Father & Son Campout

Kevin took Ian and Dallin on the annual Father and Son Campout.

It was held at a campground near Julian, CA.

Dallin enjoyed climbing this tree stump.

And those are the only photos that Kevin took.

Super Moon 2012

We heard on the news about the "Super Moon" that would appear larger than normal tonight.

It was incredibly beautiful.

Megan and Ian had some fun posing and taking photos.

Here are their results:

Trip to Dunes

We were invited by Professor Lahti to accompany her ecology class
on a field trip to the edge of the Algodones Dunes.

Our job was to catch lizards to show the class after they did some field experiments.

Armed with lizard nooses, our children were ready for work.

Ian was the master lizard nooser and caught a fringe-toed lizard, 

a desert iguana, and a zebra-tailed lizard to show the class.

FTHL Update

Some Flattails still insist on basking on the road on the BMGR.

Unfortunately, other drivers don't notice them too well.

Hmmm...looks like another drought year.

Where are all the annuals???

This guy was trying his best to hide from me.

This one must have thought if he closed his eyes and 

couldn't see me that I couldn't see him either.

Regardless of what this lizard did to avoid being seen,

it sadly failed and ended up getting munched by a predator.
That's one less lizard to have to radio track.

Playtime at the Park

We mentioned meeting up with our friend Natasia last year when we went to Phoenix. Hoping to visit again, we contacted her prior to our trip and arranged to meet at a park across the street from the Mesa Temple, while Kevin took Megan and Ian to do baptisms.

The children had a great time playing, in spite of the heat.

The little guys enjoyed the slides...

...and the swings.

Erin and Little Miss C acted like best friends 

even though they don't know each other too well.

The zipline was fun to ride.

We ate snacks and drank home-squeezed lemonade.

Phoenix Zoo Trip--2012

Megan won us tickets to the Phoenix Zoo again this year for winning a first place prize in the Arizona Junior Duck Stamp Contest.

Here is her entry for this year--the Cinnamon Teal pair:

After the awards ceremony we had the remainder of the day to explore the zoo.

We saw lions....

and tigers...

and cheetahs!!!

Dallin and Erin fed the giraffes!

Dallin thought that was pretty exciting.

The children also got up close and personal with the round-tailed ground squirrels.

Megan caught a spiny lizard.

This grackle begged for his photo to be taken.

We tried for some cute children photos too.

 Erin is in a termite mound.

The gerenuks were fun to watch feed.

The zoo folks fed the otters some "popsicle" treats.

Zebras are always worthwhile photo subjects.

The Komodo dragon statue was still there.

Erin is posing as a joey.