Cousins and Friends - July 2015

Now that I have a little more time, I thought I'd catch up on some blogging. Last July, my niece was baptized in New Mexico, so the kids and I took a road trip. It was great seeing my brother, sister-in-law, their three darling daughters and my parents. We went to Window Rock and visited the Navajo Nation Museum and Navajo Nation Zoo. I tried steamed corn for the first time. It was delicious :)

Michael and two of his cousins.

"Bob"

 

"Mo"

All the cousins. I love those smiles...

...and the bear faces. Notice the signs in the two pictures above? Yeah, well, somebody chose to ignore them and here...

...is the bear she PETTED. I am glad no one needed to have their fingers stitched back on.

On the way home, we saw a sign for a souvenir place where you could also feed the ostriches. The kids had SO MUCH FUN feeding the ostriches :)

 

I love this pictue of Gwen.

One of the other great things about this trip was getting to stay with and spend time with my BFF. 

Visitors

Last week, my brother Matt, sister-in-law Stephanie, their two darling daughters, Ruby and Coral, and my mom came to visit. We really enjoyed their company. Not only was it fun to see them all, they were the easiest house guests I've ever had because they took care of dinner every night they were here. My kids are clamoring for more Navajo tacos, so, Steph and Matt, if you have time to put your recipe on your blog...

Speaking of blogs, the credit goes to Matt and Stephanie for inspiring me to start blogging and for setting the bar high for what a stellar blog should be. I may sound like I am laying it on a bit thick, but their blog really is one of my favorites to read.

While they were here, they picked their new cocker spaniel up at the airport. My kids tried their very best to spoil that dog ROTTEN while she was here. Here is Rachel doing Science schoolwork on the back porch, holding Olive the 2nd, because, "she's LONELY."

Coral and Naomi are three months apart in age. It was fun to see them together.

Michael and Ruby are also three months apart and Michael had fun with another three year old to play with. Stephanie, Matt and Grandma took Coral, Ruby and Michael to the San Diego Zoo the second day they were here and I think it was the beginning of a beautiful friendship.

The San Diego Zoo

We left early on Monday the 22nd, before I listened to the news , to go to the San Diego Zoo. I should have realized there was something wrong when we saw this thick, dark cloud as we headed south on the freeway.

As we drove through the smoky part of San Diego County , this is what the sky looked like...

...and this was the sun.

Thankfully, the air at the zoo was clearer and even though it took us twice as long as usual to get there, we had a fun visit.

Some of my favorite animals are the large reptiles (which I might be seeing more of soon...) and they had some spectacular ones.

This male Indian Gharial was probably 5 or 6 yards long.

Here is a skeleton of a female.

Every time we go, I always have to see the Komodo Dragon!

Naomi really liked this wood duck.

Here's a slide show of the pictures that need no explanations...

...and finally, some piggies and some piggies :)

Rodeo Drive

I made a deal with Summer that if she finished the summer work for her honors classes by Monday, I'd take her on one last shebang outing before school started. I suggested the zoo and she wanted to go to the mall, so we compromised and went to Rodeo Drive in Beverly Hills.

We drove on the LA freeways (maybe that took care of the zoo part).

We parked on th 5th level of a municipal parking garage.

We drooled.

We drooled some more...and you can see the salesman in the mirror coming to tell me,"No photography in the store, please."

Naomi found some shoes in Gucci that she liked, or maybe it was the bear.

Rachel liked this pleated purple dress in the Dior window.

We were all fascinated with the underground window displays at Prada.

What cute kids. I'd take them over a Tiffany diamond any day.

Lastly, here the cuties are again in front of the building designed by Frank Lloyd Wright.

It's a Zoo Around Here...

...or a barnyard...or something. Michael is a cow today (his all time favorite clothes) and Naomi is a bunny. Too cute...or two cute...or something!