Imagination Ave....

Today, Jenny and Gadiel came over for a "playdate" since Jasmine didn't have school due to a "teacher's conference". We went to a place called "Imagination Ave".... which is a little town for kids. It has a hospital, post office, houses, dress shop, streets, etc.

After playing there for a couple of hours, we ate lunch at Red Lobster. Jazzy and Gadiel got to pet a lobster.

Jazzy in her wedding dress from the "dress shop"

Dr. Jasmine administering a treatment in the hospital.

Jenny, Gadiel and Jasmine eating lunch at Red Lobster.

Tonto National Monument

Today we left Cherry Creek Lodge and drove about 60 miles to Payson, AZ. I hadn't been there for many years and it certainly has changed quite a bit. About 12 miles north of Payson is the Tonto National Bridge. We had to climb down some steep terrain to get to the bridge/monument, but it was well worth it. Very pretty with a natural waterfall spilling over the bridge.

Dr. Vince and Jazzy sitting under the bridge with the waterfall in the background.

Jazzy playing with some hound dog puppies at the ranch.

More photos from Cherry Creek Lodge

Cherry Creek Lodge vacation....

Yesterday we picked Dr. Vince up at the Phoenix Mesa Gateway Airport ..... a little airport in Mesa....and drove a very scenic 180 miles on semi-paved roads to Cherry Creek Lodge in Young, Arizona. The "driveway" alone to the lodge is 5.1 miles. We saw lots of billowing smoke on our way here and weren't sure what it was. Turns out, there are "controlled burns" in the area.

The lodge is in a beautiful setting with alot of history. Apparently, there was a multi-generational family feud. Cherry Creek Lodge sits on a 300,000 acre working cattle ranch. There are horses for trail riding, archery, hunting--- if someone is into that sort of thing, and Jeep Tours.. which is what we did.

This morning, we walked down to the barn to visit the horses, then over to the lake to skip some stones. We had a nice home made breakfast since this is a B & B. We brought all our other meals from Whole Foods market in our big cooler.

Later we went on a Jeep Tour of the area. This redefined 4-wheeling for *me*. We went thru some very rough terrain, rocks, thru creeks, into canyons, and saw lots of huge Elk bull tracks. Later we took a nap. Amazingly, Jazzy slept thru part of the Jeep tour as we were almost bouncing out of the jeep.

Tomorrow we will leave and drive a short distance over to Payson and do some hiking, stay there the night... then go back to 114 degrees in Phoenix.




Having breakfast
Checking out the horses
Skipping stones at 6:30 AM
In front of the barn
Jeep Tour

Gymnastics....

Miss Kay, Jazzy's regular gymnastics teacher was absent yesterday.... so Amanda Borden taught the class. Jasmine had a lesson from the world champion all around gymnast in the Olympics.... not exactly sure which year. Amanda is very bubbly, kind of jumps around when she talks, and was born and raised in Tempe. She owns the gym where Jazz takes lessons- which is why it is called "Gold Medal Gymnastics".

Books I managed to read this year...

while waiting for Jazzy at gymnastics, swimming, piano, cheerleading, karate, and now 45 minutes twice a day dropping off and picking up for school:

"Freakonomics" by Steven Levitt - Does a good job of explaining strange phenomenon like why the crime rate has diminished in NYC (and other places) over the last 30 years.

"Decision Points" by George W. Bush. He's not such a bad guy after all. Interesting childhood and life he had/has.

"Your Soul's Plan: Discovering the Real Meaning of Life You Planned before Birth" by Robert Schwartz. Numerous examples of between life agreements between people. Ho hum... written for total beginner. Kind of boring. Didn't really finish it. Got bad reviews because of his boring writing style.

"Messages from the Masters" Brian Weiss MD. Psychiatrist who specializes in past life regression. He has written many books, most of which I've read over the years. Hundreds of cases. He uses the information in the past life and between life regression to heal the patient of various anxieties and other ailments.

"Growing Up in Heaven- The Eternal Connection Between Parent and Child" by James Van Praagh. Producer of the show "Medium" with Allison Dubuois- the "intuitive" who works with the Phoenix Police Department and is now a prosecuting attorney. Death of children and how they continue on in the "between life" environment. Again, I've read most, if not all of his books. Usually go to his "psychic development" courses when he is in Phoenix. Too bad I'll be missing the one happening tomorrow in Phoenix:(

"Glimpses of Eternity- Shared Death Experiences" by Raymond Moody, MD. People occasionally mention to me that when their animal is put to sleep, they have a "shared death experience". Book has many examples of this.

"Pompeii- City on Fire" by T.J. Higley. Author is an English Literature/History professor who writes novels about true occurrences in history, but makes it really interesting in a novel format. Always been interested in Rome/Pompeii. Maybe I'll read all of her other books that have to do with other periods in history.

"A Stolen Life" by Jaycee Dugard. In 1991, Jaycee was an 11 yr old girl who was kidnapped by Phillip and Nancy Giordo. Kept for 18 years in a backyard compound, kept tied up for years, raped often. The book is very graphic and written in very basic language... i.e kind of like a 14 year old girl's writing.

"Anastasia of Russia" by Vladimir Megre. Now I'm reading Book One of this 8.2 Ringing Cedar Book Series. Fantasy book about "spiritual principles"... natural gardening, living on the land, communication, in perfect harmony with the land in the wilds of Siberia. Going to take me a long time to get thru 8.2 (9) books!

August party

Today we spent most of the day at Aunt Doreen's house for the annual August birthday party. There are alot of people in the family born in August.... hence the one big party for everyone. We had a hamburger shaped/decorated cake, hot dogs and all the fixings with it, and lots of presents.


Jazzy and Jade

Getting ready to blow out the candles

Aunt Doreen, Grandma and Jazzy

Eating lunch, Grandpa Blakeman looking on, Jerry in the background.

A picture of me that Jasmine took. It's kind of fuzzy, but at least it's centered.