Nature hike

It's my goal to get Simon out in nature as much as possible so that when he's old enough, he'd rather go hunt for crawdads than watch TV.  So we went on a nature "hike" along Shoal Creek a few weeks ago.  Now, typically a hike will be fore at least a mile or so, but when your stride only takes up a foot at a time, you're lucky to move 100 yards.

Ahhhhh, nature!  And housing.  And some bum urine that we avoided.

This is not a concrete sidewalk...

In fact, it just keeps going on and on....

Hot on the trail of some snipe.

Or at least some pretty flowers to take back to mom.

These two will do.

All this hikin' works up a powerful appetite for snack.  Goldfish while looking at the fish.  Perfect.

At Reed Park for Will's Birthday

Our friend Will had his birthday old school style at the Park near where we all grew up. His folks and a bunch of our friends got together to play a little bocce. Will's dad, the perennial Risk champion manned the grill.

Sarah, Barbie and Simon hang out in the sun.

Simon digs through the bocce balls.

Sarah, Johnny, Wiggins, Will, Erinn.

Erinn, Simon, Christy.

Santa Fe, part trey

After Callie read this, she solemnly looked at me and said "I have a dream that one day dogs would be allowed wherever they wanted." Then she peed on the gravel.

The host at The Shed shows us to our table.


I-40 comes to a halt for 30 minutes while they clear an accident. I was tempted to see if the trucker would let me get in his rig to honk the horn, but was afraid I might catch something, so I just took a picture instead.


The last three are from Sedona AZ. The Red Rocks were pretty much like advertised. Red, and rocky. Dave Matthews was nowhere to be found.

Santa Fe Part 1

The first two pictures are of the church, Cathedral Basilica of St. Francis of Assisi, where we went to mass Sunday. The Santa Fe Desert Chorale gave a Gregorian Chant Mass while we were there. The next is of some lavendar. The last two are of our hike on the Atalaya Trail. It was about a 6 mile hike (3 up, 3 down). Callie and I did about five of the six since Callie decided to sit down half a mile from the top, but Andrew went ahead while we waited for him.

Hot and Dry

Here are two pictures from our drive. The first is of the windmills outside of Palm Springs. The second is of a dirt devil. As the title says, the drive was hot and dry.

Stop and smell the roses...

Here is another pretty rose from our yard.

Uneventful Weekend

It was a slow weekend...the first picture is of Callie's toy basket with her "monkey baby" hanging out. Next is Callie with a mohawk (I guess it's time for a grooming). The last three are of our backyard in bloom.