Arizona Adventure - Phase 3 - Grand Canyon!

Yep, I got behind on this after we left Sedona because we didn't have internet access in our hotel room, so I had to wait until we got home to finish . . . .

Day 5

Still in Sedona, we got up and headed to the pool one last time - this was our favorite pool area - not highly populated, peaceful, lots of space, very relaxing - had to soak it up every spare minute we had. (This is just the bottom half, there was an upper half you can't see above the waterfall).

Then packed up and headed for the Grand Canyon - made two stops along the way, the first in Oak Creek Canyon (Oak Creek runs through Sedona), which was really beautiful - you'd never guess we were in Arizona looking at these pictures!

The second stop was for lunch in Flagstaff - another really cool place I would have never guessed was in Arizona - hilly with trees - looks like a fun place to ski in the winter. It was a very pleasant 75 degrees when we were there - !

We then headed, with much anticipation, around to the east side entrance of the south rim of the Grand Canyon, and made our way westward into Grand Canyon Village, stopping at several viewpoints along the way. I was so stinking excited to jump out of the car and get my first glimpse of this natural wonder . . . .

This is on the Grandview trail, on an inner wall of the canyon - we only went a few hundred feet.

We now know what people mean when they say you have to see it to believe it - there aren't words in the English language to describe the magnificence or the size of it. We were awestruck. I could have just sat and stared at it for hours - it takes a long time to take it in, get your head around it, really understand what you are looking at. Our first-day impressions were awesome.

Day 6

Headed out on a hike around the rim - there's a trail called the Rim Trail that runs approximately 13 miles along the edge of the canyon - I would have loved to cover every inch of it, but of course that wouldn't have been a popular idea with two 7-year olds. So, I settled for a mile and a half, which we covered in the morning to beat the heat. It was fantastic and during this short little hike, the Grand Canyon "sucked me in," so to speak. Not physically, thankfully :), but mentally. I felt this huge pull to explore this sucker in much more detail - to get past the rim and into the depths of the canyon, all the way down to the river. Again, not on this trip, but in the near future . . . it's now on my "bucket list."

After lunch and a mid-day break, we headed back in the evening and covered another mile of the trail (which by the way is right ON the edge), this time at sunset. WOW. Just spectacular. Some spots literally took our breath away. This was an experience I'll never forget. It was interesting how Jack and Noah reacted here, too - Jack was ready to hike down to the river with his mom and dad, desperately wanted to climb out on rocks (no way) - and Noah kept telling us to be careful if we went out on an outcropping, and cautioning mom and dad not to get too close to the edge. :) What a cutie. Mark made some references about how I was easily replaceable (he was kidding, of course) - Jack and Noah didn't think he was funny. My sweet boys! It truly was amazing how many people we saw acting very carelessly on the very edge of 3000 feet cliffs - there were two times I really believed we were going to see someone die. Actually, on Wednesday when we were entering the park, we saw a rescue in progress - several emergency vehicles and workers on the edge, with ropes and a pulley system - we don't know how that turned out but I can about imagine.

In this picture, you can see a portion of one of the trails that go from the rim to the river - about 5 miles in length total. It's calling my name!!! Dad, are you coming?!?
Watchin' the sunset . . . .

For you followers of the Truth Project (http://www.truthproject.org/), Del Tackett rafted the Canyon a couple weeks before we were there, and has his experience well documented on his blog. Click on the website, and you'll see the link for "Del's Blog" at the top of the page. He described the whole Canyon experience much better than I can.

To top off our last wonderful evening at the Grand Canyon, Jack lost his other top front tooth, so he is a very toothless child at this point. He snagged a Grand Canyon souvenir from the tooth fairy! WAY cute . . . .

Day 6
Back to Phoenix! And back to the heat! The highest the temp ever got at the Grand Canyon was 85 - very pleasant - but on Friday, the temp in Phoenix was 107. You walk around feeling exactly like you have your head in the oven. Uggh. We were excited to see they have Jack-in-the-Box restaurants there, so we had lunch there on Friday for Jack . . . .

