A BUSY MARCH

AH,now there's a face only a Grandma could love. That is our Grandson Nevin playing in his first baseball game. Jeni and I headed down to Riverside last weekend to celebrate our grandsons birthdays. Nevins was March 5th and Aidens was the 17th. We got in early enough to see Nevins game and have an elequent dinner at McDonald's afterwards.

Here is "Mighty Nevin" at the plate. He hit a 2 run single. I think I spotted one of the SF Giants scouts in the stands.....could he be taking a look at my Grandson?......Season tickets for ole Grandpa at Pac Bell park......OUCH!....Jeni elbowed me, back to reality.

Saturday Dan,(our son) put on a great birthday party for the boys.It rained all day but Dan still fired up the ole BBQ and cooked delicious hamburgers and brats for us all. After cake and ice cream,it was time for presents. We had a great time. We couldn't be prouder of our Grand sons,they are growing up so fast.Aiden is 10 and Nevin is5. Dan has done a great job with the boys, Its hard enough being a parent but a single parent, my hat is off to him. Your the best Dano.

When we left for the park Sunday, we ran into some wintry weather on the Techapi's. Not bad though just beautiful scenery. Once we were down in the valley it was sunny. We stopped in Fresno for some stuff at Costco and then headed up the hill to the park.Half way there we encountered rain and when we pulled in......

...WHAT THE HECK! SNOW! And very cold. Oh well, its almost spring. Jeni has been planning for a big exercise for the park.As you know she is Co chair of the "disaster preparedness committee"and the park has to have an annual evacuation exercise per state law. She has been planning for months and the time has come.so Wednesday was the day.

The fire dept. was here observing our evacuation because the parks number 1 probability of disaster is "wild fire."

Also the Red Cross was here.They gave a seminar on being prepared in the event of a disaster.

The Red Cross even gave out disaster supplies in little red backpacks for our members. Very cool.

Jeni conferring with the firemen prior to the event. All her team wore hard hats and vests and had radios to monitor and direct the evacuation.

The Red Cross did a splendid seminar of informing our members on the challenges of disasters and being prepared.












Jeni thanking the members for a very successful evacuation. Her committee when planning this exercise figured a turnout of maybe 50% 100 or so members. they had over 150 members participate. Counting the people out of the park when the evacuation happened the committee figured over 75% turnout. The Fire Dept and Red Cross were very impressed and praised the committee and the members for their efforts for a very quick and smooth evacuation. I was very proud of Jeni. This was a tough assignment for her, but in true Jeni form,she took charge and prevailed. Now she can relax and know that all of us at the park say"job well done!" The weather has turned spring like and the park is buzzing as planning for Easter and Stagecoach days is in full gear.After Stagecoach days,we will head to Folsom lake for our summer job at the campground and "baby watch" as our daughter Katie gives birth some time in June to our 5th grandchild.We are so excited!
Well its been a busy March and were bracing for an even busier April for P&J Adventures.See you in April.

Road trip Arizona

Hello from sunny Phoenix! Jeni and I are soaking up some sun, visiting relatives, and doing some sightseeing. We spent the month of February here in a first class RV park" Deserts Edge"on Deer Valley Rd. We had a great site beautifully landscaped, and spacious. In years passed, we stayed in Wickenburg at "North Ranch", and even though we loved it there,it was just too long a drive to get in to see everybody in Phx. Now we are a short drive to all our relatives!("Yea").

I have always wanted to visit the Heard Museum in downtown Phx. They have one of the best collection of southwestern Indian artifacts west of the Mississippi. Having lived and worked around the Navajo and Hopi reservations, I have been interested in their history. That's me,in shorts! in front of the Museum,ready to head in.

There were hundreds of what I call"Kachina Dolls" but actually each one is uniquely different. Each tribe has their own beliefs and rituals and each doll has its own place in each tribes spiritual faith.

This guy was very old and I would guess very expensive.His name...Talking God! Protector of the Kiva. With that headdress this guy could have got "Satellite TV" piped into the Hogan.

This is what we got to see every afternoon as we sat on our patio sipping a cold one. There was a field next to the park and every day balloons would float right over us and land in the field.

Now a trip to Arizona wouldn't be complete without a hike in the desert. "Cave Creek Regional Park"is a great county park a few miles north of us. It has a great visitors center with live desert reptiles on display and lots of info.They also have Horseback riding and a very nice campground. Jeni and I chose not to go the Horse route(the horses thanked us) and off we went on foot for a 2 mile jaunt on the "Rattlesnake"trail."HUH"! "Hey Jen,lets rethink this""Maybe they are not out yet"."Gimme that big rock...OK I'm ready to hike"

"Better yet,lets take one of these trails,I like their names better."Actually Jeni appointed me trail leader because of my close Indian Heritage or some other BS I was feeding her when we were at the Museum and I kinda got us lost!

Well Jeni talked to one of the locals MR. Saguaro Cactus, and he got us back on track and we found our way back to the car. All in all a great day in the desert.

Here is 5 very pretty reasons why we come to Phx. Jeni and her sisters.Left to right,Bev,Joanne,Jeni,Sandy,and Lori.I'm one lucky Brother in law! Back in our younger days these ladies would dance"ole Philly's"legs off. Jeni spent some quality time with them, With living in California for close to 25 years,Jeni has not been able to spend much time with her family,but that's gonna change as we are gonna be spending more time here.

In fine Jeni form, she got her family playing "Farkel". Notice the big smile on her face. One nice thing.....I'm not playing! We did a lot of site seeing,eating out,and I even got to play some golf. The only thing I missed was catching some of the Spring training baseball games. Maybe next year. Our main reason for coming here though was seeing Jeni's family and my Brother and this will be a yearly occurrence from now on. Were back in the park now and we are already planning our AZ. trip for next year. Road Trip Arizona 2013!