From shorts to snowpants!!!

Minnesota must miss us!!  It went from shorts on Monday to snowpants today!!!  We knew being up in the mountains in the winter brings a good chance of snow.  After a day of rain, snow is what we got.  For the most part the weather here is very nice, and a few days of wetness won't hurt us, so why not just enjoy it!  So we bundled ourselves up, and out we went.  It is in the 30's so it is snowing and yet you hear it melting at the same time.  It sure makes for some nice sticky snow. (Just a little warning, there are many photos and a few videos to follow, and the video is taken on my regular camera so every once in a while you will hear me take a picture).

 There are mountains in the background..we are in the clouds!

 Eskimo Eli!

They made a snowwoman to be me...apparently I was having a really bad hair day;)

Now on to some snow fun..

And here is some more....

The creek behind where we are staying was so beautiful today!  We thank God for his beautiful creation!

Happy Valentines Day!

For Valentines Day we decided to treat ourselves to some 80 degree weather.  We went on down to Scottsdale to do a little hiking.  Yes, we decided we were brave enough to flaunt off our Minnesota winter white legs to the many people we saw ;)  You gotta start somewhere!  Camelback Mountain was the hike of our choice.  It is in a central location, and many people are on the trail every day.  We knew that it would be a 1.2 mile hike to the summit, and that we would climb 1,200 feet, what we did not know was that it would be pretty much a steep, straight up climb, that would be more rock climbing than trail climbing.  Needless to say, kids were not seen on the trail really, just ours and one other.  We heard many comments basically encouraging the boys, and telling them that since they (the boys) could do it, well then I guess those adults were capable of it too.  We are very proud of our 8 and 10 year old sons going the distance.  Well, enough said, here are some photos.....

 Up top is where we reached!

 Thank goodness for the handrail above to help us pull ourselves up...

 We reached the top!!!!

 That is Phoenix and the surrounding area in the background.

 Down, down, down we go..

Now it is off for some In N Out Burger celebration!!!

Nice picture, too bad my eyes are closed =)

Hope your day was great!  We miss you all!

Pony Express Comes To Town

It was a pretty exciting day for the little town of Pine, Arizona! It started off with a power outage, which meant we were pretty cold!  It was only 54 degrees in here, but at least it only lasted a little over an hour. This town has lost power for up to 3 days before, so we were a little worried.  Pictured below is the guys all bundled up with lots of layers...they were even wearing gloves!!!

The boys and I started off our afternoon at our homeschool art classes at the Library. After learning about the 4 basic shapes that all objects are made out of, and shading and shadowing them, we were let out a half hour early because the historic Hash Knife Pony Express was riding into town! Beginning every January the age old Pony Express does a 200 mile route through parts of Arizona hand delivering mail by horseback....no matter the weather conditions! Their stop today placed them here where they would pick up mail that would be stamped Pony Express and then hand delivered. The roots go back to the Navajo Indians so the riders are either of Navajo descent or friends of, who are sworn in. Here are a few photos of the "excitement".  It was very sunny, so my phone pictures are not that great. Oh well.

We finally see an elk!!!, well sort of;)

There are elk everywhere around here. Signs to watch out for them, droppings and prints from them right out our back door,but never did we see one last year, so we have joked that they truly must be invisible!! Well that all changed today when we went for a hike that was supposed to have a canyon on the end, but after all was said and done 3 HOURS later, we saw no canyon and I fear we will not be able to move tomorrow!!! But we now know there are elk, for this is what we saw.....

 Holding an elk skull found on the trail

After going quite a ways farther, this is what we found...

Yes, that is part of an elk leg!  We were beginning to wonder if we were going to have an entire elk by the time we were finished hiking =)  But that was all to be found.  So I guess there are elk here, at least in pieces anyways!!!

All in all, we Richter's love hiking, maybe next time there will be a whole animal to show you.  Until then, have a great day!

Destination.....Successful!

As most of you know, the weather was....less than ideal for our trip to Arizona.  At one point we had turned around and were heading back home, but we just couldn't stand the thought of having to start all over again in a few days!  So on we went.  Parts of the trip somewhat resembled this....

(http://sharing.myfoxboston.com)

 Thanks be to God, and many of your prayers, we did arrive here safely, and it looked something like this....

 For those that are curious of our accommodations, here are a few more.....

 

 

 There is a nice little creek behind the gazebo.

Pool table turned into a Lego table :)

And, my personal favorite!!!

After a stressful journey, it was wonderful today to sit outside in the sun, listen to the birds, and look at God's wonderful creation!  We will see what the rest of the trip holds.  Wish you were all here with us!