Then we checked into our hotel by the biggest shopping complex I think I've ever seen and of course, we hit the pool. It's the only thing to do when it's 107!! Another great thing about this vacation is that Jack and Noah really figured out how to swim, and Mark really figured out how to launch them across a pool. :) Here goes Noah -

And then Jack - he catches a little more air, probably because he's 12 lbs. lighter!

We finished our vacation with a trip to the Barnes and Noble next to our hotel (where I picked up a book on hiking the Grand Canyon - gonna do it!!) and then had dinner at the Cheesecake Factory. We caught our flight on Saturday morning at 8:30 a.m. and we were at home by 12:00 noon - how easy is that?? Yesterday we unpacked, did laundry, mowed the lawn and today we went to church and had a wonderfully relaxing day at home. This is the first weekend we've had time at home in the past 8 weeks!!!!

Another great thing about this trip? I got to FINISH a book! Woo-hoo!

Arizona Adventure: Phase 2 - Sedona

Day 3 -

We LOVE LOVE LOVE Sedona!!

Day 3, Monday, we slept in as long as the kids would allow us, then packed up and headed for Sedona. On the way out of town, we stopped at a Safeway to grab some drinks and snacks for the car ride, and of course they had a CLAW MACHINE. Not wanting to spend much time or money on this, we gave Jack and Noah each $.50 for ONE turn. I don't know why we are even surprised by this, but of course, Jack got one. Can you stand it? He danced all over Safeway. At least he still appreciates his winnings thoroughly!

Anyway, the drive to Sedona was awesome - I love new and different road trips in areas of the country with interesting landscapes. Very hilly - almost mountainous - but instead of the hills being covered with pine trees, they are covered in cactuses, both big and small (or cacti? Still haven't cleared that up.). It was a very cool drive. Enroute, we stopped at the Montezuma Castle National Monument - a former Indian Cliff dwelling . . . We arrived here around lunch - and oh my goodness, we fell in love with this place immediately upon arrival. It's SPECTACULAR - simply amazing, amazing views of all these massive red rock formations and mountains. I've always said that if I ever bought a second home (ha ha) it would be in Jackson Hole - now I would seriously rethink that. Jackson Hole has some tough competition here! Anyway, we managed to check in early (UNHEARD of around here) . . .

. . . and then proceeded straight to McDonalds for our starving children (notice the blue/green arches? Hmm?). Then we were able to drive around a little and take in the scenery. The evening was spent at the pool - very relaxing. We're learning that if the kids are allowed enough time at the pool, they're pretty good about everything mom and dad want to do!

Day 4 -

The Pink Jeep Tour

Okay this was a MAJOR highlight of the trip - jeep tours are enormously popular around here, and supposedly the Pink Jeep company is the best, so off we went at 7:00 a.m. this morning (in order to beat the heat). Here's how Jack felt about getting up at 6:00 a.m.:

At first Jack and Noah were like - "What?!?! You want us to ride in a PINK jeep??" - which was so funny, because little did they know they were in for the ride of their lives. A few minutes into the trip, Noah said "This doesn't seem like a pink jeep tour, this is a CRAZY jeep tour!" There really aren't words to describe this adventure - it was definitely a wild ride up into the rocks. Their ads say "Not for the faint of heart" - NO joke. We'd encounter some enormous rock formation and I would think "okay, now where do we go?" or "he's not really going to attempt that . . ." and our driver would plow straight through (and over) areas I never thought vehicles could maneuver. Jack and Noah hooted, hollered and laughed the whole way - it was just a great experience. And of course we stopped at some great viewpoints and got some good pictures too!

Here's the kind of stuff we were driving over (this is the jeep behind ours) . . .

