Prescott and the Grand Canyon

Our third day was spent in Prescott.  I strapped sweet lil V to me.

 And we took a lovely morning walk around the Groom Creek neighborhood and surrounding areas.

 We looked for birds and I longed for a longer camera lens.

We found a plastic deer that showed a sign of Graves' disease and Ryan was very quick to diagnose it. It is a little difficult to tell from the front, but its eyes are definitely bulging.

Once the sun really started coming up, it was very toasty, so we headed back to the cabin to finish our morning playtime.

We spent the afternoon at the Sharlot Hall Museum in Prescott. It was a nice way to spend the afternoon and ended with a lovely afternoon rainstorm.

On our fourth day, we met my brother and his family at the Grand Canyon. We miscommunicated a wee bit when we discussed the meet-up time, as the south side had no daylight savings and the north side did. So, we showed up a bit later than my brother's family.

We started out by eating lunch in the picnic area while my brother dropped off their dog at the kennel. While we were eating, the kids saw a deer walk right through the parking area and began chasing it. It's all fun and games until someone gets lost. :-) We spent a few minutes trying to find little ones, only to find out they went to the restroom. Once we had everyone together again, we went to the first and busiest lookout point right next to the main visitor's center. My fear of heights certainly showed up in full-force at the edge of the canyon. If I were one to have panic attacks, I would have had many that day! Even as it was, I often found myself holding my breath with all my muscles tense just looking at people close to the edge. It was fun trying to keep track of all the littles, make sure no one fell over the rails, take pictures, and catch up with everyone's lives all at the same time.

 The views were spectacular and the clouds were very relieving. In direct sun it was incredibly hot, but as soon as the clouds shaded us it was beautiful. After we left the first group of lookouts, it started sprinkling on us. It was a nice break from the heat.

 Ryan had the babe strapped to his back in my sister's pack. We were so thankful to have it instead of the Moby with how hot it was. The only scary thing with it, though, was that she was held in only by a loose strap around her waist and Ryan kept bending over the rails, putting her almost horizontal. The first time I saw him do that I completely freaked out. Each time after that, I made sure to grab her foot so she couldn't wiggle out of the pack.

My brother took a picture of our family, but somehow we didn't get a picture of both families together.

 Even more beautiful than the canyons were the clouds as they quickly rolled across the sky.

 By the time we rode the shuttle to the second set of lookouts, the lil one was fast asleep.

The views from the second lookout were just as amazing and colorful.

We walked around in the air conditioned building, learning about all the rock formations and earth layers.

 While we were there, I discovered a job that I would not be a good candidate for: a window washer.

This ledge actually went all the way around the building at the base of the windows and there was nothing under them to break your fall, well, except for the bottom. 

 By the time we finished at the second lookout areas, V was not only asleep, she was completely conked out.

After that, we rode the shuttle back to the visitors' center and parted ways with my brother's family so they could make it to my parents' house before nighttime.

 (Ryan standing with V on his back, Ethan in the gray hat, Aimee in the pink hat, and I think Jane next to her. Please correct me if I'm wrong.)

(Jayke next to Markie, Kate next to Sophie with Andy on her lap. Again, please correct me if I mixed up the 2 younger girls. I can finally tell them apart when I see their face, but not the back of their heads.)

The kids were so excited that they could ride a bus and even more excited that they didn't have to wear seat belts. They loved playing with their cousins, even if it was only for a couple hours and were so sad when they had to say good-bye.

After my brother's family left, we went to the visitor's center to look around and also so I could feed V. You can tell she has a full belly now with that big ol' grin across her face. Full belly, happy baby.

We hopped back on the shuttle to see the lookouts on the East side of the visitor's center. This is where the storms really started gathering, giving a beautiful contrast to the canyon walls. 

 It was beautiful to see all the different depths across the canyon.

Jayke convinced us that he could handle carrying the babe on his back. I was a lot more nervous about him carrying V than I was about Ryan carrying her. I wouldn't even let him come close to the edge out of fear that he might slip on loose rocks, especially since the lookouts on this side did not have rails like the other ones did.

At our last stop, the rains started coming down at the other side of the canyon. It was beautiful to look at. 

 Even more beautiful, though, was the lightning. Incredibly dangerous, I'm sure, but there were a few of us that sat there trying to get a little lightning on one of our exposures. The rain was really thick and it was still pretty light out, so it was hard to get any bright lightning in the pictures.

With a quick black and white conversion, you can barely start to see the lightning on the left side.

And turning just a few degrees, you wouldn't even realize that the storm was so bad right around the corner.

The kids enjoyed the views a little and the parents probably appreciated its grandeur a lot more.

