In the Pines

I hope you are enjoying Summer as much as we are. I have to say my favorite part right now is watching our garden grow by leaps and bounds daily and not having to run kids around quite like I do when school is in. We just got back from a trip to the White Mountains in Arizona - a part of the state that I had never seen before. It was beautiful! I couldn't believe that I was actually in AZ. The ferns that covered the ground of the forests were amazing.




This trip was Part-One of our two-part "vacation" - I put that in quotes because each part of our trip was a family reunion. So, after two of those in a row - camping - you really feel like you need a vacation when you get home. For Part-Two, we headed directly over to Flagstaff for more pine trees and famliy, but this time we added port-a-potties to the fun. You can imagine the amount of dirt that covered our bodies by the end of 8 days!


MJH was so excited to be in prime fishing country in the White Mountains that he was dead set on taking our canoe with us. It got good use - which made up for all of the flapping straps/ropes in the wind that we had to endure listening to on the whole drive to the cabin. Fun. All-in-all, I think about 2 dozen fish were caught and I am happy to report that they all got eaten. I had my token one bite - normally I wouldn't even go that far, but I felt proud of their catch.


One of the prettiest things we saw was Hannigan Meadow. It is know to be one of the most beautiful spots in AZ and also one of the coldest in the winter. It was worth the drive to see it - the scenery was breath taking and we saw lots of wildlife.


On our way to Flagstaff we caravaned with MJ's brother and we got to stop at their friend's house in Snowflake to see their farm. It was a highlight for the kids. This family had the cutest little puppy that all of the kids were deathly afraid of. The puppy came right up to AAH and took a bite of his shorts and wouldn't let go. Not being a big dog person myself really, I had a hard time being firm enough with the puppy to get him off of AAH. After that incident all our kids and MJ's brother's kids were in tears if the dog came anywhere near us.
The kids had no problems walking out in the middle of an unfenced cattle pasture though. It dawned on me as I am trapsing around the farm in my flip flops how truly disgusting my feet were becoming with each and every step. Ewwwww.



So, we had a good time. I only had to cook one meal in 8 days which was a bonus and CMH is begging to see his cousins again.
There were lots of fun times sitting around talking until far too late. But I could listen to MJ and his brothers talk and tell stories for hours. Thanks everyone for the fun times.