Vacation in Arizona

Yeah! We finally made it to our vacation time. We are all excited to visit our family and friends. Our first stop is, Tempe, AZ. Then off to Flagstaff for a couple days before tubing the Salt River and heading to CA. We hope you are having a good summer as well.Just a little friendly pose from a gecko we found in Arizona.
Boy's State was held at a beautiful camp setting outside of Wasilla, Alaska.
Karl was elected 'senator' at Boy's State. He had a good time. Right after graduation (in Wasilla) we headed to the airport to get on a flight to Arizona.
We cooled off in Auntie Lurinda's pool the very first night we were in Arizona. Whew! We were thankful.
Karl and I (Lenore) arrived in Phoenix on Father's Day. We celebrated Father's Day, and cousin Jeremy and Karl's birthdays as well.

Our cousins Robert and Shelley Miller in Flagstaff, enjoying breakfast (sourdough pancakes) al la fresca.

Claire had a blast playing with the kids on the wiggle cars.

After a brief rest and recover, we drove to Flagstaff on Monday and Tuesday. We went to check out NAU (Karl was interested in the college), and visit our nephew and family, Robert and Shelley Miller. We sure had a good time with them. Robert gave us the tour of his new business venture, fed us sourdough pancakes and the kids got to play with their cousins. After we left on Tuesday, we drove out to Wuptaki Indian Ruins. They date all the way back to the 1100's. It was very interesting. (And hot of course).

When we got back to Tempe, we went to saw the new Star Trek movie. It was great.

Wednesday we spent shopping all day long at outlet stores. We went to IKEA, and Trader Joe's. In the evening, we made it for opening night of "Transformers 2". Wow. The kids loved that one, but the shows were all very crowded and sold out, so we were lucky to make it.
Thursday we spent at Sun Splash. We all had a terrific time. It was overcast so most of the locals skipped out. We didn't have any lines. We tried all the waterslides.
Friday night, Kirsten's recital dance show was a traveling show that showed off different things around the museum. The dance traveled around the building while the audience followed.
Earlier yesterday (Friday) we had a fun day. We did a bunch of school shopping. Then, we got to see Kirsten during her dance recital. She spent the past two weeks on a dance scholarship from the Homer dance organization. She took the interpretive dance and video class at ASU. After the show was done, Nephew J.R. and Sarah, and the 4 of us went to 'UP' 3D. Fun movie.

Today, we tubed down the Salt River. A pretty nice thing to do considering it was 110 degrees outside. We all got a little burned. Some more than others. My sister Lurinda went with us and nephew J.R. and his friend Sara. We all had a great time and enjoyed the cold water in the Salt River. Mom made our favorite Mexican food for dinner (flauta and chile rellenos) followed by lots of laughter and cracking up the rest of the evening. There are no photos because cameras cannot stay dry on the river. Sad.