...here's what you missed

Our computer was broken you know...All the while we were just saving up all these great pictures.

Okay, take a deep breath and dive in!

Two weeks of our life in 5 minutes or less :)

Geocaching at the Riparian Preserve

Fountain Hills - Evan's birthday was spent here riding bikes, having a picnic and playing in the spraygrounds!

The pizza place...Buono's

Birthday presents from Grandma, Papa, Nicki and Tyler! He LOVES the books and the puzzle!

 

Proof that we ride our bikes even when it's 100 degrees! This was a 3.5 mile one-way trip from our house to the coolest park on the planet! Tumbleweed

Boys being...well, boys!

Another trip to the Riparian Preserve (read the sign Evan is standing by)

Feeding Getting bit by ducks...

Notice Evan's attire...this is very typical! He's either a "fixer guy" or a "fireman guy", depends on the day.

A gift from Aunt Connie. I actually think Evan wears them more than Caitlin!

So, remember that sweet, quiet little thing that used to be our daughter? She's still sweet but replace quiet with VERY loud, goofy and a definite attitude sense of who she is and what she wants and you've got the new and improved version of our little Caitie-bug!

Uh...where's the audio???

And...we're done!                      

Superstition Mountains, The Lost Dutchman Mine, Tortilla Flats and a few Geocaches...

We had a busy day today. I picked up this week's veggie and fruit order from a local food coop (a great way to get quality, organic produce for about half the cost of buying it at the store!) and then we packed up the kids with lunch and headed to the Superstition Mountains.

Danny and I made this same trip when we were here visiting Tracy 4 years ago. Oddly enough it was Sept 22nd of 2004! Just a few days earlier than this time...and of course two kids lighter!

Here is a picture of us then...Sept 22, 2004 

And of Superstition...the same morning

And now...

You'll notice we're not actually in the picture this time! That's what happens when you have kids - it's all or none - either one of us, with child(ren), or just some scenery as we are chasing one of them down!

Our first stop was actually the Goldfield Mine Ghost Town. When were here in 2004 this place was literally a Ghost Town. Today there were quite a few people around.

The Ghost Town is a replica on the site of a mining town that went bust several times in the late 1800's and early 1900's. (Read more)

We explored a bit and took a train ride, which Evan LOVED!

 

The photo above is actually from the train on the back side of the ghost town.

Next we headed to Canyon Lake and Tortilla Flats

Again, here are the photos from 2004

Canyon Lake (above)

Tortilla Flats Restaurant. I'm incriminating myself here but - along with 50k+ other people so...

When you visit the restaurant at Tortilla Flats you have to add a dollar bill to the wall. You can deface it any way you choose and they post them up at the end of each day. We tried to find ours today but it's impossible! We should have taken a photo of the inside.

Today's visit to Canyon Lake

 

Then we headed to find some geocaches (with not much luck). Evan had our only actual find of the day despite a lot of effort!

Danny went out for several but only ended up with cactus needles in his arm and leg! He discovered the legendary "jumping cactus" and now knows why they call it that!

Here I am trying to find one...we discovered later that it's actually in a crack in the rock - you have to crawl down inside the crack and I guess we weren't feeling that adventurous!

While I was climbing around on these rocks a Merchant Marine stopped to ask for a jump for his Harley...we got to be good Samaritans and he was VERY happy to not be leaving his bike on the side of the road.

There were lots of beautiful views along the way. Here just a few...

Danny and the kids at Tortilla Flats in front of the Lost Dutchman Mine (it's not really the mine!)

Danny and Caitlin eating at the restaurant

These are Ocotillos...we live just off Ocotillo Rd. This whole mountain was covered with them

  

We had a great time!

On the way home poor Caitlin was sick to her stomach...I think it was all the windy roads - a little bit carsick!

So, we spent the evening cleaning up the carseats!

Evan and Caitlins Geocoins

Here are some pictures of where the kids geocoins are currently located. If you do not know what a geocoin is you can google it or go to geocaching.com.

Here is a picture of Winterhausen Germany (above) where Evan's coin is located. And Caitlin's coin is located in Smithfield, VA (below).

Dobbins Lookout and Channel 3

Saturday we got up and got ourselves ready fairly early to take a short hike on South Mountain.
South Mountain is (go figure) South of Phoenix and separates the East Valley from the West Valley. We are in the East Valley.

For this particular hike we drove around South Mountain to the west side (about 25 min drive) and then drove up the mountain to Dobbins Lookout.

Here's a little blurb about it: South Mountain Park At over 16,000 acres, South Mountain Park and Preserve often is considered the largest municipal park in the country. There are more than 50 miles of trails for horseback riding, hiking and mountain biking. Dobbins Lookout, at 2,330 feet, is the highest point in the park accessible by trail. If you aren't into hiking, biking or riding, you can simply drive to Dobbins Point to get a fantastic view of the Valley of the Sun. It's just over 5 miles from Central Avenue to Dobbins Lookout.

It was already 95 degrees by 930am (on the Valley floor) but up on Dobbins Lookout it was only about 89. I'll tell you that in Missouri I would have NEVER been out doing anything if it was 95 degrees at 9am! Here it's different, the heat is hot but it's not stifling!

We took some great pictures. It's Monsoon season here which means lots of clouds by the end of the day and it's humid (relative to their 'normal' weather) so it's a bit hazy. We'll go back in the fall when it's clearer and take some additional photos.

NE of the city

Downtown Phoenix

Cute kid we found there :)

It's amazing to us that this is just a short drive away!

While we were there, Danny and Evan took Tracy to find a geocache. Tracy's not really into climbing around on the side of a mountain so kudos to her for being brave and sticking with my two adventurers. Danny and Evan are two peas in a pod! I went on the second one (to the Channel 3 cache) - it was a bit of a hike as well. By this point Evan was hot and tired so he didn't want to be involved much!

Here are some photos of the find!

The 2nd cache was way up at the top of this "hill" - you can see it at the top of the picture.