Summer Vacation 2009--Part 3

Carlsbad Beach and Grandpa T

Fortunately for parents and children, the drive from Yuma to San Diego was only about 3 hours long as opposed to the previous 2-day drive to Yuma. We took our time and met up with Grandpa in Carlsbad early Sunday afternoon. After checking into our hotel we went across the street to Carlsbad Beach.

We had to climb down a steep path to access the beach.
Along the way we saw several hatchling side-blotched lizards.

Playing in the waves

Dallin contented himself with digging, eating sand, and dipping in the water just a bit--it was kind of cold for him after the intense heat of the desert. Erin ran back and forth between playing in sand and finding shells at the edge of the tide.

Grandpa enjoyed watching and video taping the children.

He thought they had grown a lot in the past four years.

Summer Vacation 2009--Part 2

Return to Yuma, AZ

Our last field work in Yuma occurred in 2005, so we were long overdue for a visit to the Sonoran Desert and to our many good friends in Yuma. Even though it is one of the hottest, driest places in North America, we have a fondness for the desert life after living there for many field seasons. Everyone was excited to go out to look for our favorite little critter, the flat-tailed horned lizard (Phrynosoma mcallii).

Miss Megan was the FIRST to find one, thanks to her fine training from her highly skilled parents.

Look at that proud smile!

Not to be outdone by her daughter, April found the second, third, and fourth lizards, all by following tracks that look like this:

If you can decipher the trail from all the other desert tracks, you will be rewarded by finding a lizard at the end. Few people ever find this species because of its camouflage and its propensity to bury in the sand long before you see it. Here is one lizard that did its best to escape detection, but April's finely-honed lizard-sleuthing skills paid off yet again! She was pleased that she had not lost the touch after all these years. Kevin, on the other hand, was getting frustrated that he was not finding any.

Dallin was a party pooper and slept through all the fun. We had to document him with his first flat-tail, however, since we have baby photos of all the other children with one. Here is his glamour shot. No lizards were harmed in the taking of this photo.

It was getting pretty hot, but Kevin couldn't leave until he could claim a horned lizard. He found the CUTEST one, a hatchling which Erin adored and wanted to keep for a pet. We had to explain that horned lizards don't make good pets and usually end up dying in captivity.

Between the horned lizard finds, Ian and Megan kept busy chasing and catching other lizards. Ian noosed this zebra-tailed lizard (Callisaurus draconoides). Zebra-tailed lizards are one of the fastest species of lizards.

Then Megan noosed a baby desert iguana (Dipsosaurus dorsalis) that Kevin had found hiding in a creosote.

And as we were returning to our Suburban, everyone teamed up to catch this gorgeous juvenile leopard lizard (Gambelia wislizenii). The bright orange colors are only found on gravid females and hatchlings. This lizard is famous for biting hard.


















By 9:00 a.m. it was far too hot to play anymore, so we drove back to cool off in a lovely swimming pool at our hosts' house. The H Family was very gracious to let us stay in their home and enjoy their pool while they were vacationing in Peru.

Tree lizards (Urosaurus ornatus) were hanging out on the walls around the pool.

Following lunch, it was just too hot to do anything more outside, so we visited the J Family, who hosted our family for 3 different years during our field seasons.

Megan had been anxious to see one of her best friends, Hannah. They have been corresponding via snail mail and exchanging photos over the years. They were so excited to be able to spend the afternoon together in person.

Ian and Reed reunited to rescue toads "stuck" in a hole.

Grandma J still has her late afternoon routine of spraying down the tortoise pen and feeding all her critters (a menagerie that puts ours to shame).

It was so fun to see everyone and reminisce. We really love this family and are so glad they "adopted" us years ago. They fed us dinner and dessert (as always--no one ever goes hungry at this house!). Then as darkness approached, we packed up and headed back to the desert sands for some scorpion catching.

Megan and Hannah worked as a team with one black light, and Ian and Reed worked with the other.

Dallin once again fell asleep and missed the adventure. It is always surprising just how many scorpions are crawling around the desert at night. Each team ended up with a small bucket full of the arachnids.

The day sadly came to an end, and we bid farewell to our friends.

Summer Vacation 2009--Part 1

The LONG Drive

For a family vacation this year we decided to go to California to visit Grandpa Tsukamoto. Erin was just a baby four years ago when we last saw him and didn't remember him at all, and Dallin needed to meet him. It took a lot of work to pack for 6 people for 10 days! April tried unsuccessfully to get everyone to start packing a week early. We ended up cramming everything into the last couple of days before leaving, but we eventually got out of the house with a shred of sanity still intact.

This was the scene in the car while still in Logan.

We stopped in SLC to see Grandpa Young and tell him Happy Birthday. We gave him some homemade chocolate-covered dried cherries that Kevin picked, April processed, and everyone loved. We also took a tour of the basement to see the damage done by a broken pipe, but that's a story for another day. Ian found a hat there which he calls his "straw fedora."

Here is a picture on their nice new porch swing.

We continued our long drive and somehow made it to St. George around midnight after many stops, where everyone collapsed in our motel room. The following morning we visited one of Kevin's and April's high school friends, Nancy W. The children had no idea who she was, but they had a good time playing with her 4 boys before buckling up for the remainder of the long drive.

Our rest stops consisted of pulling off for "ranch exits" or other non-populated areas where the children could stretch their legs running around catching critters.

Attempting to catch lizards at one of our rest stops

Dallin was a MUCH better traveler than Erin was at his age. He was happy for most of the drive, though he needed lots of attention. He had a good time being out of his car seat at the rest stops. He can't be trusted with a sippy cup, though--his clothes got wet very quickly.

We enjoyed this cool barrel cactus in bloom. Besides these, there were a lot of prickly little cacti that were hard to avoid, but they were not flowering.

April was very pleased when Megan found the first horned lizard scat and Erin found the second. Must be the top-notch training they've received! No one found any horned lizards though.

Multitasking Father: Balancing Child C on head while holding Child D in arms

Artsy Photo Attempt

About an hour away from Yuma, we stopped to look for scorpions with our black light (which we have for just such occasions). But by this time Megan and Erin were asleep, so Kevin and Ian looked while Dallin and April gazed at the stars.

We arrived at our friends' house in Yuma around 11:00 p.m. and settled down for the night. We had to get our sleep before venturing out early for our much-anticipated horned lizard hunt.

Sneak Preview!

One of many rest stops on the drive:

Catching lizards in Yuma, AZ:

Cooling off:

Playing with Grandpa T on Carlsbad Beach, CA:

Darth Vader statue made entirely of Legos at Legoland:

More fun in a swimming pool:

Dallin learning the word "fish."

In a shark cage:

Group Photo:

Stay tuned for complete stories and more photos of our adventures after we return.