Most years we have had some contingent of the family up at the ranch over the 4th of July, and such was our plan this year as well; however, the best laid plans of mice and men do sometimes go awry. There simply weren’t enough kids interested in going this year, (and truth be told, there’s a mighty lot of hot in AZ right now, so it’s understandable) and thus we decided to stay in town and try to keep cool.
You might think it odd, then, when I tell you that we all got up at the crack of before sunrise this morning and headed out for an adventure in the out-of-doors! The hope was that we could get our sight-seeing finished before the *really hot* part of the day, so we were on the road around 5am, with Laurent and Sir Rupert aboard as well. Our goal was to drive across the valley and up the Bush Highway, stopping along the way to see what we could see.
We only managed to get out at two stops before we were pretty much toast and ready to head back to town to meet up with Grandma at McDonald’s for breakfast. Our first stop was called Granite Reef, and we enjoyed the shade and early morning light over the Salt River. Our second stop was called Coon Bluff, where the kids climbed down to the rushing water among large rocks, only to clamber back up when they heard the rattle of a rattle snake warning them off from his sleeping chamber.
Right at the end when everybody had had enough was when I thought to have them sit down for an all-together photo. I liked the woodsy background behind the picnic tables – reminded me of Vincent Van Gogh’s Olive Trees…
Later this afternoon, there was some thrifting, and some grocery shopping, and some napping. Paul worked on a project that required him to produce a video of himself giving a presentation, and made use of one of my studio backdrops to make himself look less of a shambles than if he just had some messy office shelves behind him in the picture. Eventually Laurent came over and made an elote-inspired salad with corn off the cob, cilantro, green onions, avocado, cotija cheese, mayonnaise, and Tajin, while Paul made and grilled a bunch of burgers. Supper was PHE-NOM-enal.
We’re now utterly stuffed and ready to veg out for the rest of the evening. Not sure how long I will stay awake, but thankfully I have a really loud fan to help drown out the fireworks.
