Tony's Photo Shoot

My 14-year old indulged me today. He let me try out my new camera on him! We actually had fun! Oh, and I added one of my favs from our recent vacation.

Family Vacation

This is the second year that we accepted an invite to vacation with family - my brothers, their families, my dad & step-mom. This years trip was absolutely marvelous. Dad had some shirts made for us that listed all the locations we visited. Wherever we went we made quite an impression on folks--and we were easy to find and identify as a group. Linda also got the kids awesome little backpacks and brought refill treats daily, to give the kids snack for the hike. Here is a very brief recap of events:

1. Left Austin with Bob & family. Flew to Vegas, then drove to Virgin, UT. Met with Dad & Linda at campground, then drove to Springdale - entry of Zion Canyon National Park and checked into the Desert Pearl (gorgeous hotel).

2. Took the entire shuttle route through Zion Canyon, scoping out where we would hike the next day after Butch arrived from Portland. Took the kids swimming, too.

3. Took the shuttle through Zion, stopping to do a couple of hiking trails. Then ate at the Lodge and returned to the hotel.

4. Drove to Bryce Canyon and hiked there. Loved the HooDoos.

5. Took a day off to sleep in then sloth around the pool.

6. Drove to the Grand Canyon. Hiked a bit, then drove to the different spots to view it from different perspectives. Truly amazing.

7. Drove to Vegas. Spent the day walking around and did a tour of the strip on the Deuce.

8. Flew home.

Here are 22 pics from Mt. Zion:

Here are 28 Pics from Bryce:

Here are 30 pics from the Grand Canyon:

Gio's Green Thumb

I watch with amazement every weekend when Gio goes outside in the Texas heat and tackles his hobby -- the backyard. After the mundane chores of mowing and edging, he then works on his pet projects, and this year his efforts paid off in bumper crops.

His peach tree limbs are bowing over with the weight of all the fruit on each branch. His grapes, while not yet ready, are blooming all over the vines and starting to drape overhead as they take over the patio trellis. His basil is beautiful and the plants really seem to like having their own planter box this year, with huge leaves and lots of buds still waiting. We will soon bag and freeze most of the basil to use all year. His rosemary and oregano are battling each other for space. The limes and zuccini are just starting out, but should be available later this summer as well. For a suburban backyard, Gio created quite a crop.

No sooner did we go pick a bag of peaches, did the squirrels show up. Our dog, Kayce chased them out of the peach tree an into the oak. I managed to get a shot of one of the theives enjoying his reward for dangerous work.

The easiest way to keep up-to-date

I can post our stories and our pictures here, and then, if any family or friends are curious they can periodically check out the link without me having to bug them about our tales.