Oh-Bla-Di

As the weather cools down here in the Vegas valley (finally!), we have to close down the most fun part of this house. It’s funny to think that a pool temperature of 88 degrees is too chilly, but with such dry air, it really is “refreshing” to swim at that temperature.

Ava came a long way with her swimming this season. She’s a confident doggy-paddler with the help of her yellow innertube suit. She’s willing to jump off the edge of the pool alone, as long as willing arms are near by to bring her back above water. Looking forward to next year, water wings, and, hopefully, swimming lessons!

After enjoying our previous weekend’s hike and picnic at Mount Charleston, we decided that it was time to take our outdoor adventures to the next level: CAMPING! Using the same “build-up” approach we had taken with the hiking and picnicing, we decided that our first night’s stay in a tent should be relatively close to home and plan not to exceed more than 24 hours of camping. We are very fortunate to have such beautiful camping (and a radically different climate) only an hour drive from Las Vegas. We had been “planning” this adventure for a couple of weeks. Of course, we did not make a reserveation for a camp site on Labor Day Weekend. This proved to be both a curse and a blessing. We embarked for Mount Charleston early Friday morning hoping to arrive before everyone else from Las Vegas and therefore claim one of the many “space-available” campgrounds. Unfortunately, every other family in Las Vegas had the same idea. We toured all the available sites (in the hundreds) looking for a spot to set up camp. Only after resigning ourselves to a day trip, did we find a spot to pitch our tent. It turns out, that the “Old Saw Mill” picnic area is also a tent-only campground. Fantastic! We found a place to camp after only and hour of driving around the forest “slightly disappointed” that the entire park was full.