

The views from their deck are just wonderful.

This year the State Balladeer, Dolan Ellis, was our guest and entertainer. He has been the State Balladeer since 1966. What other states have balladeers? AZ is interesting in that we have a lot of state stuff. Some of it was chosen by students around AZ—state amphibian-tree frog, state fish-Apache trout, state mammal-ring-tailed cat, and the state reptile-AZ ridge-nose rattlesnake. (Speaking of rattlesnakes...we ran into one walking down a street in our neighborhood. He warned us with his rattle and we each grabbed a dog. Whew!)

We also have state neckwear......the bolo tie, of course. (I think Texas and New Mexico also have the bolo tie.) We even have a state fossil....petrified wood. And a state firearm.....Colt single action army.

I just love the top of the Rim......it is beautiful country and just 30 minutes from our doorstep.

One last photo of Mr. Argo.....he is at the public golf course where they let us run the dogs. They enjoy the creek there and the wide open spaces to run. All the apple trees are loaded this year....Argo eats at least two each trip.

Grandkids Day 6—Cottonwood/Out of Africa

We drove from Flagstaff to Cottonwood and went to Out of Africa Wildlife Park. We got up close and personal with many animals. First we took a bus tour and fed carrots to a giraffe.

He went the length of the bus and collected his carrots. Some brave souls put the carrots in their mouths and got a giraffe kiss.

Many animals came to greet the bus......getting to see them up close was awesome.

Our driver had some meat for one of the tigers. Some of the animals have been rescued from people who thought it was "cool" to have a wild animal.

This white tiger put on quite a performance at the Tiger Splash Show. She was raised at the park and the handlers drag toys stuffed with balloons and she jumps and swats them. They dive into the water with her. It was pretty amazing. These are not "trained" animals like in a circus and they have definite preferences as to what they like to play with. They rotate 8 tigers through the splash show. It is definitely play time for them.

Wren and Dakota got to touch a python and this little critter named Daisy....can't remember what type of rodent she is.

This ostrich had a mind of her own and the handler kept touching her as a way to calm her down.

Yes....there was even a grizzly bear.

And zebras......and a lot more that I didn't capture with my iPhone. A very nice experience.

It's on to the airport tomorrow to send the boys back to Walla Walla.

Grandkids Day 5—Flagstaff/Walnut Canyon

We drove two hours to Flagstaff. Love this town....cooler weather and lots of pine trees at an elevation of 7500 ft. We went to Walnut Canyon National Monument.

Magnificent views with 240 steps down to dwellings sheltered by overhanging cliffs that were home to the canyon's only permanent inhabitants more than 800 years ago.

The cliff dwellings were occupied for little more than 100 years. The people were called Sinagua and it is believed that they were eventually assimilated into Hopi culture.

The canyon builders took advantage of natural recesses in the limestone walls. Over millions of years, flowing water eroded the softer rock layers, creating shallow caves.

The canyon homes were situated on cliffsides facing south and east to take advantage of the warmth and sunlight.  Archeologists believe that it was the women who built the homes.

To form walls, builders gathered limestone rocks, shaped them roughly, then cemented them together with a gold-colored clay found in deposits elsewhere in the canyon. Wooden beams reinforced the doorways. Finally, the walls were plastered with clay inside and out.

The people built terraces and small, rock check dams to conserve water so that they could grow crops such as corn, beans and squash on top of the rim. They also hunted deer, sheep and numerous smaller animals.

We had dinner at Black Bart's Saloon. All of the waiters are students/music majors at Northern Arizona University (NAU) and boy did they put on a show!

They were bursting into song the entire time we were eating. They had wonderful voices and performed some old favorites as well as tunes from a variety of musicals.

The boys had a swim in the motel pool.

Some iPad time......

And a bit of reading before turning out the light.

Grandkids Day 3 and 4

 It rained most of the day on Tuesday so we did lots of legos.

The boys got some new kits and they were challenging to put together. (They are in my office so that Argo won't eat the legos.)

Wren says I have an "antique" lego collection that he really likes.

The boys did a bit of reading.....both are such good readers! And they enjoy it!

Today we went up to the top of the Rim to our favorite spot.....Woods Canyon Lake. It was 65 degrees and beautiful.

Boys will be boys....Wren using a branch as a "gun."

We saw several eagles and osprey and so many woodpeckers and stellar jays.

Cooper makes it his job to keep track of everyone.

We ended the lake hike with an ice cream.

Very tired dogs.....especially Argo. He actually had puffy and swollen eyes when we got home and the vet said to give him a couple of Benadryl. We have no idea what bite him. He had to go take his puppy dog class test tonight.....hope he doesn't fall asleep!