Family fun in the sun and rain.....

Last week began with back to back bike rides on Monday and Tuesday.  It was fun but not nearly as much fun as having Dana's sister Erica and friend Sandy visit us from Tuesday to Friday.  While they were only here for  3 days we packed in quite a lot of activity.  btw: I am including sunning by the pool as activity.....

We picked the gals up at the Gateway Airport on Tuesday afternoon.  From the airport we went direct to their hotel which, through good planning on Sandy's part was only 5 minutes from our resort.  We hosted Erica and Sandy for dinner and returned them to their hotel.  Food seemed to play a fairly prominent role in the next 3 days as, surprise, all activity was planned around the next meal or snack, including happy hour.

On Wednesday we went to the Gilbert Water Ranch to explore the Riparian Preserve and see what birds were on hand.  We spent the morning searching the bushes and ponds.  It was great fun.  We went back to the resort for lunch.  After lunch Barry went to tennis, the last practice for the year, and the gals went off to enjoy the pool at their hotel.  In the evening we went to the Blue Adobe for dinner.  Note to diners:  Ordering "Christmas" salsa means you will get red hot salsa with your mild green salsa.  HOT, HOT, HOT!

On Thursday morning Barry went to support the 1.5 tennis team who he has been helping coach since January.  It was the teams last league matches of the year.  They won 6 out of 8 matches that morning.  There were a lot of smiles from players and coaches.  The gals headed out to hike the Wind Cave trail at Usery Mountain Park.  We had lunch here at our park model and then went back to hotel to enjoy a few hours in the sun around the pool.  In the evening we got take out pizza from Vito's.  Because it was so warm were enjoyed happy hour and dinner at our patio table in our patio/carport.

Friday was a weather event.  As predicted by the weather forecasters the temperatures dropped and the rain came down in buckets.  As we have said before, weather here is very dramatic.  If you like drama, Friday provided plenty.  Rain, hail, lightening, thunder and high wind.  However, we jumped on a break in the action in the morning and raced to the Salt River for some terrific birding.

And then, just like that, we were heading to the airport Friday afternoon to drop Erica and Sandy so they could catch their afternoon flight back to the Pacific Northwest.  3 days had just evaporated.  While were unable to convince Erica and Sandy to stay for a few more days, we did send them off with smiles on their faces and just maybe a bit of colour in their cheeks.  We hope that they will let others back home know that this is a great place to visit....hint, hint....

Here are a couple of pics from the week.  Enjoy!

Dana, Erica and Sandy at the Gilbert Water Ranch 

Hail on the road up Usery Pass road.  Okay, this is not that exciting but it certainly was at the time.
  Dana was driving and wisely pulled off the road to let the "event" pass.

This Shire foal is 5 days old.
  We spotted him at a small farm that is next to the Gilbert Water Ranch.