Technology is Tiring

Apparently Dallin and Kevin simultaneously got worn out 

working on the iPod and computer, respectively, 

and needed to take a nap.

More Nighttime Adventures

Hyrum's parents were sad they missed out on the last evening trip to the desert, so they asked if they could come along the next time we went. They are both school teachers, Hyrum's dad is into birding, and they like the outdoors. We were surprised that they had never played in the desert south of Yuma, however, since they are long-time residents. We were glad we could enlighten them as to where to go to catch scorpions.

This is the crazy group of children who accompanied us.

We traded Dallin for Zach for the evening, thinking that D-boy 

might like playing with Zach's 2-year-old sister at her house across the street.

Ian caught his first Shovel-nosed Snake of the season!

 

April also caught one, and Kevin found a Flat-tailed Horned Lizard to show everyone.

We don't have pictures of those or the sidewinders we encountered, or of Hyrum's parents.

Oh well...

For some reason, we do have photos of scorpions again.

 

We also tried to call in a kit fox and scanned the area with a spotlight, but had no luck.

We only saw cute little kangaroo rats hopping about, but it was a successful outing, nonetheless.

Mormon Battalion Museum Trip

Sweet husband Kevin took April's place doing lizard surveys on Saturday so that she could go with the Yuma 2nd Ward Relief Society on a trip to the Mormon Battalion Museum in San Diego. This was renovated just a couple years ago or so. April's great-great grandfather, Captain James Brown, was a member of the battalion, and we have a record about him that Grandma Brown compiled as part of our family history.

The ladies met at 7:00 a.m. and arrived at the museum for a tour around 10:00 a.m.

A missionary led us through the tour, 

which is mostly an audio-visual presentation. 

Jasmin got to dress up like a battalion soldier in the general store.

This is a copy of Levi Hancock's journal, including sketches of the San Diego area when they arrived.

Some more artifacts...

Adobe brick making display outside

At the end of the tour, you get your photo taken. 

It was a bit tricky to fit all 12 of us in the frame, but we managed.

We ate a picnic lunch afterwards and then returned to Yuma by mid-afternoon.

It was a fun women's outing!

Scout Camp 2011

Owning a utility trailer has its perks. The scouts needed to borrow it to haul stuff to their annual Scout Camp at Camp Geronimo so Kevin and Ian got invited along for a few days. Ian is only 11, but the rules state that he can attend camp for up to 3 days if accompanied by his father. Arizona does have mountains and trees, which is something people forget when they live in Yuma.

This is their tent:

This is the meeting pavilion:

This is the troop walking with their troop flag to the mess hall:

 This is the tarantula that Kevin caught and which is now happily living at our house:

This is Zach taking a turn holding the tarantula:

This is a highly gravid female Western Fence Lizard:

This is a cool caterpillar:

This might be mountain lion scat:

Sadly, no mountain lions were sighted during the trip.

They also caught crawdads. And that's about all there is to report since Ian isn't working on merit badges yet and couldn't really participate in any of the other activities. He still had a fun time camping and hiking around with Dad, however, and he is looking forward to next year when he will be an official Boy Scout.

Grandpa's Visit to Yuma

We were very surprised and excited when Grandpa Tsukamoto emailed us and said he was planning a quick trip to Yuma to visit for the weekend.

 

He arrived late Saturday afternoon, treated us to some yummy take-out from Highway 95 Cafe, and saw our house and yard. He read stories with Erin, listened to Megan play the piano, and watched Ian do yo-yo tricks.

We treated him to a pancake breakfast on Sunday morning, and then he had to leave by noon.

It was fun to have another visitor, even though it was brief.

Hopefully we can make it to San Diego before too long and visit Grandpa again.

(if the U of A ever gets their paperwork processed so they can pay us for the lizard work).