San Xavier del Bac

Last weekend we took a trip to Tucson and went to the San Xavier del Bac Mission. This mission is a Spanish Colonial style mission and was built between 1783-1797. It was way cooler than we expected. We have, admittedly, missed the sense of history we left behind in New England. Phoenix has a great climate and great hiking, but the whole place looks like it was built last week. Seeing the mission was a welcome respite from the all the strip malls.



Actually, Tucson looks a little more like home. We ate at a vegan restaurant and there were trees, roads that bend, slight hills...



Anyhow, back to the mission. San Xavier is unlike any church I have ever seen. The art is so intricate, but it still has a folk-art feel. It reminds me a little of the cathedral in San Juan, Puerto Rico, but there was definitely a more rustic feel to San Xavier.

Check out many more pictures of our mission trip on our Flickr page.

Happy Birthday, Ishmael!

Today is Ishmael's birthday!!!!! He's 3-years-old today!!!! Happy birthday, Ishmael!!

For his birthday he received extra cat treats and extra playtime.
He's super-excited about all the extra attention, but he has not idea why he's getting it.

Oh, our little boy is getting so big!

Desert Botanical Gardens

Dueling Butterflies
Originally uploaded by Thee E. Aldriches

On Sunday, Erin and I went to the Desert Botanical Gardens in Phoenix. They were pretty crowded, but they're nice. We didn't do the trails because we went to see the butterfly garden. This too was crowded and a bit chaotic. It seemed like whenever you were ready to take a photo of a butterfly or flower, someone would stand right in your light. For that matter, it was fairly difficult to even look at the butterflies. No one was rude or anything, it was just a popular exhibit.

In spite of the chaos, it was still fairly enjoyable. Erin was afraid that she wasn't getting any good pictures of the butterflies, but when we got home and loaded them on the computer, we were pleasantly surprised.

Check out the rest of our butterfly pictures here on our Flickr page.

Actually, we use Flicker a lot. I update the pictures on our Flickr page more readily than the blogs. We still enjoy the blogs because you can write a lot more and do more with formatting, but Flickr is fun and convenient. So, remember that our Flickr address is http://www.flickr.com/photos/erinanderic/.

Enjoy!

One Year Ago...

Tikal
Originally uploaded by Thee E. Aldriches

It was a year ago last month Erin and I were on our honeymoon in Belize. This picture was actually taken in Tikal, Guatemala. We were a little crazy that day. For one thing, we carried way to much camera gear. Secondly, we hiked up and down stone steps at 70 degree angles wearing flip-flops because our shoes were wet from river tubing in a cave the day before.

It does feel pretty odd that it has been a year since that trip. I remember talking to our Canadian friends that we made there (Dennis and Joan) about how we didn't even know where we were going to live in one year. Well, we know now! Arizona!

It's been a busy couple of years and it shows no signs of slowing down.

I learned that I can post blogs from our Flickr page. I use Flickr a lot; therefore, there will probably be an increase in blog postings now that I can do them from Flickr.

We have over 100 pictures of our honeymoon on our Flickr page. Check them out here.