October Arizona Vacation

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Well, I'm certainly a little behind in this post, considering I've been back from vacation for a few weeks now!  I always have a great time in AZ and this trip was no different.

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First order of business - planting flowers.  It's become a new tradition for my sister and I to plant our Dad's planters in the Fall.  How great is it to be able to plant flowers in October?

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The planters turned out great, but I completely forgot to take a picture of the finished product.

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Next up:  A boat tour around Saguaro Lake.  In all the years I've been going to Arizona, I've never been to Saguaro Lake.  I'm so glad we finally went.  It's a short 20 minute drive from my Dad's and it's a really beautiful place.  The lake has more than 22 miles of shoreline and when full is about 118 feet deep.  Saguaro Lake is part of the Tonto National Forest, which encompasses 2,873,200 acres!

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Driving through the desert to get to the lake.  It felt like we were in the middle of nowhere!

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Saguaro Lake Marina:

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World's Cutest Brother and my Dad:

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{The fact that my brother has on an U of M tee-shirt is extremely upsetting...I'm trying not to hold it against him}

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This is a picture of the boat we went on for our tour.  My dad almost had to buy 10 tickets even though there were only five of us because they only take the boat out when there are ten people or more.  Luckily a few others showed up to save us!

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World's Cutest Brother was so ticked that he had to wear a life jacket on board!  That's my Grandpa in the background.  He'll be 90 next month.

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Some of the beautiful scenery from our tour:

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The captain had my brother come up and steer the boat.

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Water, wetlands. cactus, mountains.  So beautiful.  When have you ever seen such a combination?!

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Not the best picture, but here's Baby Sister and me.

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I enjoyed a little Grand Canyon brew on the tour.

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If you are in the Phoenix / Scottsdale area, I highly recommend a trip to Saguaro Lake!

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Other vacation highlights:

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World's Cutest Brother and I played quite a few rounds of Stratego.  Have you ever played this game?  It's actually quite fun.  Although, I think my brother was a little frustrated with me at first. . . .it took  me a while to catch on and learn how to play the game!

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We FINALLY made The Pioneer Woman's Cinnamon Rolls.  Wow - they were delicious.  Baby sister and I have wanted to make these forever.  They were worth the wait!

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{I think I'll do a separate post dedicated to the rolls...}

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Lego's by the pool?  Why not!

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I spent A LOT of time laying here and reading.  I finished five books! 

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My brother had two football games while we were there.  It was fun to see him play.

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We went to a Sun's game.  It was a pre-season game but it still was fun!
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At my brothers request, we had dinner at Benihana.  If you aren't familiar with Benihana, they are Japanese Steakhouses where you sit around a hibachi grill and the chef cooks in front of you.  Apparently my brother's friends have been going and talking about them.  When we were there there were several groups of elementary school kids there for their birthdays.  Since when do kids go to Japanese steakhouses for birthday parties?  What happened to Show Biz and Chucky Cheese?  Anyways, the food was delicious and we all had fun sitting around the grill and enjoyed watching the chef.

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Three generations:

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Baby Sister on the left and me on the right:
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It was another great AZ vacation!

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