AHHHH Snow......

(Penny here)

I just couldn't help myself from posting these pictures! I do miss Pittsburgh more intensely when I see pictures. I know... we are having fun here too, but, I am going to allow myself an occassional pity party . These snow pics are from when Aunt Lan came and stayed with us to help with homeschool, fixing up the house, and just being an all-around amazing pal and helper! Without her help I could NOT have made it all come together so well- her stay was a true answer to prayer. She also got Tom through half a year of Kindergarten in just two months!

Enjoy these pics and see more on the slideshow to the right.

If you click the slidshow images it will link you to the album where they come from...

Happy Saturday!

Lockett Meadow

Alex, Gabe, and Tom here!

We had so much fun camping at Lockett Meadow in the San Francisco Peaks. (Gabe) I highly recommend this campground because there is a beautiful trail which begins at the campgound and takes you to pump house #9. (Alex) The pump houses are there for access to the pipes which carry fresh water from the mountains down to the city of Flagstaff. One of the pump houses had a spigot from which you could drink fresh untreated spring water. (Gabe) We did drink it and it was better than the water that we brought with us. One of our neighbors in the campground filmed a video hummingbirds swarming at the spigot. The birds would come each morning at dawn to drink from the fresh water.

One of the things you can do from the campground is go and climb Mt. Humphreys, the tallest peak in AZ. The distance from Lockett Meadow is about 15 miles round trip. It is possible to start on a trail on the other side of the Mt. which is much shorter. Instead of tackling Mt. Humphreys, we peaked this boulder and we did lots of other hiking (about 14 miles).

(Alex) Our campsite was littered with downed trees. The chipmunks seemed to live in or under them. Whenever one popped up from his home, we would name it. This one in the picture is Frederick. We can tell because of his markings and his chubbiness. Some more of our chipmunk friends are named Aspen, for the groves of aspen trees lining our campsite, Jane named after Jane Porter in "Tarzan of the Apes", and Carnation who was named after our dried milk.

(Gabe) On our third day of camping I turned 10 years old! You see me here in this picture on a gigantor boulder that we conquered that day. For a special bday treat we had freeze dried ice cream.