Someday...

all this will be homes! Not too long ago, this was someone's farm, but it is quickly being turned into another housing development right down the road from us - I'll keep you posted!

Prickly pear

Springtime in the desert is so much more subtle than in other places - our prickly little guys still like to show off a little when the weather warms up.

City pool

When I grew up, city pools were simply that - a big pool with a couple diving boards. Here in the 'burbs, the pools are like mini amusement parks! This one is the Pecos Pool, and those pipes are a cool water spray feature. Notice the beach style entry, and of course the water slides - there's another cool water feature off to the right that I couldn't fit in the picture. The best part is the cost - less than $5.00 gets the whole family in!

Buddies

I love this picture of my oldest son hanging out with our dog, Rookie. It was nice of Rook to smile for the camera, don't you think?

Giraffes

There is a great exhibit at the Phoenix Zoo where the giraffes live peacefully with all kinds of other animals, meant to look like a scene right out of Africa. I liked the way this picture turned out with the canopy of trees overhead.

Our front porch

There's all kinds of interesting things growing in our pretty front porch pots - strawberries, cilantro, hot peppers, rosemary, and a mystery plant that is growing who-knows-what

Shaggy palm trees

Most palm trees are kept nice and trim, but these at the entrance to the Phoenix Zoo are just allowed to go wild - great for birds and bugs, I'd imagine.

Tempe, AZ from the air

I took some shots as we were flying back into Phoenix yesterday; this is a shot of the Tempe Town Lake, and the mountain is called "A" mountain, since it has an A on the side for ASU. During football season, students have to camp out on the mountain to protect the A from being painted by the rival team from down at the UofA in Tucson.

Cactus skeleton

I missed a few days due to an out-of-town trip, but we are picking back up with more stuff from the Mesa Southwest Museum - this one being the skeleton of a Saguaro cactus

Cowgirl

This is another part of the mural at Mesa Southwest Museum, highlighting Cattle as an important economic factor for Arizona. I love the colors.

Mural in Mesa

This is part of a large mural at the Mesa Southwest Museum displaying what's known as the five C's of Arizona economy - climate, cotton, cattle, citrus, and copper. The museum itself is a great place to visit with kids or without, with a three story animated dinosaur exhibit, panning for gold, a real old Western jail cell, and more.

Road to the zoo

These are part of the Papago mountains - this road leads to the Phoenix Zoo and the Desert Botanical Garden, both great places to visit when you are here. The mountains are fun to hike around, and there are a lot of picnic areas.

View from my window

This was taken through my kitchen window - you can see the water marks on the window, since it is right above my kitchen sink where the boys love to play with water.

Palo Verdes in Spring

All over town, there are these beautiful Palo Verde trees in bloom - we don't get much for Autumn, but these trees make up for it in the Spring - the Palo Verde tree is the Arizona state tree, in case you were wondering!

Snowy desert

OK, this was from a year ago, but I thought this would be a fitting Friday the 13th post - these mountains were right around the Cave Creek/Carefree area. Click on the photo to enjoy the contrasts between desert and snowy mountains

April 12, 2007

Beautiful spring day in Arizona - that's Hunt's tomb in the background - George WP Hunt was the first governor of Arizona