Sears-Kay Ruins in AZ

I think one of the best parts of Arizona is it's history and I'm not one to pass up the chance to share it with the kids. On Easter, instead of having a big family event, we decided to fill some backpacks with water and snacks and head out to explore. Turns out just up the road is the site of a 900 year old Hohokom Indian ruin - 5 buildings of 40 rooms plus the courtyards. Unfortunately I left my smaller lens behind in favor of the larger one that I own so I wasn't able to capture the full lengths and dimensions of the rooms. (I'll be returning to photograph again later this week!) It's definitely worth taking another trip back to explore the surrounding desert again! 

Sears-Kay Ruin, Cave Creek AZ 

 These are pieces of red clay pottery left behind.  I explained to the kids again why it's important to respect the history of the land and to leave it alone so that others are able to see the same things we do. Luckily, they seem to both understand and are careful to not disrupt the area around them and luckily the people who explored this area before us must have felt the same way.  

Notice the person to the left of this huge rock! I've read some varying theories about this rock, all of which I plan to investigate a little closer when I go back.  

 Most of this trail is rock or gravel which makes for an easy but slippery hike in some places. At this time of year the trail is over grown with wild flowers and flowering cacti which makes for some beautiful landscape photography. I was really impressed with this site and the kids give it a lot of thumbs up! 

Hope you enjoyed the photos of our afternoon hike! 

The best of Oregon

I've had such a hard time getting these photos posted and not in any technical sense (although, I would have loved being able to blame it on a technical glitch) sadly enough, I just haven't been interested in editing any more of them. It gets to the point where I literally feel as though I'm going to blow a gasket if I have to edit one more photo. Editing photos is just not my forte. 

But, the kids and I had a great time in Oregon! I had invited these friends to come up and meet us at the house for a long weekend. Got to say, vacationing with friends is alot of fun! Everything is more fun with friends, getting to explore the beaches at low tide, wandering through antique shops, painting drift wood, even making dinner - all better with friends by your side! 

Jessica did a much better job at taking & posting photos of our time together, you can see them here, here and here. (I bet she has more photos posted somewhere, I'll have to ask where they're hiding). Oh and I should also mention that my kids completely forget about me in favor of Jessica and Jeff when we are all together, which explains my lack of photos of them and how they pop up often in Jessica's photos. 

(all photos taken in & around Florence, OR)

I'm getting ready for another quick post on Thursday! Sweet November will be back, revamped and hopefully a tad more interactive than our previous editions. See you Thursday!