Christmas Eve at the Fiore's

What a blessing it is to have Mom at 95 to celebrate with us and great-granddaughter, Audrey. She has 7 great-grandchildren and one more on the way. Scott & Karin will have a little sister for Audrey next April.

Xmas with Jim & family

Jim, Heather, Cole & Mackenzie came over the weekend before Christmas to celebrate. We had a wonderful time making cookies and going to the Children's Museum with all of the grandkids. Mackenzie and Audrey had fun playing together.

Audrey Getting Ready For Xmas

Audrey is reading "Santa Mouse" getting ready for Christmas.

December in Sedona

We started out December by spending 4 days in Sedona. The weather was just perfect for hiking. This is the view from the top of the Thomas Point Trail that goes from Oak Creek Canyon to the top of the rim.

This is "Rabbit Ears", which is back of the "Courthouse". We have hiked to a overlook of this area before, but this was a new hike to the base of the structure. We are working on completing our book of 130 hikes in Sedona. We are up to almost 100 of them so we have a way to go.

Trick or Treating with Cole & Mackenzie

We were in California for the fall craft show on Halloween weekend, so we were able to share it with our grandkids there. As you can see the family went as the "Star Wars" crew. Mackenzie was not sure that she liked her Mom in that costume, but she had a great time.

Cole decided that it was more fun to ride on Dad to each house. That way he could snack between houses.Mackenzie decided she like Mom better with out the mask.

Getting Ready for Fall

Audrey helped us to make our scarecrow this morning.
Later we went to the mall to play. She really had a great time on the slide.

Going to the Zoo with Audrey

We had Audrey this weekend so Scott and Karin could attend a wedding in Pebble Beach, California. On Friday we went to the Zoo.

Fall Colors in Sedona

We have really been blessed with seeing great fall colors this year. First in New Hampshire and Maine and now in Sedona. We spent a long weekend up there and sure enjoyed it.

It turned hot this weekend so we hiked in Oak Creek Canyon on the Harding Springs trail up to the top of the rim. The colors were great especially in the deep side canyons.

Tucson Wildlife

This week we had a visit from a large bobcat and a coatimundi. Andy was able to get pictures of both.

Visit from Jim & Mackenzie

Jim and Mackenzie flew over this weekend for a visit and a chance for the the two cousins to have time to play together. They had a great time as you can see.

Water play is all ways a great hit

Bar Harbor, Maine

As long as we were this far back east we decide to spend a couple of days in Bar Harbor before coming home. This is the Quimby Inn. We had stayed there before with our Kayak Group when we did the coast of Maine and liked it so much we came back.

We spent a day biking the carriage roads in Acadia National Park. These roads were actually built for carriages and are great hiking and biking roads.

Here we are after hiking to the top of Mt. Champlain.

Beautiful views on the way to the top.

We kayaked on Long Lake on our last morning.

Highland Lake House

After a 25 mile ride today we arrived at the Highland Lake House. It was right on Highland Lake and the German Innkeeper was quite a character.

This was on the Northern Rail Trail. We got to ride on this for about 6 miles this day and another 6 miles the next day. They are finishing off sections at a time and it is super hiking and biking through beautiful areas.

Blue Acorn Inn

The leaves were just starting to turn while we were there..it was beautiful.

Lots of our rides were on the back roads of this area. This was the ride up the Old Post Road. We thought that we would never get to the top of this road, there was always another hill.

The Blue Acorn use to be an old farm house in the 1800's.

Rosewood Country Inn

After about 19 miles of biking and many stops for sightseeing we arrived at our next Inn. They had about 15 acres of beautiful land. Lots of horse property in the area.

Biking in New Hampshire

We probably saw 10 or 12 covered bridges on our travels from Inn to Inn.

On Saturday, Sept. 12th Andy and I flew to New Hampshire for an Inn to Inn bike trip. This is the first B & B we stayed in called the Henniker House in Henniker NH. It was right on the Contoocook River and our balcony was right over the river.

Babysitting Cole & Mackenzie

Cole and Mackenzie - ready for bed

Cole's first day back at school this semester

Andy and I have come to California to take care of Cole and Mackenzie while Jim & Heather are in Chile snowboarding to celebrate their 10th Anniversary. We are having lots of fun with the two of them.

Skoki backcountry Lodge, Banff

After leaving Lake O Hara and spending a couple of nights at Baker Creek we hiked into Skoki Lodge. It is a beautiful 13 K (8 miles) into the Lodge over two passes with a 1700' climb.

This was the lake where we stopped for lunch on the way in.


Boulder Pass

Ptarmigan Lake

Our first view of the Skoki Lakes.

Skoki Lodge

On Thursday night we had 5" of snow at the Lodge so we hiked in the snow on Friday.

Boulder Pass on the way out on Saturday.

Lake O Hara, Banff, Canada

Lake Oesa

Lake Oesa


Hike to Lake Oesa

Lake O Hara Lodge from trail

Lake O Hara

We flew up to Calgary on August 6th to go to Lake O Hara. We have tried to get into the Lodge for 4 years and finally got a spot. They are trying to keep this beautiful spot from becoming another crowded Lake Louise. The bus takes you in a road 11 K, and there are very limited spots on the bus. The alpine hiking is incredible. We spent two nights at the Lodge.