June

 This winter and spring I played in a trio with a cellist and violist.  It was fun to play chamber music and get some professional coaching.  We perfomed a Dohnanyi trio for a concert in June.

We enjoyed a day at Cliff's Amusement Park in Albuquerque.  Jack and Sasha loved the kiddie rides.

Sasha loved the rollercoasters.

Our first family chamber music performance at the Tea Party Fund Raiser for Sasha's school. 

Father's Day water balloon fight.

In June we took a western road trip, half tent camping and half hotels.  The first stop was in Pagosa Springs at a group campsite with some other families from Santa Fe.  The river running beside the campground provided hours of entertainment (fishing, floating down on a raft, wading).  The downers were that it was very cold at night, so cold that Phil and I had a hard time sleeping.  The kids slept like logs thankfully.  The other problem were the bugs that attacked Phil's legs leaving him with so many itchy painful bites (chiggers someone said?)

Both kids LOVE to fish

Jack with his new Ironman fishing pole.  He was a natural caster.

The next stop was introducing the kids to the Grand Canyon.  We stayed in the Yavapai (Yapapai as the kids said) Lodge for 2 nights.  The first morning we hiked down the Bright Angel trail to the 1 1/2 mile point.  The kids were super hikers and Jack did the whole thing by himself even though we had brought the hike back pack.

Great photo, Sasha!

Drinks on the porch of the fancy lodge. 

I will always have great memories of riding bikes along the rim trail at sunset.  Some might question the wisdom of letting Jack, new to pedal bikes, ride along the edge of the biggest canyon in the world.  It all worked out...

The second morning we saw this beautiful elk on our way to the hike.

We did the Kaibab trail on day 2.  Phil and I had never done this one and were blown away by the views of this new perspective.  The trail was steeper than Bright Angel, but again the kids were such good hikers.

Might be time to head back up.

Next stop was Manzanita Campground in Oak Creek Canyon north of Sedona.  It was the best camping experience we've had a family.  Perfect weather, delicious food, and a refreshing creek steps from our campsite.  Sasha and Jack made quick friends with the 2 boys at the adjacent campsite and they spent a good part of the day catching crawdads with them. 

Just downcreek from our site was a deeper fishing hole where the kids caught some nice looking trout.

One day we went into Sedona for lunch and got roped into attending a timeshare presentation in exchange for a free helicopter ride for the family. 

It was worth the hour we had to spend listening to the aggressive saleswoman.  Although I was so thankful when the helicopter landed.  Turns out my motion sickness applies to helicopters too. 

Cathedral Rock hike. 

Master hikers.

One of the Sedona locals told us about this great park tucked in on a side street.  It was a wonderful way to beat the near 100 degree heat midday.

Our last stop was Canyon de Chelly on the Navajo reservation.  We got there about an hour before sunset and so we got to experience the magical last light down into the canyon.  We hiked down to see the White House ruins, cliff dwelling from at least one thousand years ago. 

The trail was so fun over slick rock and through rock tunnels.  We could almost imagine that we were ancient Anasazi Indians returning to our home in the canyon after a day spent up above.

White House ruins