Joyce visits Tucson for Griff's 6th birthday party

Pinata action

Wildlife museum. Really just a huge collection of dead animals

Couldn't get the kids to stay still long enough for a group shot with Grandma.

Valley of the Moon

Fun little excursion to Valley of the Moon, a little fantasy-land type place that's been around forever

Tilda picked up this sweaty shirt of mine, put it on, zipped it up and started dancing around

school

Going to school, this is Griffin's first day of kindergarden.

Gentle Hands graduation. Look at what a charmer Griffin is.

First diploma

Back To Marshall Gulch

Also from July- another day hike in marshall Gulch. This time I decided to forgo the backpack much of the way and allow Matilda to hike as much as she wanted

Prescott - july 2011

Finally getting back around to posting some (not so) recent pictures. In July the kids and I set out on a three day exploration of Prescott area. Farther north, near Sedona but more like big pine forests and lots of lakes. Here is the first campground we stayed at, loved the pillar shaped rocks

Another campground, more in the central area. The fun thing about this trip was that we traveled around a lot, so we spent some time in the downtown area, at parks and ice cream stores. I found it charming, but a little quaint.

There had been a fire ban in effect for the state for quite a while this summer. The fire season was out of control. One of the reasons I chose Prescott was because it was one of the only areas at high elevation that was still accessible. Most everything else was burning or closed. They even lifted the fire ban while we were camping, we watched the ranger take down the sign with a smile. he encouraged us to gather some firewood and have a good time.

Decided to try fishing. I know nothing about it, but for kids it's less boring to stand around looking at a lake if they are actively doing something.

Don't leave half-eaten hotdogs in your camp trash after dark.

We rented a boat! Great couple hours, just tooling around with it's quiet, efficient, slow electric motor.

Sometimes the kids just move at different speeds.