Reid Park Zoo

Now, who doesn't love a zoo!  The giraffes   were up close with thier very long, black tongues . . .and  then the elephants.  Reid park has a fairly new elephant exhibit that is pretty interesting.  You can watch the trainers work with them up close and ask questions.  Lia loved the peacocks running around everywhere, also.  I liked the icecream the best!

Early Thanksgiving

Doug and Tammy and Lia are here with us and Stephanie also.  They all arrived this past weekend.  They will all have to leave before Thanksgiving so we had our traditional turkey dinner early.

But first we had to take time for Lia to trim the Christmas tree.  Tammy has been telling her we were going to do that at grandpa and grandma's house so she was ready.  I had the tree up and mostly decorated but I saved a few ornaments for her.  She was so into it, was really fun.

But the sweetest part was when she was finished putting on ornaments and then we let her turn on the little switch to light the tree!  She was absolutly mystified, the look on her face of surprise and wonder was memorable. Like she had never seen anything so beautiful. Such a precious moment.

El Tour de Tucson

For the first time in the history of el Tour de Tucson it rained all day long--on the heels of an all night rain and rain yesterday also.  Absolutely unheard of rains for southern Arizona.  But the ride went on.  8000 bikers braved the nasty weather and rain.  Will was one of them.  He did the 60 mile ride and finished with his personal best inspite of the soggy weather.  He finished in 3 hrs and 30 mins--180th out of 895 who did the 60 mile portion.  (There were several lenghts one could go--100+,80+, 60+, 30, even a 5 miler for families with little kids.)

He's suiting up with rain gear, trying to stay dry and warm.  Waiting for take off.

The route went fairly close to our neighborhood so we estimated what time he might be coming through and drove over there and stood in the rain to try to catch a glimpse of him coming through.  Sure enough about 10 minutes later, here he came!  He even stopped and chatted for a few seconds--which you know ultimately added a minute or so to his time.

 

Was really fun that both kids were here to see thier dad do this!  He appreciated the support and encouragement too!

And then he was off in the rain again.

Interesting shot of the riders strung out along route with misty mountains in the background.

 

You'd think with the nasty weather a lot of people would have bailed but according to the news, just a small percentage of people who signed up didn't actually ride.  No one wanted to miss the fun!

 

 

 

Getting ready for the holidays

The holidays are coming early to this house!  The kids are coming so we wanted the house to look festive--well we wanted the tree up for Lia, especially.  So if the tree goes up, then the rest of decorationd should go up, too.  I put the tree up--its a new tree this year, by the way--while Will put up the outside lights.  We are actually the first in our neighborhood to get them up and that is a first!

I even got into a little baking!  Been a long time since I decorated gingerbread men. 

Doug and family

Doug has been in the US most of November, working mostly, traveling around the US for Dominoes and had a couple of days between meetings so he stopped in to see some family.  He flew from Detroit to Omaha and then did a mini road trip.   His first stop was Rock Valley where he had lunch with Gram and caught up on all the DeBoer news.  Then on to Westside for an evening with Uncle Larry and Aunt Jean.  Don't think they have seen each other since Larry and Jean came to thier wedding in New York almost 8 years ago.

My big brother is looking pretty good, I see he is walking with a cane--he recently had hip replacement surgery.  

Doug's next stop was Ann Arbor Michigan at corporate headquarters for another couple days of work before he comes to Tucson.  The whole crew is coming for Thanksgiving week! 

Wine and cheese reception for bikers

We enjoyed a little reception at the Habitat office in Tucson for the 18 or so bicyclists who are riding to raise money in this weekend's el Tour de Tucson for Habitat for Humanity.  They picked up their shirts and proudly displayed them for pictures.

Some will ride the entire route of 120 miles or so, some will do shorter sanctioned lengths--Will is doing 60 miles.  One lady who is wheelchair bound because she actually lost both of her legs will be riding a hand bicycle--thats her in the pink blouse.  Word is they have already raised $13,000.  The "homeowners" who will directly benefit from this "ride for home" were also there and they were so excited.

Outting to Phoenix

Drove up to Phoenix today to meet up with Doug.  He's in the US for a month and traveling around the country to various Dominoes locations for "training" and gathering information about the US Dominoes  Pizza brand.  This week he is in Phoenix and we were able to have dinner with him before he flew back to New Jersey and his family for the weekend.  He is doing great!

Hike to the Pools

Our souls needed another hike in the desert!  This time to Romaro Pools in Catalina State Park. Tucson looks like it is a long way off from up here, and it truly is a world away when you start climbing the trail. 

Our destination.  Perfect cool, still water in the mountain catch basin.

Can you find the horny toad?  More correctly, a horned lizard.  Gotta look close. Perfect camouflage. We were looking right at him and lost him twice!!