This picture shows the city of Sedona - down in the lower left part of the picture:

This is a completely un-posed picture of Jack (we're headed down some crazy hill) - totally candid, I swear . . .
Then we headed back for some pool time and then naps after lunch . . .

This afternoon, we headed out for some exploring - drove through a gated community to check out some of the houses here, and visited a chapel called Chapel of the Holy Cross - a chapel that's basically built into a rock formation. You climb up a hill to get to it, and the views were amazing.

When Jack and Noah had enough picture-taking, we went out for supper - and lucky Mark, he found his ultimate appetizer - "Wicked Pickles." Care to guess? They are battered, deep-fried pickles. Yep, he loved them, obviously.

This is the "shopping" area where the restaurant was . . . BEAUTIFUL. I use the term "shopping" loosely, though, because the only shopping being done here was by people who earn $5 million plus per year. Most of us were there just eating and taking pictures!
I would LOVE this cross for my collection . . . .

Now it's 8:00 p.m. here and the kids are already in bed - they were wiped out, and I'm going to follow soon! Tomorrow we'll make another early-morning visit to the pool, then it's off to the Grand Canyon . . . . .

Arizona Adventure: Phase 1

Whoo-hoo, only 4 days since my last post! I can't believe it!! Anyway, here's the travel journal:

Day 1 -

Small Airports Rule!

Left home around 12:45 p.m. - what a great time to leave! We were able to sleep in at home, have some breakfast, finish packing, just have a leisurely morning - it was awesome. Jumped on the plane and a short 2 hours later we were on the ground in Phoenix. We flew a charter into the small Phoenix airport, which is definitely the way to go - you get off the plane outside, walk a few steps into the terminal where the baggage claim is right inside the door, walk a few more steps to the rental car counter, and then a few steps right outside the door to your car. Very slick and very fast!!

The Purple Caddie from Texas

Here's our one complaint: HERTZ. We reserved a full-size car, which to them is a Honda Accord, and it was FILTHY, old and STINKY. I mean this vehicle was in seriously bad shape. So we paid for an upgrade (didn't have time to argue with them about it, the kids needed to GET TO THE POOL) - however I am going to be sending a letter when we get home. Anyway, here's what we got:

The color in the picture isn't so hot, but this Cadillac is PURPLE - with Texas license plates. Yep, nothing like being very noticeable! But, this car rocks!! The driver's seat has a massaging function in it, and the passenger seat has air conditioning in the seat! This was the best money spent yet!

Anyway, we located our resort, had dinner at Chipotle and then spent the evening in the pool. A very good day 1!!

Day 2 -

Had a "cheap" breakfast at Starbucks up the road (you can imagine how expensive the food is here if we're calling Starbucks cheap!) and then we were in the pool by 9 a.m.

My little fish . . .

These kids can't get enough of the pool - and I had the best time capturing their fun in megapixels:

Noah doing a cannonball . . .

Jack heading into cannonball formation . . .

Noah doing a belly-flop (purposely!) . . .

Jack in a flying leap . . . .

Cacti (or is it cactuses?)
Ever since we arrived here, Jack has maintained the the cactuses are all fake. What a goof. Anyway, we've had fun examining them -

(Yep, Jack really got poked - now he believes they are real).

I want this particular "bush" (shrub? succulent?) for our landscaping at home:

Anyway, we left the pool around 11:30 and then headed downtown to the science museum for the afternoon. Very cool place and the kids LOVED it. We stayed until it closed, then had a little supper, and then the kids settled into bed for a movie. I'm off to bed now with my BOOK (I can't remember the last time I got to read a book that wasn't Magic Treehouse or Boxcar Children!) Check back for Day 3!

Summer Fun . . .

Yep, we're all still here, happy and healthy - just been neglecting the blog! And having a very busy summer - it's whizzing by WAY too fast. We had a great 4th of July weekend - headed to Spearfish for a long weekend camping trip which was tons of fun - time in the pool, some good naps, chatting with great friends, a couple good campfires, a small-town parade, a spectacular fireworks show up high in the Hills - what else do ya need? The campground we stayed at had a small petting zoo/farm, so the kids had a great time at the regular lamb/baby goat feedings. Here's one of the cuties - I wanted to take him (her?) home . .

