Painted Canyon and J Turns 6!

Well, we missed our nephew's bday while we were gone so this weekend, we had a little family celebration of J's SIXTH birthday! He's getting so old! :-)

His theme was insects, so I made a dirt cake for the day.

Then they repeated all the crafts they did at the big party. It must have been a blast because this was really fun too!  This was crayon rubbing.

Painting rocks to make them bees and ladybugs.

And then we went on an insect hunt.  It was so cute. They had little bug containers, tweezers and nets as well as a list of the insects they needed to collect one of.

Of course there was lots of playing...

Nana and Poppy and the rest of us were there, we just didn't take any pictures of us.  Classic.

Happy Birthday big guy!

Putting all his weapons on his back.

Caterpillars...

The day before, we went to Painted Canyon down by the Salton Sea.  This turned out to be a really neat hike, though I overdressed the girls.  When we left our overcast chilly day, I did not realize it would be twenty degrees warmer and sunny while we worked.  The girls found a 'cave' to hide in.

The canyon started out pretty wide.

Then slowly narrowed.

I couldn't stop looking at the rocks...I am still a geek at heart.

When we found our first ladder, we had no idea it was actually the last ladder and we were doing the hike in the wrong direction.  It took us almost a mile and half to get here so I was quite relieved to tell the girls we were headed back to find more ladders.

So people have brought ladders in so you can make it up the areas that would be incredibly difficult to pass otherwise.

K is turning into a great climber and boy does she get upset if you help her!

They loved the ladders and have even asked to go back...on a hike...repeat it.  We may win this battle some day!  :-)

No one could figure out how the dog made it up the ladders...really people?  He went down several because he isn't the brightest but up, no, that was M.

It turned out that this was the entrance to the loop we were looking for.  It was very clearly marked had we been on the trail to begin with...

And here the canyon got quite narrow and the girls had a BLAST.  They kept calling it the 'cabin' because they couldn't say 'canyon'.

Love the old ladder...

They were running through the canyon so I was taking shots on the run. :-)

There was a lot of bum sliding for our sure-footed Em.

Everything I read said to come in the morning but I like the evening light on the rocks...

Well, between all that and a BBQ with our friends, it was a great first weekend back!  Sadly, this week is all work and doctors, but I guess we have to get back to real life at some point.  I have started my real elimination diet (as directed by the allergist) and am 8 days in.  It is far more hard than I thought it would be.  I am really struggling mainly because my energy is quite low as I adjust and I get irritated at virtually anything and everything. I am really hoping this will pass, though it should have already.  I am trying to focus on our new theme for school for the girls, getting the vegetable garden up and going again, and reconnecting with all my friends...all with a quarter of my normal energy.  I could use prayer please for getting up in the morning.  Because I am so tired, I am struggling to get up and have my quiet time.  I am still doing it as I value it dearly, but I would love to be more alert and not need to do jumping jacks every 15min to keep myself awake.  Well, I hope all is well.  We have had many answers to prayer in the last week and I trust this is true of your life as well.  God Bless!