Family Vacation!

I've been having trouble coming up with something to blog about.  I don't really want to talk about work and right now there isn't much else going on.  As I searched for inspiration I came across some family vacation pictures from summer 2006.  It was our last four person household family vacation before college graduations and weddings.  We went to Arizona and had a great time!  Most of the picture are quite random so I'll do my best to dazzle you with commentary.

My family does enjoying eating out, but we also enjoying being able to cook in every now and then even while on vacation.  Don't get the wrong impression, our plates almost never look this healthy.  I guess pretty scenery makes you want to live life to the fullest...that or all the walking around reminds you that you should really shed those last few holiday pounds so they don't follow you to the pool.

Beautiful!  I can't remember the name of the hotel.  I would love to go back...and actually swim in the pool this time.  Our family spends our vacations doing a bunch of stuff instead of relaxing.

One of the things I remember most was talking to my sister as we went to sleep about the future.  We were very excited that this would be the last time sleeping on the pull out sofa bed together.  We were both planning weddings and looking forward to the days of not sharing a hotel room with our parents and therefore having the nice bed.  (Sorry Mom and Dad!)  We laughed and gave each other a swift kick for old times sake.

I think I took of picture of these ducks because I couldn't take a picture of the quail that were everywhere.  Ducks I can keep up with and take a picture of...quail not so much.  The quail were really cute though.

I'm starting to notice I have lots of pictures of random things and almost no pictures with people.  I know what they look like though.  If I hadn't taken a picture of this frog statue, I would not have remembered it at all.  The frog looks really grouchy.  I think I would be grouchy if I was in the sun all day too!

Have you ever had that moment when you wish you took a picture of something before devouring it?  I attempted to artistically arrange the forks as a short-term monument to a really good piece of chocolate cake.  The more amazing aspect of this is the fact the four of us shared one plate...and germs!  

Have I mentioned my family is from Wisconsin?  We were really excited to see this Wisconsin theme restaurant!

Only a Wisconsin theme restaurant would have an entire section of the menu dedicated to cheese.  Take that you California cows!  They didn't serve California cheese because they knew they could do better!

If you are in Arizona during the summer you should definitely drink lots of water because dehydration sneaks up faster there than it does in Texas!  The murky glass of water is actually lemonade....Dad always has to be "special".  I did appreciate the really big glasses of water...until I had to go to the bathroom every ten minutes.

As a trained history teacher I appreciate historical things...most of the time.  I was pretty lost as to what all of this was about.  It was one of those "let's stop there" kind of moments that didn't turn out to be very rewarding.

Why look at old stuff when you can take pictures of random lizards?  This reminds me of the lizard that is currently inhabiting my classroom at school.  He is more like a gecko though.  He spends most of the day behind my file cabinet but does enjoy greeting me when I walk in every morning.  Hopefully he fares better than my pet ladybug last year...he fried on my windowsill.  We he hadn't moved in a few weeks I knew something was wrong.

This is the kind of old stuff I find interesting.  You can't tell from the picture but this dwelling was unbelievably far up the side of this cliff.  I would need an insanely tall ladder.  The natives living in this area carved all sorts of cool  buildings into canyon walls.

We also visited a little place called the Grand Canyon.  Mike always talks about going to visit and taking the tour where you ride a mule all the way down to the bottom and camp there for the night.  No thanks!  I would be interested in going rafting on the part of the Colorado River than runs through there though.

Unfortunately, our vacation ended abruptly when we realized that everything really is bigger in Texas.  I couldn't live with ketchup bottles this small!  No wonder they give you so many at one time!  The novelty of these did eventually wear off though when I realized there are a lot of places where you can buy both mini ketchup bottles and their tiny Tabasco sidekicks.

I forgot to mention we saw lots of cactus while we were there.  Though they are potentially violent, I do think they have a fairly friendly appearance since they always seem to be waving at you.  The blurry guy in the back ground is my dad doing his best cactus impersonation.  For those of you who think he is doing a good job...my dad is the one on the left.  See him now?

Overall, it was a great family vacation!