Phoenix was wonderful, and in spite of 115 degree temperatures, it really is a “dry heat” and we found it quite tolerable. The Kipps have a nice pool and we all enjoyed the refreshing dips. While in Phoenix we went tubing on the Salt River, which was a lot of fun and nice and cool.

Sedona is a beautiful place, surrounded by and filled with rock formations from ages of mother nature’s work. We took a “Pink Jeep” tour of the Dry River Gulch and it was a blast, rough enough to be exciting, but not too scary for the average person. The downtown shopping area was also cool. While we didn’t visit any of the so-called vortexes, the natural “spirituality” of the beauty that surrounds you is something that you cannot escape.

Finally on to the true wonder of the world, The Grand Canyon. The road from Sedona to Flagstaff is not to be missed for any driving enthusiast. Fantastic switchbacks on a climb to a 6500′ summit with an incredible overlook. From Flagstaff we took a slightly longer route to the canyon that brought us in from the east, along the rim. We made a stop at the Little Colorado Gorge along the way and bought some Navajo jewelry. We stopped at an eastern overlook, and at my first real view of the canyon I admit to getting quite misty-eyed. No photograph or video, hi def or otherwise, can do it justice, it simply must be seen. Absolutely magnificent. I got myself up at 4:00 to catch the sunrise. From Grandview point, I was in solitude for much of the morning, climbing my way out as far as I dared, I set up and started shooting, losing myself in the beauty of the morning. Eventually I was joined by a couple of other shutterbugs, but everyone was silent, just watching it unfold. Truly unforgettable. We spent the morning at the canyon, and went back for the sunset. low clouds spoiled the view a bit, but it was still fantastic. Before heading back the next morning, we got one more view of the canyon, this time from a helicopter!

Off we headed back to Phoenix, with a stop along historic Route 66 for lunch at “Cruiser’s Diner”. What could be better? Back in Phoenix we had another full day to spend with our friends, relax, and enjoy some superb meals before heading home.

Where was Meagan in all this? She was in Ireland, Wales and England, but that’s another story…

Yep, it’s a wrap. Meagan officially crossed the stage to collect her diploma on July 20th and sealed the deal unofficially with a graduation party on the 26th (thanksto everyone who shared in the celebration!). Pictures from graduation are in the gallery.

Meagan is off to Ireland, Wales and England for some time with friends and before you know it, the summer will pass and she’ll be off to UD!

We didn’t hear much about the prom for several days since she left for the physics trip at 4 the next morning (yikes!), but it seems they all had a good time.

Another High School moment passed on the rapid march to college!

Senior Finale

After 14 years of softball, Meagan played her last Varsity game for Salisbury. No, it didn’t end in glorious victory, but it ended with team spirit, genuine relationships, and strong emotions. I’ve enjoyed every one of those years, and every stage of her growth as a player, from the cat herding days of T-Ball to the “Please don’t talk to me during the game” days of a young woman. I don’t know what else to say. I’m proud of you Meagan. Always have been and always will be.

Martin is a wonderful combination of technology and craftsmanship. Many modern, high tech machines are used yet the guitars are touched by human hands almost continuously from the preparation of the raw materials all the way through the final tuning before they leave the door. The workshop id clean, well laid out, and all in all it looks like a nice place to work as far as a factory environment goes.

Martin established their factory in Nazareth in 1859 and has operated continuously since then. They currently have about 500 employees in Nazareth (if I remember correctly) and they also produce guitars in Mexico. The guitars are very expensive and with customizations can easily reach into the tens of thousands of dollars! I guess I won’t be playing one any time soon but it was fun to watch them being made.

We ate good food, had a nice hike with the Webelos on Saturday, relaxed, and had fun. I took my telescope along this time, thinking the boys would get a charge out of it. Too much moonlight to see some of the more interesting sky objects, but they liked it anyway. Frankly the adults were a lot more interested, no surprise there I guess!

Pictures in the gallery

Meagan did a wonderful job as did the entire cast. Congratulations to everyone!

Meagan seems to have really found an attraction to theatre and being on stage. No one has any idea where she would get that from… I guess she regrets a little that she didn’t get involved until her senior year, but she had a blast and I’m sure she will carry this into college.

Speaking of college, for both of you who aren’t on Facebook, Meagan has decided to become a University of Deleware Fightin’ Blue Hen! We’re all very excited and personally, I’m looking forward to taking over her room for some purpose or another.

Softball season is also already in full swing. No pictures yet but the team looks solid despite a first game loss. We’ll get ‘em next game!

So much doing on that I just never got around to writing. Friends on Facebook have seen most of the happenings, but this is a brief summary. Also, check the Family gallery, the basketball gallery and the scout gallery for updates.

Early snow on the ground, and snow for Christmas, which was nice. We had a great time as usual with family and were happy that the season found everyone in good health and good spirits.

At the end of January William and I and the rest of his Scout troop went to the Klondike Derby at Camp Minsi. This is a fun event where the boys take a sled around to multiple stations where they need to demonstrate scouting skills from first aid to hatchet throwing (yeah, I don’t know how that is a scout skill either!). At the end of the day, our boys won the competition! They were thrilled as our troop has not placed well in this competition for many years.

Indoor soccer season came and went, not very eventful and not very fruitful, but the kids had fun. Basketball season is upon us now and the season is in the final weeks. William’s team has been on a real tear lately and won 5 of their last 6 games. Looks like they are headed to the playoffs!

I took a few pictures on Saturday and went back Sunday to film the show for the cast party. It’s a lot of fun to watch the kids watch themselves for the first time! The video is huge so it probably won’t be up on line forever.