Saturday, June 28, 2008

Boating Lake Powell





Thank you Steve, Christine, Eve and Jason for inviting us out for a day on the lake! What a great summer activity to share with friends. It was good to get back out on the water and see how high the water is. I t has risen quite a bit and the lake looks much different. I can only imagine what it must have been like when it was "full". Today we tried out Steve's new innertube, which was a lot of fun. When we asked the kids if they wanted to give it a try (at a minimal speed), the only one to say yes was an excited little Annie. The bravest of the bunch. Eventually, Jacob decided he'd give it a try and that's a picture of us on the tube. Eve will wait for another day and Jason needs to be a bit older. Anyway, we are exhausted from the sun and the fun, and my back muscles are sore from the innertube.

Monday, June 23, 2008

Trip through SouthWest









We took a family car trip through the SouthWest this past weekend (Page, Arizona -- Los Alamos, New Mexico --- Durango, Colorado). We saw two national parks, Brian fished the famed Valles Caldera (http://www.vallescaldera.gov), and we celebrated our 10 year anniversary along the way. I also had the chance to meet up with an old college friend (see the post below). The weather was perfect, and we got to see many sites, beautiful and remote scenery, and several Indian ruins on our journey. We enjoyed Bandelier National Park, and the kids especially enjoyed the cliff dwellings. They were allowed to climb ladders and visit some of the rooms. We also stopped briefly to see the Jemez pueblo ruins. The scenery of New Mexico was strikingly beautiful. Next on the stop was Durango, Colorado which is a great little mountain town. On the way home, we passed by Mesa Verde National Park. We decided to stop, only to discover that it cannot be seen in a few hours. That's okay, we have plans to come back again to take it all in. But for now, we'll spend some time at home.

Old Friends






It has been 8 years (!) since I've seen my college friend, Suzanne (Kraus) Kitten, though she looks just the same. We thought back to the last time we saw each other, and it was just after her daughter, Emma, was born. Since then, along came Jacob and Annie, and Suzanne's son, Jeb. We had a great day with them and the kids got along wonderfully. Little Annie thought the elder Emma was the coolest, and followed her around. Jake & Jeb, who will be in the same class, picked up like they've always known each other. It was nice to catch up on her life....and all sounds very well with them.

Tuesday, June 17, 2008

Just some pictures







Maria shared some pictures from the past few months, and I thought I'd post a few. The first set are from an open house at the fire station, and I gather the boys enjoyed the helicopter visit the most. The second set are from a birthday party out at Wahweap park service housing (right on the lake) for a girl named Maddie St. Clair. She'll be in Annie's pre-school class and hopefully we can get them together some more this Fall. (Annie is need of her own friends, instead of following around Jake and his buddies.) Anyway, the heat has officially arrived here. The lake level has also dramatically risen in the past few weeks, so we'll have to get out to see what our favorite beach (lone rock) looks like.

Sunday, June 8, 2008

Camping at Jacob Lake





Another fun camping experience! This one was close to home, at a place called Jacob Lake, about 1.5 hours from Page on the way to the North Rim of the Grand Canyon. We went with our friends & neighbors, Maria, Ben and Landon. Landon, Jacob's buddy, is off to Alaska here in a little bit, and he will sorely miss his buddy for the rest of the summer.


We spent our time just relaxing and playing at the camp-site. We did walk to a small historic (1912) ranger cabin, petted some horses, picked up sticks and pine cones for firewood, found a horn-toad, spotted some mule deer, played with frisbees and a football, and just enjoyed the day and weather. We all got a kick out of the "lake" for which the little outpost is named. It is more like Jacob puddle, but it is one of the few permanent water sources in the area. That has made it significant to both travellers and wildlife, past-present-and-future. If you look at the top picture of Annie running to Brian, the dark spot in the field behind him is Jacob Lake. I guess it used to be much larger, but has dwindled with the years of drought. Anyway, besides some very chilly night time temperatures, it was thoroughly enjoyable!