Donald Duck seen in Flagstaff!

We were in Flagstaff this weekend enjoying weather, hikes and various creatures. We found this great little lagoon at the country club that you can walk around enjoying the ducks and other birds. This Mom and ducklings were very cute.
Jump right in the water's fine!
This is the view of the lagoon with our own Mt. Eldon (which we see from our window) in the background.
"I just got back from the beauty shop! Do you like my new do?"
When we were kids living next to the canal we had a duck like this visit and stay for quite awhile. He became one of our many pets and we loved him dearly. He came to us because of the canal, stayed because we kids loved him so much! We named him Donald Duck. I think this is his great, great, great, great, great, great, great grandson!

We went on a hike in the same area in a small part of the largest ponderosa pine forest in the world. These pictures are from that hike.
I've always liked the bark of the Ponderosa pine tree
These clouds come and go every day. The morning is usually clear and the clouds start rolling in mid to late morning and it often rains in the afternoon then the clouds are quickly gone!
One of my favorite flowers, Indian Paint Brush.

What a Family!

This was taken at Faye and Javier's the night before Kelsea, Philip and Romey had to leave. We had several family get to gethers, one at Grandma's, one at our house and one at Faye and Javier's. They were all great times! They had spent the middle of the week in Flagstaff, the Grand Canyon and Strawberry and returned to Phoenix on Thursday. Meanwhile back in Phoenix we actually got some rain when they were gone. I woke up at 3am Thursday to thunder and rain on the roof. I went outside to open up the hose on my rain barrel, and I got soaked to the skin. I even had to change my PJs. It was great! It was our first rain of the summer to account for anything. We got at least .6" rain! I know ya'all are really impressed (don't laugh)! It's a lot for us. I wish I had a big rain barrel like you guys in Australia, but mine holds only 50 gallons. The good thing is that it is totally filled whenever we get even a trace of rain!
Maceo who is now 10!
Romey and Jules playing, run over Uncle Julian and laugh at his silly noises.
Niko playing his violin
Romey in Faye's arms, yours truly and Kelsea
Kelsea taking it easy, Romey working on the car.

The old Fisher Price Tool Kit from when my kids were little was a definate hit. She loved the tool kit, pushing any buttons within reach, organizing the toys and playing with cars. I think she is going to be an engineer.
The cat Merlin definitely won out over most everything for Romey heart and attention. She wanted to know where he was most every moment of the day and hardly ate because she just wanted to be with him.
Romey was overjoyed at the cleverness of Merlin jumping onto the bed.

The Romster visits Phoenix and brings her Mom and Dad

Romey is 20 months and very cute. She is very busy. She walks around moving toys, following Merlin, drilling him with the toy drill, picking up the tool suitcase and her keys heading for the front door saying "by, by", chattering non stop in sentences (you can understand 1-2 words per sentence), picking up her keys getting on the car to go for a drive (she moves mostly backward), pushing the dishwasher buttons, walks up to someone reaches her arms up and says "up", talking on the phone, putting toys in the barn silo with the bear on top so he has a good view, playing the piano, dancing to the music, pushing the buttons on the radio/CD player, walking around the house to find Merlin, etc, etc, etc.
Kelsea and Philip (photo by Niko)
Card game "Hell" (photo by Niko)
Kelsea and Philip (photo by Niko)
Niko the photographer and piano man and Romey (photo by Nathan)
Romey with keys, going for a ride in the car
Beautiful Kelsea!
Uncle Julian and Romey, she touches her beard and laughs.
Romey and Merlin
Grandma and Romey during a rest break.

Wearing pants and long sleeve shirts!

We spent the past few days up in Flagstaff. What a change from 114 degrees in the shade! We arrived in Flagstaff, opened the windows and felt this wonderful, cool, cool breeze. Talk about a breath of fresh air, it was heavenly! Then it rained, not a lot for Flagstaff, but lots and lots by my dry Phoenix experience. I even got to put on long pants and a long sleeve shirt off and on all the few days we were there. I took this picture when we were hiking along side Schultz Creek. Understand this was mostly a dry creek bed, but was very green with many wildflowers. In Arizona we bestow the name creek on anything that has running water at any time during the year. It may be almost dry 99% of the time, but if water runs through it during a rain, it is a creek! This is a mountain creek so it is greener and wetter than most.
We also hiked the beginning of the Weatherford Trail which goes up to the top of San Francisco Peaks. However, we turned off after about a mile and walked through this beautiful Aspen grove. As we got close to the grove, I thought I heard running water! I thought for 2 seconds that maybe there is a little spring back here. I said, "Is that water", Jules said, "It is the leaves". The aspen were growing so close together that the leaves overhead sounded like running water. We were the only people back there and it was magical.




The blue flower on the left is lupine
The one on the right is Indian paintbrush.

Columbine, grows in moist, shady, green areas



The trail through the aspen grove

Grand Canyon with clouds

"The best remedy for those who are afraid, lonely or unhappy is to go outside, somewhere where they can be quiet, alone with the heavens, nature and God. Because only then does one feel that all is as it should be and that God wishes to see people happy, amidst the simple beauty of nature." Anne Frank
"The richness I achieve comes from Nature, the source of my inspiration." Claude Monet

"Study nature, love nature, stay close to nature. It will never fail you." Frank Lloyd Wright
"To me a lush carpet of pine needles or spongy grass is more welcome than the most luxurious Persian rug." Helen Keller
"My profession is always to be alert, to find God in nature, to know God's lurking places, to attend to all the oratorios and the operas in nature." Henry David Thoreau

"Climb the mountains and get their good tidings.
Nature's peace will flow into you as sunshine flows into trees.
The winds will blow their own freshness into you...
while cares will drop off like autumn leaves." John Muir

"Let children walk with Nature, let them see the beautiful blendings and communions of death and life, their joyous inseparable unity, as taught in woods and meadows, plains and mountains and streams of our blessed star, and they will learn that death is stingless indeed, and as beautiful as life." John Muir

Az trip with Auzzie cousins

This is Max and his daughter Maxine and Julian. They visited the last week in May. It worked out great because I was just out of school for the year and so we could take them around to see the Arizona sights. I have seen Max a lot over the years since I was young. He was in the US for part of his medical training, then he has always come back to travel, work, go to conferences etc. When he was younger he was into gymnastics. We kids loved him because he was funny and would always stand on his head upon request! I saw Maxine when she was young and they came through Phoenix and then saw her for short visits twice in Australia. However, this was the first time I really got to spend a lot of time with her and really enjoyed getting to know her better. She is a nurse also so we can compare working stories. This picture was taken at Montezuma's Castle
It was a cloudy day at the Grand Canyon which is great for pictures. We actually didn't get rained on. The rain was always in the distance.

This is Wapatki National Park
Max and Maxine at Sunset Crater