Bioshpere 2

Our second stop was a little jaunt out of Tucson to take a tour of Biosphere 2. It was built in the 80's as a completely self contained environment with 5 different ecosystems. Half a dozen scientist locked themselves in and lived off the food they could grow etc. for 2 years. The project had been privately bank rolled and part way through its second mission, the owners decided to turn it into a different kind of research facility. It is now used by a university and they give guided tours.

For some reason, these are the only pictures I can find. I know we took a lot. They may have fallen victim to our computer difficulties earlier. If they are the only casualties, I will count my blessings. The tour is about 2 hours of walking (no stroller access) and the kids all did super great. The sic-fi lover in me was positively giddy. It was fascinating to walk through the different ecosystems and to hear about how the scientists innovated their way through anticipated and unforeseen problems.

In Our NP Passports: Saguaro National Park

We shipped Cori's car and chose to make the drive to Texas. We moved over the kids' spring break and tried to make it up to them by planning a few stops along the way. The first two were not very far from Phoenix. They are places we had been curious to visit and just never got around to. First stop was Saguaro National Park. We purchased a NP Passport for Jeffers and he got his first stamp.

(I'm on instagram again - hence the filters and borders. Because, for some reason my unfiltered pictures just don't seem to belong on Instagram...)

Late February and early March are the lovely spring months in the Arizona dessert. All the lady slippers were in bloom. For probably about 3/4 of the year, these plants just look like dead, thorny branches sticking out of the earth. But when they are blooming they are so pretty!

We spent a little time in the visitor center and then drove a dirt trail loop to see all the cacti. The video we watched in the center talked about the saguaro cactus' place in the dessert ecosystem and then focussed primarily on how Native American's regard the saguaro. The Hohokam called them the 'people of the mountain'. After driving amongst them for a while, Cori and I commented on how it felt like driving through a crowd. Old people, young people, families of people all doing different things. Ancient plants that have been thriving in the dessert for centuries. It was quiet and beautiful.

Leaving Phoenix

So, it would seem I have my computer issues sorted out. At least for now. As the Apple people worked on it and discussed it, the word 'vintage' kept flying around. I asked, and indeed, they were not beating around the bush. Our old desk top is just that. OLD. But after some professional care, it is going to keep getting the job done, so I'm not replacing quite yet.

TIME TO CATCH UP

Leaving Phoenix was heartbreaking for us. Moving is always hard. But this was the hardest we have faced. I cried. A lot. We packed a bunch into our final weeks.

 This was taken the evening of our final fast sunday dinner. For nearly 4 years we spent almost every fast sunday dinner with these two families. They lived around the corner from us, and we all had 4 kids each who were roughly the same ages. The food was always good. The kids always looked forward to running wild with one another. And the grownups were always great company. We are missing a dad and child in this photo, but even with a couple absent, we made a formidable crowd!

We had a few final campfires in the yard. 

Grant spent as much time as he could with his friend Oliver. Oli and Grant were best buddies in their kindergarten class. We found out half way through the school year that Oli lived down the street from us (like, six houses...). 

The Gs enjoyed one last piano lesson with Miss Jannet. She was such a wonderful piano teacher for them. She held high expectations and was always so encouraging. Her patience is mind boggling. And I don't know that I will ever again enjoy the luxury of having a piano teacher who comes to our house. We miss her!

Mindy and Becky organized an open house for the ward to say goodbye. We appreciated this SO MUCH. It is overwhelming to try and get around to everyone. I was a mess during church those last few Sundays. The open house was a perfect way to bid a fond and happy farewell to our ward family. In this photo, the kids are getting a final squeeze from their favorite babysitter, Kyra. Kyra would beat Grant at any game on the Wii, bring the best movies to watch, get everyone in bed on time, and clean the kitchen up. She even kept babysitting for us after she had to deal with a puky Grant on one occasion. She was EVERYBODY's favorite!

Grant got to play a couple of weeks worth of flag football. As usual, he was incandescently happy. That smile is always on his face if he can run and hold/kick/throw/bounce a ball. His first game was on our very last night. Football has such a fun atmosphere to it. Maybe he will try it again. In all honesty though, we will probably try and steer him towards soccer and basketball. (If I had my way he would just play something safe like golf!)

On their last day at Adams, I was at the school for a while getting their withdrawal paperwork sorted. We snapped a picture with Mr. Tude (the tortoise) on our way out to the car. In the weeks that followed, they got texts and pictures from their friends. They got to face time with Makayla and Will. And they got their yearbooks mailed to them. When we looked through their yearbooks, they had been signed by their old classmates. Our Phoenix family is still being good to us!