 As we were getting ready to board the shuttle again, the storm clouds were covering up the last bit of blue sky to be found.

As I sat in the van feeding V while the kids were in the visitor's center getting another junior ranger badge, the rains started coming down. First in a light drizzle, followed by a heavier sprinkle, and then finally a good rain. It could not have been a more perfect way to end the day.  I love the rain.

Montezuma Castle and Montezuma Well

Our second day trip while on vacation was to Montezuma. It was pretty interesting seeing the homes built into little coves on the side of a cliff.

They had a model made of it so people could see what the building actually looks like since no one is allowed to go inside anymore. I was amazed at how large it was. From the ground it doesn't look like more than a couple rooms, but it was quite elaborate.

There were little alcoves all over the side of the cliff where they had storage areas and other little rooms. It was actually pretty interesting to see.

While we were there, Ryan heard a group speaking Tagalog, so he started talking to them. He always surprises people when he does that. They usually ask if he married a Filipina, but he obviously didn't. Then they start asking him why he speaks Tagalog like a native. It's always a good conversation. In usual Filipino fashion, we were instant best friends because Ryan shared a common language with them. We all hung out while Ryan talked with them. They were a 4 generation group/family from Western Canada. It was a couple with a baby, both of their parents, and one set of grandparents. They were a lovely family. Before we parted ways, they wanted to take pictures of us and with us.

Now in front of the ruins.

 Now with some of the group.

Now with the whole group (except the man taking the picture).

Now some of the cute baby.

 (All of the above photos came from the family that we met.)



I was really surprised at how high up the cliff the buildings were. I pretty sure I would not want to raise little children up there. Could you imagine trying to keep a crazy toddler from trying to jump off the ledge? I think we have it bad trying to keep toddlers from jumping off the table or couch!

The kids all became junior rangers and were given a badge and sworn in. I'm pretty sure Ryan took a video or at least a picture, but I can't find it. I am assuming it is on his phone.

After Montezuma Castle, we went to Montezuma Well. It was pretty well hidden in the surrounding hills. If you didn't know it was there, you wouldn't find it. It was basically a hill that had the center of it dipped down with a little lake in the bottom of it. It was actually pretty far down, even though you can't really tell from the pictures. It was far enough down that we didn't want to hike down it with the impending storm.

 It was nice having a happy baby for the trip.

There were even ruins under the edge of the cliff. Don't ask me how anyone got in there or even how they crawled to the other rooms that were down a little further. The cliff was basically a sheer drop-off that went right to the water.

From the location of the well/lake, you could walk a little further down the other side of the hill and down through some rocks to see where the spring came out of the ground. It was a complete different world down there. Everything was so green and cool. It was very refreshing after being in the hot and muggy hills. The spring comes out of the ground right behind where everyone is standing in this picture and then flows along the side of the rocks until it goes into the nearby stream.

The stream is flowing right at the base of the rocks.

And merges with this little stream.

We were a little nervous walking down on that part of the trail because we saw the rocks that were right over our heads were just balancing there. I was fine (meaning completely oblivious) until Ryan pointed it out to me and then I was quite anxious to get out of there. We found this rock on the way out that looks like it was carved to look like a Native American. It was pretty interesting.

 Right after we left, the storms rolled in and gave us the most beautiful clouds to look at and down-poured rain on us. It was just perfect.

Sleepy

Lately V has been refusing her naps all day until she just can't stay awake any longer, which is usually right around dinnertime. She takes a nice long nap and then wakes up right when we are trying to get to bed. We usually end up staying up with her until past midnight. It is so frustrating. So, the past couple days that she has been refusing her daytime naps, I made her stay awake at dinnertime and don't let her sleep until 7pm when the rest of the kids are going to bed. On Tuesday, she just couldn't stay awake any longer. It was quite funny watching her.

Predicament

Our little explorer is getting around everywhere now. I love it! I think it is so funny to see what she chooses to spend her time doing. Just this morning, I found her in the kitchen with the griddle cord hanging out of her mouth while she was trying to crawl out of the kitchen. Didn't really work since it was stuck in the cabinet, but it was definitely fun to see. She also likes to go through obstacle courses in our dining room. She'll squeeze between the legs of the table and chairs. I found her high-centered on a chair and she was yelling for someone to come save her. The wonderful mom that I am, I found my camera first before teaching her how to crawl out of the chair. I love discovering my child's personality during this phase of their life!

Tags

Every time I turn around, V has found another tag. It doesn't matter how fun the toy is that she is playing with, if it has a tag it goes straight to her mouth. So hilarious! I though I would outsmart her and get her a tag toy to suck on, but she won't suck on those tags. Nope, she is a tag snob. She has to have just the right tag in order to satisfy her need.

