Flagstaff and Oak Creek Fun

On Saturday we saw Toy Story 3.

 

Also on Saturday, we had a picnic in Thorpe Park and then played. It is always nice when they find nice kids to play with.

On Sunday we went to the neighborhood park. On our way we saw C.J. (our neighbor’s grandson) sitting on the end of their driveway and invited him to the park with us. He was great to have along because he showed Nate some things about basketball, helped Ellie with basketball, and let the kids try his long board. Nate made three baskets. Ellie asked Opa to go down the slide with her so he did (see slide pic).

    

On Monday we stopped at the West Fork of Oak Creek (one of our favorite places when we lived in Flagstaff). The kids had a great time wading in the water, throwing rocks, and watching sticks and leaves flow downstream.

 

The not so fun part of our trip was that the air conditioning stopped working just before the Crown King exit. We pulled off and I took a picture of this cactus while Paul looked at the car. I think this cactus might have been some of the only shade around. Luckily we were not far from Anthem and we had water in the car and a spray bottle so we kept as cool as possible. We recharged the A/C at the Wal-Mart and were shortly on our way with cold air once again.

Nate in Flagstaff with Oma and Opa

Nate, Oma, and Opa went to Francis Short Pond to take some pictures. Nate took these pictures. He was fascinated with a guy that was fishing and the fish he caught. He also really liked taking pictures of the dead crawdads.

They went to Lowell Observatory and got to see Saturn and some of its moons and the International Space Station (through two different telescopes). Nate got to look through the same telescope that I (Mandy) saw Hailey’s Comet through in 1984. Nate also got to push the button that turned the top of the observatory so that they could see something new.

The view from Mars Hill just below Lowell Observatory.

They also went to the airport and saw the slurry helicopters that were fighting the Schultz Fire.

 

While at the observatory, they saw a bit of flame pop over the ridge (see left side of picture).

Discovery Camp

 

Nate went to “Garden Adventures” day camp through the Museum of Northern Arizona’s Discovery Program. They learned about seeds, worms, etc. and went to a garden. They made a worm farm (the plastic milk jug) and a potato head with grass for hair. The pictures above are from the last day when they were playing outside with squirt bottles and they did a program for the parents. They did two readings and they each had a part: one was about a worm and one was an adaptation of the book about pulling a giant turnip. They also sang a few songs: one about Herman the worm, one about dirt made my food, and another about a carrot.

Going to Pick Up Nate from Discovery Camp

             

Eating lunch at Burger King on our way to pick up Nate from Discovery Camp.

Look What Daddy Does to Me

He likes to put these puffs in my mouth so I look like this.

Happy Father’s Day!

    

Daddy is wearing the shirt the kids made for him in Sunday School. It has Nate and Ellie’s handprints and Eve’s footprints.

Eve is 8 months old!

 

Nate and Ellie at 8 months.

 

I’m thinking she looks more like Nate.