Our Christmas with Curt

 We have certainly enjoyed our time with our oldest grandson Curtis this Christmas season. We have been trying to keep him busy and the neighbors keep saying we are never home but what fun we have had.

Christmas Eve in the Pool

Curt could not believe how warm our pool is and the hot tub after is hot, good thing too because Curt brought cold weather with him from Canada.

And yes first time since we started travelling I put up a tree, Sharon Dixon lent it to me and it came supplies with lights and balls, what more could I ask for.  It looked really cute.

 Christmas Day we cooked a turkey and had Rienk and Lona over, played cards until late evening and finished it up with turkey buns, yummmy

Boxing Day Lona make ham and we had friends come up from Casa Grande so it was a festive day.

Dec 27th with the weather cool we did inside things, went to see the Hobbitt at the Imax theatre and then a musical group called the Duttons at the Mesa High School

Dec 28th we took Curt up the Peralta and did a little geocaching and then we met up with friends out at the Arizonian and went on a ride out into the desert for a picnic and to watch for the full moon.

Coel(Doug and Sharons grandson) and Curt had to ride in the trailer on the way out, but they did not mind.

 When we got there, Doug got the fire going and then the guys went out for a ride.

Here is Ron riding with Trent

 Curt riding with Craig

 Chris, Doug and little Luke, can you see the car seat that Doug bolted into the back for Luke, he had the best seat.

 We roasted our wieners and waited for sunset.

 The sun is starting to set, now where is the moon.

 When it came it was spectacular.

What a fun evening.

 Next morning we were up early. We traveled over to north Phoenix to take in the Fiesta Bowl Parade.

Now this parade ended up to be 3 hours long and had so many forms of transportation.

Here is the flyover at the start of the parade.

 Dozens of marching bands from all over the United States.

 Here is the Michigan State band, Michigan State is playing TCU tonight at the Buffalo Wild Bowl in Tempe

 Lots of hot air balloons, remember Tostidos sponsors the Fiesta Bowl

 Dancers

 There were lots of horses, as well as old cars, fancy cars, tractors, etc.

 Here comes the TCU band

 The Fiesta Bowl is on Jan 3 with Oregon state vs Kansas

 What would be a parade without clowns.

 That evening we had tickets for the Buffalo Wild Wings Bowl lots of people out enjoying the Tailgate parties even though it was pretty cool.

 Texas Christian University vs Michigan State

 Michigan State Band

 Parachuters dropped in

 and the fireworks lit up the sky

It was an exciting game with Michigan State squeaking out a 17 to 16 finish at the end, We got home at 1230 in the morning, now that was a long day but a fun one.

Chicago Bears vs Arizona Cardinals

 80,000 fans packed the University of Phoenix Stadium today for a great game of football.

Arizona Cardinals vs the Chicago Bears

(we felt there was probably 65 percent Chicago fans in the stands)

We were early look at the empty seats, they were just about all full at kick off time

 We had great seats, just two rows

 The top was open for the sun and warmth to come in

 Chicago Bears in their huddle

 Arizona cheerleaders all dressed up for Christmas

 In come the Cardinals

Bears won, Arizona fans left after third quarter, took about an hour to get out of the parking lot. Great day

Phoenix Zoolights

Last night we took Curtis, Rienk and Lona and Zoolights.

I wish I was better at taking night pictures but here is what I could get, enjoy.

 Real flamingos, about the only real wildlife we saw

 They put on a wonderful light show to music over the water.

So today we are off to University Stadium to see the Cardinals play the Chicago Bears.

Our ride to Peralta

What a fantastic day, we went on an ATV ride up into the Superstition Mountains.

The last week here in Mesa has been cold and rainy but today the sun was out so we decided to brave the cold and go out for a ride. The Peralta area is very well known to hikers as it has many great trails.
Our friends took us out about 10 miles east of Mesa and we started our ride from there, the ground was very wet but it made for fun riding.

The scenery was spectacular.

The mountains were so sculptured

The desert is very green at the moment

 Trent and Anne led the way, look at the mud, in the desert.

 We stopped at some petroglyphes.

 Doug and Ron got a flat tire on the Razor.

 All fixed, off we go.  Now these people have ridden in the desert for years and they have never seen so much water in the washes, it made for some good fun.  Here come Doug and Ron

 Every corner brought up different views.

 Can you see that saguaro cactus growing on top of that huge rock, crazy.

 We also stopped at a spot that Native American tribe had once lived the holes in the rock are where they would have ground things like corn.

 I liked the look of this old Saguaro standing strong beyond its day.

Thank you Doug and Sharon, Trent and Anne for the fun day, we might take you up on your invite to come back in March to do it again, when it is warmer and we can see all the flowers.