Grand Canyon

Our first full day in the Grand Canyon was full of adventure...collecting acorns, going for walks in the trees, pretending 'bad guys' were chasing us and lots of hide and seek.

When we headed out for our first legitimate/trail hike, we were blocked by this guy.  I thought it was really cool, at this point in our stay, anyway.

Yeah, the butterfly catchers turned into collection baskets.

Finally at the rim, we tried for some family photos.  I tried a whole bunch of different spots to set the camera (since we forgot the tripod AND the remote).

And I was setting up this, which was going to be perfect, when K tried to jump off a rock and tripped before she got any lift, falling a couple of feet onto rocks...it was all drama!  After a band-aid and loading K into the backpack, we started our hike.

Em actually prefers to walk most of the time but this time she wanted sticks "wike Daddy".  She thought she was soooo cool!

It's so hard to see the trails going down into the canyon and not want to go down there, but all training takes time and right now we are building our girls' endurance.

The rapids...

Stopped for a break.

When we got back to our campsite, this lovely lady was waiting for us.  Suddenly, it was no longer cool these guys were hanging around.  Elk are huge (when she stood up, she was taller than the tent), stinky and can be aggressive. Thankfully my man was there to scare her away.  :-)

But then later, while Em was still napping, the big guy came by to visit too.  I actually videoed M taking this pic just in case he got charged.  He did not or you would have seen it on youtube by now! 

Hanging out with Dad while sister sleeps.

That afternoon, we headed to the IMAX movie about the Grand Canyon.  The girls spent the entire movie fixating on the native girl at the beginning who was chased from her home by invaders and wanting to know if she was all right.  Every few minutes we heard, "Where's the girl?"

This is supposed to be a 3-D illusion...

M was as happy as a clam to watch the girls playing in the trees, with rocks and sticks and having a total blast.  I was happy just to see us all camping together.  I remember at one point just after Em was born, someone told me that they had been praying and seen a vision of the four of us camping and everyone looked fine as far as she could tell.  At the time I was told this, all of our dreams for our future were dead and I couldn't even picture it.  I clung to the idea nonetheless and when I woke up this night in the tent and saw the four of us lined up, I thanked God for His mercies, teared up and promptly went back to sleep.

Did I mention smores were a hit?  Em double-fisting it and walking far enough away so no one could impede on her space.

It was a huge deal to both M and I that the girls had a great experience camping.  One of our fears has been that the girls wouldn't like what we love and it would cease to be an enjoyable experience for us.  Instead of that happening, the whole experience was enhanced by watching as the girls clearly enjoyed what we have loved for so long...and sharing these kind of experiences as a family.

We have been home now for a couple days but head out tomorrow to my brother's house.  Should be fun to keep this rolling!  God Bless!!

Sedona to the Grand Canyon

After three days in Sedona, we were on our way to the Grand Canyon for some camping...the flowers are just starting up there.  This was just at a rest area but so pretty Em and I went for a "hike" anyway.

Aimee, a friend from Africa, had seen on the blog we were nearby and invited us up for lunch, an offer we were glad to accept.  They have chickens and goats in their backyard...

K got to collect the egg.  Yes, that is blue.  As Aimee puts it, "We get Easter eggs all year round."  :-)

K's version of touching something...you know, with her fingertips only.

Em's version of touching something...hugs and kisses all around!

She has twins only a few months older than Em...but I think they are bigger than K!  Man I have tiny kids!

In all of my excitement to test out my "food" setting on my camera to capture my first encounter with yellow watermelon, I completely forgot to snap a photo of mom and kids.

...so I stole their family photo from their blog. If you want to check them out, they are linked below as "The Young's".

After a quick playdate and lunch, we were off. Thanks guys!!

Oddly enough, the big one took a nap and the little one stayed awake. When I looked back, this was what I saw so I snapped a quick photo.

Which made her put the book down to look at me. She was pretty pleased with herself! Have I mentioned goofball before?

When we got to our campsite, Em was such a good helper!  She carried all the sleeping bags from the car to the tent.

Then we set them up so they would know how we were going to sleep.  They are on a Daddy kick so lucky Daddy got to sleep in between them and I got the far side of Emily.

K helping me build the fire...don't worry, we fixed it and she didn't touch the matches!

Ah smores...who doesn't love them?

Just to tease you...

Em decided she liked the "mushrooms" (as K has called them her entire life until I try to video tape her...and on this days she fixes her vocabulary!).  Mushrooms on a stick?  Yes, a literal stick...we weren't thinking smores until we saw the fire pit.

Ok, one more, I was messing with the settings on my camera and the fire was just fun.

We put Em to bed early as without a nap, she was done by supper.  She went right down all by herself in that unfamiliar tent.  She's so brave.  So that meant a little more time for us to read before it got dark.  Check out the footwear!  Yes, socks and flip flops...what else can you do when it is cold but you need to be able to take those shoes on and off as you get out of the tent???  Even for me that's a massive fashion statement!  :-)

This made me laugh...K has the light on her, well, head and she is reading the book sideways...

Well, we were off to bed...at K's bedtime since it was too cold to be outside the tent any longer.  Oddly enough, the eleven hours we spent in the tent turned out to be some pretty good sleep.  

God Bless!!