And the kids loved the old-fashioned waterslide at the pool . . . .

The Spearfish parade was cute - the kids loved collecting all the candy that was thrown.

This past weekend, I was back in Spearfish (we seem to be spending a lot of time there!) where my sister and I hosted a shower for our brother's fiance, which we think turned out nicely and was lots of fun for us to do - here we are with the guest of honor:

We decided that we should be able to have ANOTHER shower after you've been married 10 years . . . that means I'm two years overdue . . . .anyone want to throw one for me? I need some new knives . . . .and kitchen towels . . . and pots and pans . . . .

Meanwhile, Grandma and Grandpa Roisum were also here over the weekend - we held them hostage for 5 nights this time - their longest stay here ever!! Yeahh! And we kept them busy - or I should say the KIDS kept them busy. Jack and Noah have them wrapped around their pinkies - the kids can con them into almost anything. :) One thing being the CLAW machine - you know, this thing:

Jack happens to be obsessed with them - I think I've mentioned that before, and we still haven't figured out how to handle it - other than "everything in moderation" - ? Anyway, moderation flies out the window when Grandpa Paul is in town - on Monday he took them to partake in this addiction, and after donating $7 of his own money to the cause, the kids came home with these:
(Jack got THREE):

(And Noah, who had only four to date, came home with TWO):

I think this particular machine was broken - either that or Grandpa spent a lot more than $7. Getting five animals in one shot is unheard of. Amazing!! Mark and I could hardly believe it. Anyway, this event got the kids all fired up and we decided we needed pictures of their collections. Here are the animals Noah has obtained from claw machines in the past year or two:

And Jack's collection:

And here they ALL are together - - one big happy claw machine family. Our house is going to be overtaken -I've tried to get rid of some, but NO, mom, they are each very special!!! (The kids can tell you exactly where they won each one).

(This is how bad Jack has it: when Mark and I were out on a "date" without the kids on Wednesday night, Mark thought it would be really funny if HE came home with a claw machine animal. So, he spent a couple bucks and actually got one - a cute dinosaur from our usual grocery store machine. We get home from our date, Jack is still awake, and it literally took him 1/2 a second to see the dinosaur and collapse in a heap on the floor in tears. After many more tears and wailing we finally got him calmed down. Evidently he had wanted THIS particular dinosaur, but never got it (he only got THREE others!) -he even knew the position it was laying in. So our little joke wasn't so funny. Total backfire. Uggh - we've got to do something about this kid.)

Anyway, once Jack and Noah's claw machine adventure was over, grandpa thought the boys should build something. So, off they went to the hardware store for some lumber scraps, hammer, nails, etc. and they immediately got to work . . . and worked and worked and worked - until we eventually had to drag them in from the 95 degree heat in the garage. Jack finished a chair (impressive, actually - and he figured it out all on his own - I now think he'll be an architect) and Noah is still working on a bench.

This is what Noah does when he's focusing:

Needless to say, it was a big BUMMER when Grandma and Grandpa had to leave Wed. morning - they always seem to come up with some cool idea to do with the kids (I guess 35 years of doing daycare has something to do with that!)

Now we're getting ready for our Arizona adventure - taking off for a week to see the sights in Arizona - a couple days at a resort in Phoenix, a few days in Sedona, and a couple at the Grand Canyon. We are SO looking forward to some great family time, just the four of us. The laptop is coming with so I can keep a travel journal - stay tuned!!

Funny quote from Noah: One night at supper we were talking about how we were going to move to France if a particular individual wins the Presidential election - the kids asked if we were serious, and we played it up a little, saying yes, wouldn't that be cool? Noah then promptly bursts into tears saying "But we don't know how to speak Paris!!"