By the pool

 

In Arizona we spent a lot of our time by the pool.  When we first arrived the pool water temperature was in the 50's.  This was a little frigid but it did not stop us from swimming.  But we did use the floating pool furniture a bit more, and we kept short our time actually in the water.  We found the cold water very invigorating.

Later after the pool warmed up there was more 'Marco Polo' and swimming the length of the pool under water.  The kids were impressed that I could do 2 laps underwater.  Stuey could do one. When the cousins arrived it was tossing the football around.  The trick was to catch the football in the air and pass it back before landing in the water.

Of course we had to share the pool with the bees.  They came from far and wide for water.  There is not much water in the desert and the pool must have seemed like a HUGE oasis.  At first the bees freaked out the kids and they called them hornets.  But after a while they realized that the bees meant no harm, and that they really do not want to sting you because when they do they die.  They are NOT hornets.  We found that you could even let them land on you.

Patrick

On arrival the pool water was freezing so we spent a lot of time floating around on the pool toys

Nora love, LOVED the fresh raspberries we could get at Safeway

My favorite activity was cooking brats and hotdogs on the grill fired with local catcall mesquite that I gathered in the desert

A 'Jack fruit' and it cost less than 4 dollars at the local Safeway!

A very interesting fruit - it tasted like chewing gum