Relaxing Weekend in Flagstaff

It is finally starting to feel like summer in Flagstaff! This week it was consistently in the 80's during the day and sunny, and we experienced our first "monsoon" rainfall. In July and August in Flagstaff it is typically dry and sunny, but most days around 5 or 6 o'clock the sky drops HUGE raindrops (and sometimes hail) for about 15 minutes, and then the sky is clear again. It took us by surprise this Saturday, but was pretty cool to watch.

Our week was pretty routine, and Friday we took Madeline to her new vet (who was wonderful!) for her annual exam, and to run a few tests. Maddie is getting older, and has demonstrated a few weird behaviors lately, but the vet thinks she is doing ok -- we'll know for sure early next week. After that we just hung out around the house and cooked a delicious dinner - it was a new recipe for fettucini with pancetta -- delicious!

On Saturday I took a walk through Thorpe Park with my friends Heather, Amy, Heather's son Max, and Amy's dog Luna. It was a beautiful day! We also walked through downtown to check out the traveling Vietnam wall that was in Wheeler Park, and got Max some ice cream. Jason took a long bike ride through some trails by our house. He says "It was Awesome" and he "Put his new mountain bike through the paces" -- those are in fact direct quotes. Afterward, our friends Heather and Greg came over to have a few beers and do some people watching on our front walk, and then Jason, Greg, and I went to a restaurant to watch UFC with our friends Josh and Mary Hampton and a few other Flagstaff folks. If you aren't a UFC fan, it was UFC 100, which is a big milestone. I started watching somewhere around UFC 50, and Jason remembers watching the 1st UFC with his dad when he was younger. The restaurant, Jackson's Grill, was a good place to watch the fight, and the food was "ok"...it does have a great outdoor patio though, which would be great for happy hour sometime this summer.

Today we cleaned the house, ran errands, and drove out to Lake Mary to take a walk. Living in the desert has its advantages, but a disadvantage is that we don't have close access to many bodies of water. Jason and I increasingly miss the water:( So, we got our fix today walking around Lake Mary. It is a bit crowded with boats because it is the only lake within an hour, but it was pretty and an easy walk. Above is a picture of the lake that I found online. Unfortunately, our camera broke a couple weeks ago, so as you can see, we don't have any personal pictures of our fun weekend. But, we bought a new camera online, and it should arrive sometime this week, so hopefully we'll have pictures soon!
Here is a great picture we got this week though from our sister-in-law Cindy of our niece Emelie. It was finally warm enough in Massachusetts for Emelie to wear the dress Jason and I sent her for her 1st birthday -- isn't it too cute!

We are heading to Massachusetts in July for a short trip, and can not wait to spend time with her (and the rest of the family!)
Not much going on this week, but looking forward to next weekend when we can hang around town more and enjoy the great weather!