Here we are, parasailing at Big Bear Lake, California. (and if you believe that, we have some "oceanfront property in Arizona"...)
We did actually spend a lot of time doing some "high class" activities. Note the following: 
Making our way over the dam at Lake Mead
A session with a "fashion consultant"
Attending ballet and tap performances
Reading "in depth" about princesses and ballerinas
"Building" projects 
and destroying
"Play games, all sorts" (those who are Mary Poppins fans will understand)
Hitting the lights of the Great and Spacious Buildings (oops...I meant) the Las Vegas Strip
Communing with nature in Zion (the park...just in case you thought you might have missed the "invitation" to the actual "city of".)
The "boys" in intense competition on the waterfront (skipping rocks...or just throwing them in the water. Larry was the only one with any "skipping" skills)
More competiton on the golf course
and in the bowling alley
and racing down the Alpine slide at a snail's pace...sorry Meag....the sign says "no pregnant women"....(did they think there would be pregnant men??)
water sports...floaties included and late-night Wii tournaments (no picture)
WE CLIMBED, WE CONQUERED.....AND FOR THIS????
WE CLIMBED, WE CONQUERED.....AND FOR THIS????
At the family reunion, we hiked up Mt. Baldy, the 2nd highest peak in Arizona. The bald top of the mountain belongs to the Apaches and is, therefore, a restricted area. We hiked 7 miles up the mountain thinking we would actually be able to see the top. Apparently, we should have taken the "other" trail in order to do that. So after we had our pictures taken with the "restricted" sign, we got to hike all the way back down the mountain. I had really sore toenails the next day
This is El Moro National Monument in New Mexico. We have stopped here a couple of times and made the climb up to the top. This one is worth the hike.
On the way home, we drove through the canyonlands of Utah along highway 12, from Zions clear up through Capitol Reef. We highly recommend it. Having "turbo-boost" on your vehicle really helps on the uphill climbs.Rather than take the 3 days planned to drive home, we did it in 2. Larry was holding up well as the sole driver and we had food and books on CDs to pass the time. We missed a giant hailstorm by about 20-30 minutes...we realized this as we came upon cars on the sides of the road with broken windshields, cornfields destroyed, and remnants of the hail on the sides of the roads. It was a tender mercy.
Since we were officially on vacation until Saturday night, we just kept quiet about the fact that we were home. The garden held off producing while we were gone....another tender mercy. I thought for sure we were going to miss a lot of the harvest. We are VERY GLAD to be home...where it is green....without irrigation. Hooray for humidity!
