We asked for warm weather but let's not overdue it!

Sun City West, AZ  to Oro Valley, AZ (to visit Doreen's Mom)

It's already hot, hot, hot in Arizona and it's only April 19th. I guess that's why the snowbirds are starting to head back north to cooler climes.  Flowers are blooming here that typically bloom in June in the Northwest.  Many of the cacti are starting to bloom, including the symbolic Saguaro which abound in the Tucson area of Arizona. 

We were able to camp at Catalina State Park about 3-4 miles from where my mother lives which made things very easy for us.

Santa Catalina Mountains as viewed from our campground.
Greater Tucson is just on the other side.

There are hundreds of these round tailed ground squirrels in the campground.
 We think they look like miniature prairie dogs.
Anyone else have trouble holding their phone camera still while taking a picture????

We stayed here until May 1 helping my Mom with various things that are hard for a 91 year old to do.  Our days were full - many of them doing things that I thought needed to be done like throwing away old records from the 1980's and 1990's and organizing her current records.  It's not like she doesn't know how to file - she just doesn't do it and she admitted to being afraid to throw things out.  We lugged 6 huge bags over to be shredded after we finished with that task.  We took pictures of all her jewelry so I would know what was good jewelry and what was costume jewelry and what pieces came from my grandmother and great-grandmother.  What do I know about jewelry - I wear a 12 dollar watch!  Laura ironed a bunch of things for Mom and cooked many of our meals.  We helped her buy a tablet and wireless printer so she can now sit in her recliner and do her email and whatever else she used to do on her computer.  I moved all her personal stuff from her laptop to the tablet (quite a learning experience!!!).

My brother Rich and his wife Phyllis arrived from Michigan on April 22nd.  They love the sun and the heat so they soaked it up during the 4 days they were in town.  Having visited before, they didn't want to do any tourist things.  We've also visited many times and have done many of the typical tourist things so that was OK by us.

OK - I have to admit that I don't have any pictures of Rich and Phyllis or of my Mom.  If I did they would go right here!  :-(

We got together with our friends Leslie and Madeline who live in Tucson.  It was so great to catch up on their lives.

Madeline and Leslie
 

Star Date: April 19-30, 2016