Sunday, April 24, 2011

DIY Projects

As mentioned in an earlier post, Steven took some time off from work and was using the time to work on some projects.

The first project was a computer desk for the living room. I came across some plans on the internet that I thought would work really well. The desk is a bit taller than I expected, but turned out to be fantastic. The shelves on the side provides for a way to hide the computer hardware such as the printer, cable modem, power cords, etc., while providing easy-access shelving for game disks and other items. The best part is that the desk is in three separate parts to let us move it into another room if we wanted to without having to play tetris to get it through a door or down a hallway. The plan is now to make two more of these that are a bit shorter for both Steven and Dawn.



Next up was to build to bar stools. We wanted new stools for the kitchen bar and Steven found these plans online. Steven started by modifying the plans to make the stools nine inches shorter to better so that it would match the height of our kitchen bar. Conveniently, the stools are also a great height for the new computer desk. So Steven build two for the kitchen and two for the computer desk that can be moved to the kitchen whenever we want to have more people around the bar.

Saturday, April 23, 2011

The Phoenix Zoo

Yesterday the girls had off from school, so Steven took the day off so that we could all go to the Phoenix Zoo. Dawn and the girls have been to the Phoenix Zoo before, but Steven has never been able to go.

A new feature is that the stingrays are now housed at the zoo year-round, so we were able to pet them. We were fortunate enough to be there during a feeding time, so we were able to feed the stingrays as well. When you feed the stingrays, you hold the fish head so that the stingray can swim over your hand and suck the food out of your hand.

The zoo is set up so that the animals are house in "continents" so you find all of the Arizona native animals together with the north american animals, all of the african animals are group with all of the other african animals together. The enclosures are designed to look like the native areas and they also provide great views. This includes the new orangutan enclosure that opened a couple of weeks ago.

One of the coolest exhibits was the one for the squirrel monkeys. You walk through the cage with them, but you are advised to stay at least three feet away from them since they will steal your stuff. Steven was able to get some fantastic photographs of a couple of the monkeys.

One of the things that is cool about this area is that you will find splash parks everywhere. The zoo is not an exception. The zoo has a large play area for kids and is very kid friendly.

Sunday, April 10, 2011

Lindsey's Dance Performance

On Friday night, Lindsey's high school had their spring dance performance. Here are the two numbers she was in.

Hiking on Four Peaks

I took the week off from work so that I could get a break while Dawn was on her break between quarters at SCNM. I worked on a major project that I will post about soon, but on Wednesday we took some time off to go hiking. Four Peaks is an iconic backdrop to the northeast and is also the icon for the local brewing company as well. There would have been a picture of Four Peaks, except that is the day that the weather turned from nice and warm to cloudy and rainy. First thing to know about Four Peaks is that the tallest peak (7,657 feet) is the only named peak (Brown's Peak); therefore the temperature can be 20 degrees cooler than that of the Valley. It was a different hike that we normally take because of the terrain. We only took a five mile hike to the saddle; however I did go a bit further up the peak, but I would have had to do a bit of climbing to reach the top and I was not prepared to do that in the cold rain that blew up on the peak. Here are some photos from the hike.

POTD for March 2011

Here is a gallery of the pictures I took in March 2011.