Monday, April 19, 2010

Arizona Vacation - Day 1

Life seems so crazy for me right now. I feel like I just run from one thing to the next, never really accomplishing anything at all!

2 weeks ago was the kid's spring break, and it coincided with General Conference Weekend, (meaning I wouldn't need to get a sub for primary) so we decided (rather on the spur of the moment - two weeks ahead is all) to take off for the week on this year's family vacation. I have been trying to sit down and blog about the vacation all week. I decided this moring that if I just do ONE post per day... I CAN do it! (and maybe once I get started, I'll feel inspired to get it done faster) Be forewarned that I took a KAZILLION pictures on this vacation. literally! so don't feel obligated to look at them all or even read every entry. Just know that this is my "vacation scrapbook" - so read and view only as it interests you...

DAY 1 -

We left bright and early (4:00am) and started the drive to Mesa, Arizona. As crazy as it may seem, we like leaving early so the kids sleep for the first chunk of the drive. I actually prefer to leave closer to 3am, but since we were up until after 11 the night before, finalizing everything, we moved the start time until 4 so I didn't have to get up until 3:30. First stop was in Kanab. (not really necessary yet, but we filled up the gas tank and let the kids use the restroom and stretch their legs now that they were awake. Since they have a "K" on the mountain, we also took the time to take a picture of Katrina with "her letter"



And of course, if Katrina gets to sit in the old rickety buggy, so does everyone else!



We took the "scenic route," down through Fredonia, and I'm so glad we did. We saw lots of really awesome things things.

The first place we stopped (both for the scenic view and also for "sickness" considerations) was an overlook that we think was called Vermillion Cliffs overlook. We were hoping to see some of the California Condors that live in the area, but no such luck.




Katrina and I are missing firm these pictures because Katrina had just thrown up and was resting by the van, and I was cleaning up the carseat that Caleb had just thrown up in... (Apparently several of my kids, Katrina especially, inherited my car-sickness gene - I have much more empathy for my poor parents who had to deal with me on family vacations. Thank heavens for ziploc baggies. NEVER leave home without them!)

Not too much further down the road was the "Cliff Dwellers" stop. (I though it was SUPER cool.) There were these massive sandstone rocks that had holes etc... carved out by erosion, which early dwellers in the area utilized to make their houses. It was really amazing to me.

notice how they built the wall up to the ROCK and then use the rock as the roof and back wall of the house.. (not that you can see the back or anything...) It was REALLY neat! I loved it!

Talk about some painful splinters...


Soon after the Cliff Dwellers was Navajo Bridge. We stopped there to take a few pictures and walk out over the river.


The last stop before the hotel was Sunset Crater. We ate (a late) lunch here, checked out the visitors center where the kids favorite activity was where they could jump and see what their vibrations registered on a Richter scale, and then we hiked around the lava flows. It was pretty neat. There was more we (Tim and I) wanted to do there, (more hiking and some ruins to explore, but it was getting late and the kids REALLY wanted to have have time to swim.




Taking the scenic route meant that we stopped a LOT more than we planned to, so we didn't arrive at the hotel until 5:15 - 5:30 ish. (I was thinking we'd get in around 3, but I factored in ONLY gas/restroom adn a lunch stop.) This meant we got less time to swim in the hotel pool before heading out to the Mesa Temple pageant. but it was all good.

Here is the family in the pool (the water was a delightful temp and the weather was beautiful!) before we raced off to the pageant -



and here we are at the temple.

We ended up getting lost on the way (we had the directions printed out, but due to construction road closures we had to do a bit of extra "exploring." Only Aaron got to have pictures with the actors because be the time he and Tim got back to us and I took Katrina and Bryan out, it was time to start and the actors all left.


The pageant was GREAT! I really really liked it. Originally we were planning a much shorter trip to the grand canyon, but when I realized that if we left 2 days earlier, I could catch the final performance for this year. I have wanted to see this pageant for years, so I was thrilled to be able to finally see it. My only regret? (well, two actually, I wish we had been able to get there earlier and get closer to the front so the kids could see better, and I wish that it hadn't been such a LONG day. The kids all fell asleep by the end. I don't think any of them - maybe Aaron? got to see the very end when Jesus "rises up above everything. It was really amazing. Guess we'll just have to go again eh?

(I know this is not a good picture, but it is the best the camera could do. You can still get the general idea of the final scene where Jesus rises above everyone else into heaven.)

Then back to the hotel and instantly asleep!

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