A Vacation for Mom!

Since I had 3 kids at band camp this year, I decided to go with them.  Kenneth was so kind to stay home and do all my work.  Band camp was in Prescott Az this year and the weather was delightful.  I read a book and a half, I made 4 oboe reeds, I practiced my oboe, and I helped keep kids sun screened and hydrated.  I made some new friends and stayed up late talking to them.  And best of all I watched my own kids in action.

XYZ

We went to the Phoenix Zoo.  When the kids were small, we had a membership and went weekly.  On a good day we visited 1/4 of the animals.  We tried to see as much as we could and were mighty proud that we saw 3/4 of the animals.  We had to give up because the Marching Band kids had to get back for a rehearsal, but we were so glad that they could squeeze us in!

We Want Watermelon!

 Juicy Watermelon!!

And Whipped Cream!

And we took had an adventure eating out at Weinerschnitzel. We had never been there before, so it was fun to do something new.  I forgot my camera.  So you have to see the bad pictures my phone takes. Please notice that Kenn, Sydney, Truman and Christian are making a W.

Very Fine V

Vanilla!

 We made a very vanilla coffee cake recipe, (with cherries).  YUMMY!

Please no pictures of Abby after eating Vanilla.




We tried a new recipe for dinner...

Chicken Vindaloo.

 Very Tasty!

What's under there?

Under Where?

For the letter U, we all wore underwear (no pictures).

And we took pictures Underwater!!

Touring

We Took a Totally Terrific Tour of the Arizona State Capitol Museum.  It was really fun and interesting until my big kids all got distracted pretending that they were the original senators in the historic House Chamber.  They were so silly moving from desk to desk and reading the plaques about the men who sat at the desks, that our tour guide abruptly said "thank you for coming on the tour, feel free to look at the last room on your own".  I think my kids were better behaved when they were little.

 Here is the fancy mosaic of the great Seal of Arizona.  This photo was taken from the 2nd floor.  The guide pointed out that the mosaic is missing the cattle, but the mosaic was so expensive that they just put it in with the mistake.  I would have thought that being really expensive you would want it to be accurate.

 Here is the front of the Historic Capitol Building and the back of Truman.

This is the room where our tour guide abruptly departed.

Hazel enjoying the fountain in the rotunda in front of the Capitol.

 There are monuments to wars and memorials.  This is our favorite, one of the anchors from the USS Arizona.  (inside the museum they had an exhibit of artifacts from the excavation of the USS Arizona).

 There is a stamp on the anchor that tells it's weight: 19535 lbs.

 Truman and Abby worked together and could almost lift the chain.

 Hazel looking cute.

And the USS Arizona again.  This is the top portion of the tallest mast.