Jerome, Tuzigoot

Finally! Two months after our summer vacation, I am actually getting around to documenting it. Our goal this year was to visit everything of interest in Arizona so that when Ryan graduates we won't have any need to sight-see in AZ. We would come to AZ purely to visit family.

We stayed at a cabin just outside of Prescott and took daytrips to our different destinations. Our first day sight-seeing included going to Jerome and Tuzigoot.

Getting to Jerome was quite interesting. The mileage from Prescott to Jerome is pretty insignificant, but it took us nearly an hour to get there. The last few miles of the trip were heading directly up Mingus Mountain on very tight switchbacks. Not a pleasant trip, especially when the kids in the back start saying they feel like throwing up. Even in the front seat, I was getting really sick of all the turns. There were several points along the road where I actually thought we might slip off the edge of the road and fall a thousand feet to our death. The road was incredibly narrow and I did not like being on it at all! I'm sure Ryan was just laughing at my silliness the entire time.

Once we got to Jerome, we went to the old miner "museum". I actually think it was a junkyard that was organized a bit and people wanted to see all the old "junk" that was there so they started charging people admission. Either way, it does have a nice view of the valley below.

   This little girl enjoyed her ride in the backpack. She started out resting on Dad's shoulder and chewing her hat strap, but she quickly realized that Dad makes a great pillow. That is how she spent the rest of the time at the Jerome museum.

 The boys had been really interested in carving with their pocketknives during this vacation, so when they saw this carving they got really excited. 

 

On the way out of the museum, we saw this car. Jayke was so excited about it that he wanted us to stop the car and run over there to get a picture. Must be a boy thing...I don't get it.

After we got back to the actual town of Jerome, we were driving down the streets, just completely amazed at how all the buildings are hanging off the edge of the mountain. Seriously some scary buildings there. This picture pretty much sums up the entire town. Tall buildings with a few feet until tall retaining walls which connect to the next level of tall buildings. Forget having a yard, you're lucky to have a back porch!

On the way to the state museum, we saw an old car that had gone off the road into a ravine...that was still there. I guess there just wasn't any way to pull it out so they just left it there. From the state museum, you can see just how crazy all the buildings are. They are literally just sitting on the edge of the mountain. We learned at the state museum that there have been several landslides in the town. The mountain was being mined and it is even on a fault line, so the chances of having your house destroyed were pretty big.

 
You can see the storms just rolling in over the mountains. They were incredible! They seemed to just appear out of nowhere.

And the views from the town were spectacular. I can see why people still want to live there, even if it is a crazy, sliding down the mountain, halfway into the mountain, little tourist town.

 

After Jerome, we drove a few more miles and saw the Tuzigoot National Monument. It was pretty much what I expected: a bunch of Native American ruins.

What I didn't expect was how high they were. The ruins sat on a little hill, but even from the little hill, you can see everything around it.

 

It's location was right next to the river, so everywhere around it was covered in huge trees and green bushes. Ethan kept telling us how he wants to live somewhere that has lots of green.

 

 Jayke just wanted to take pictures of everything. Even if he already had twenty pictures of it, he wanted more. There was a point during our vacation that I told him to put the camera away. He was getting a little shutter-happy.

Up next: Montezuma Castle and Well...

She crawls!

As of yesterday, V officially crawls rather than rolling and scooting to get where she wants. Today she has been practicing her new skill and is getting rather good at it. I am so excited that she is finally crawling!

 

First day of school

There are plenty of wonderful things to do for the first day of school. Wearing your favorite outfit, fixing your hair just right, eating a hearty breakfast, getting plenty of rest, remembering your backpack and sack lunch, having your picture taken in front of your house or at the bus stop, having your best smile ready to meet your new teacher and friends...yes, there are plenty of things to do on the first day of school. One of those is not becoming best friends with your snooze button for an hour and twenty minutes unawares. Nope, things like that should not ever be done. That would only leave you 10 minutes to shower, get dressed, eat breakfast, brush your teeth and hair, change a diaper, dress a baby, pack a lunch, enforce the "everyone must brush their hair and teeth" and "nobody can wear all black" rules, remind 4 children that they must wear shoes, remind a 4 year old that she must wear socks with her shoes, remind 9 year old that he still hasn't filled out his paper that needs to be turned in today, run 5 children out the door, and get their picture taken before piling them all in a minivan. Then, driving the speed limit for 17 miles to get to the school crowded with excited children and hoards of parents begging for one last hug or kiss, just in time for the teachers to escort all the students from the playground to the classrooms. No, doing something like that on the first day of school would not be a good idea. Not at all. Not that I would have any experience with that, though. Happy first day of school!