The Mother Road

This past weekend, Bryce had to speak at a conference in Flagstaff so we tagged along to enjoy the cooler weather and explore a bit.

Kids had never been to the Petrified Forest so we chose that as a daytrip on Saturday.
Got up early after arriving late due to a traffic snarl on the way up. 
The bonus of driving to The Petrified forest from Flag is that you can travel on Rt 66!

 

So many great stopping places!
We left really early and started out.
First stop was Winslow AZ....so that we could stand on a corner.

Sock hanging out

"....such a fine sight to see.."

That was a great photo op and included a gang of Harley riders to chat with also.

These guys were with us the whole day!

Winslow had some other interesting things to see also.
They had a 911 memorial that included debris from the Trade Centers, this lead to a great discussion on what had happened that day.

 

 And we sent some postcards also!

Holbrook, a bit east of Winslow is home to the Wigwam Motel which has an interesting history.  There were originally 7 of them in the country.  The family of the builder of this one still owns it and you can rent out a wigwam for the night.  They each feature a full bath with shower, cable TV heat and AC.  Two double beds are 58.00 a night!  We want to plan a night there sometime.
In 2002, it was added to the National Register of Historical Places.

There were old cars parked at every wigwam.

Rooms were cozy yet clean and comfortable

Office doesn't open till 4pm....just like the old days.

The great rock shop where the owner told us a little history of the town....

Billed as "the largest map of RT 66"

Holbrook Square Park, dinosaur was donated from a movie set.  Petrified wood is wild

We then stopped at several other Rt 66 ancient places; at one time booming places of business before the freeway was built.

First day back!

Even though we are not ready to give up our summer yet, the kids are back to their two days a week of school.
They actually started a couple weeks ago, just didn't get the pics up yet.

This is Carson's first year in Kindergarten!  He's never been gone all day before so I was not sure how he would do but he was raring to go so....he went!

Out front before we left

his seat in the classroom

That's his "posed picture face"  He was excited to be there.

He said he had a great day and has had good times ever since.  I told him just to do his best and if he didn't like it, we could always try something different.  So far he is into it and loves his teacher, Mrs. Skipper and his classmates.

Leigh is doing some different things this year, she was able to pick her own classes and has decided to start taking flute.  So far, so good.  She is also enjoying what she has picked and has met some new friends and reconnected with some old ones.

CA Dreamin'

Following our trip to PA, we came home and Bryce whisked everyone off to CA, except Mommy who had to put a few days of work in before leaving for the coast.

Exhausted after the PA trip

They went to San Clemente to visit relatives while Daddy went to see Ben Harper at the Hollywood Bowl.
Good Times.

Our new favorite toy--a light up whirlybird

Then we all met up at our favorite Southern CA Beach---OB!  We stay at a great little bungalow that is a half block from the beach, (If interested, let me know, I'll hook you up with the great landlord, Randy!) He even made room for our friends to join us!

 

The land of exotic plants

OB Pier

Down the pier

and enticing beach fronts

Boogie board champ!!

Carson had other ideas of fun on the shore

Reflective, time to slow down

Lighthouse Ice Cream----best dessert in town!!

fascinating fire works display off the pier!

An OB souvenir

The last sunset

Ocean Beach is the place to be over the 4th of July.  They have a great display of fire works followed by a town-wide marshmallow battle!!
This has been our retreat for a while and we have decided to keep it on our roster in the future.
We came home from this trip relaxed and refreshed.

Meemaws!!!

Chocolate World

cousins swimming

Cabin

saving a life

canoe fun!

the 'girls' canoe

great wide open

swimming in the river

Flying By!

I can't believe how fast summer is flying by.  Bryce just left to head back to school (for teachers) and I realized that I hadn't blogged all summer!  We did so much and sometimes so little it seems.

I'll start at the beginning.
 The first weekend of the summer was spent camping in Flagstaff
with a few thousand of our closest friends...

Kids all have their friends to keep them company, enjoying the freedom of the forest

Stopping in Sedona on the way home to eat at Oaxaca, our favorite Sedona eatery

And of course to enjoy the sights of lovely eclectic Sedona!

Growing things

I've always had some sort of garden no matter where we lived and here is no exception.
We did a couple boxes last year in prep for this year and also started a few things in pots and big barrels.
(Our house came with them)
Carson planted sunflower seeds and got some great sunflowers!
We planted zinnias in another barrel

 

 

In one of the beds, next to the compost, we planted tomatoes, peppers and cucumbers.

 

Out front we have a couple of pots of strawberries and a pot of aloe from our old house.

Last year we had a small veggie garden in our box by our back door.  This year we planted flower seeds and cantaloupe.

 My favorite plant year round is the Jasmine bush we have, it smells awesome!