Saturday, May 29, 2010

mission: arizona adventures!

patrick and i visited his family a couple of weeks ago out in tucson. our reason? emily, my sister-in-law, graduated from high school on the 26th of may!!!! congrats to her and all of her catalina foothills friends. graduation is a time of celebration and accomplishment for those who are planning on the next phase in their lives. so go gettem emily! you are going to do well at the university of arizona and we are all so proud of you!

so, while we were out there, the activities proved to be a plenty! mostly it involved hanging out in the pool, eating lots of good food with a cook out and s'mores, and spending quality time with each other. patrick and his dad went golfing twice on the trip, and emily, her boyfriend chris, and my sister-in-law amanda's boyfriend jeff each took in one round with them. i am glad i didn't have to receive the pressure of sitting in the golf cart waiting around for four hours in the sun. no thanks! i was able to get the chance to keep up with my running, and ran a four mile loop around the neighborhood instead. and let me add that running at about 3,000 feet above sea level is a lot different than what i am used to (which is sea level) and i thought my lungs would burst trying to take in more oxygen than the air was actually giving me.

there were lots of moments where the whole group of us (me, patrick, mom, emily, amanda, chris, jeff, dad, and his wife judy) got to enjoy each other's company. we had the chance to go to the sabino canyon where we took a lovely tram ride to take in the sights. although it reached 100 degrees, we took a hike up a trail for a bit to get some photos of the beautiful scenery. this was my first time, so everything was new and exciting, except for our lack luster tour guide who put an extra syllable before most of his words. for example: "welcome to the ah sabino a-canyon!" yes, this is what we had to deal with the whole 25 minute tour. i sat next to chris and emily, and clearly it was not their first, second, or third time they have been on the tram ride. they could practically quote everything the tour guide was saying. it was funny, and we all joked about the guide's interesting talking technique, possibly imitating him the entire time.

after the canyon tour, we came home hot (it got up to 100 degrees yesterday) and ready for a dip in the pool. so for the next several hours we swam and ate snacks, enjoying the sunshine and the company. for dinner we ordered pizza and then hung around the house until 8 p.m. dad and judy said goodnight to us, and so what was left of the group went to the fred astaire dance studio to celebrate emily's graduation with a night of dancing. we even received a dance lesson for the rhumba, swing, and the two-step! the instructors, who are professional competitors and know many of the dancers we see on our favorite shows, showed off their stuff with several demonstrations! it was fantastic, and we all had so much fun. it makes me want to take more...maybe i will when we return home :)

more arizona adventures to come soon!


this is beth signing off.
mission: accomplished.

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