Archive for March, 2016

The last Harah!

Wednesday, March 30th, 2016

We made a quick trip home for Easter, 12 hours each way and only two days in California.  Stephanie just bought a new Townhome and I thought we should see it before we leave for the East Coast for the summer.  We loved it but it was definitely long trip.

Grapevine covered in Poppies

Grapevine covered in Poppies

Spectacular poppies along I5!  I don’t think I have ever seen this many poppies.

Brody, Duke & Tucker

Brody, Duke & Tucker

Photos of puppies instead of my kids?  We had a great Easter.  Amy made us baskets from mason jars with a little of each of our favorites chocolates.  The girls and I colored eggs.  Amy and Nick made us Sushi!  It was so good.  Easter dinner was perfect with all the fixings along with homemade Ice Cream.

Back to Mesa and we had friends from home visiting and a bunch of our new friends over for a campfire on our last free night.  Oh yeah,  we had the guys help push the slide in so that we can leave on Friday and head to Iowa.

 

 

Perfect spot to spend January, February & March

Wednesday, March 30th, 2016

The plan was to stay put for 3 months.  Denise loved it and spent her days learning to play tennis again.  I played 8 matches at the 1.5 level which is beginner and only lost my first match.  I even bought myself a “real” tennis racket, a fancy skirt, a couple cans of balls and throughly enjoyed my 3 months.  I plan to pick it back up when we return to the same resort in December.  Next year I have a 4 month reservation!  Hopefully Paul is still on board.  Paul played a lot of pickle ball, some tennis and even went Snow skiing.

 

Check out that serve!

Check out that serve!

 

We also enjoyed  serveral shows; magic, illision, rock n roll venues,  show tune venues and even an evening of Lazer Lighting show at the Phoenix Botonical Gardens.  This was simply amazing.  Paul was not on board to go but I think he enjoyed it more than me.  When we first got there it was still daylight so you couldn’t see the lights, but when the sun went down there were lights everywhere,   all lazers, all changing colors!

Bottles contained in a plastic tube.  The lights continued to change colors.

Bottles contained in a plastic tube. The lights continued to change colors.

PomPoms

PomPoms

Street Lamps

Street Lamps

This was my favorite thing I think because it was so functional and what a way to really embrace the evening lighting.

 

Chihuly Glass

                        Chihuly Glass

Chihuly Glass art is one of my favorites and we have seen much of it.  This was a permanent dis[lay and looked so real.

We didn’t get out too much to hike but we did get to see the desert wake up to spring which was just amazing.  I am always amazed at the cactus that bloom every year and this year because of the rain the desert is really blooming.  Because of the extremely warm February the snakes turned out in March.  I am definitely not a fan so hiking was pretty much out of the question.  We didn’t see any snakes so I was very happy.

Spring has sprung

                                    Spring has sprung

And,  the sunsets!  AWEEEEE

One of the few sunsets we actually caught

One of the few sunsets we actually caught

Then of course their is Spring Training.  We didn’t work this year,  mostly because their just wasn’t time.  Paul’s sister, Cindy came with her Daughter Sarah and new husband Grant.  They are from Denver so of course we went to see the Rockies play.  Spring training is so much fun because the stadiums are beautiful and lawn seating is usually less than $20.

Rockies win at home

Rockies win at home

So,  three months in the desert went very fast and it was time to pack up and move east!