Wednesday, July 1, 2009

Introducing...The Trip!

Oh give me a home...
Where the Buffalo roam...
Where the Deer...
And the Antelope play...
Where seldom is heard, a discouraging word...
And the skies are not cloudy...
Cloudy...
Cloudy...
Cloudy...
Cloudy...
Cloudy...
(Blast) And the skies are not cloudy all day!
Here we are...Somewhere in the hills to the East of Cedar City. We got out for pictures and to pick a rock.
After making a home in the KOA, the kids did some hunting and found this cute little moth.
Little, my tooth! Look at that monster!
Our first adventure of the trip...
A picturesque burned out tree.
The car that got us where we needed to go.
A stop to play in Zion's dirt. Oh Zion, Dear Zion...
Ooooh...The mile long tunnel in the park.
Inside...we finally see the light at the end of the tunnel.
Isn't it pretty?!
The weather was beautiful and cool. We got lots of smiles while sightseeing.
We needed to take a shuttle to see many sights. Apparently it's a new thing in National Parks. Ruthie saw this nice bench while we waited for a shuttle and said, "Oh, a nice soft place for me to rest!" Alrighty!
On the shuttle with Ruthie and dad.
Each of the kids got to bring $25 of their hard earned money to spend on whatever they wanted. The boys got these birds...
At the top of the shuttle run, there was a nice river. The kids got to cool off a bit.
When we got back on the shuttle, the driver said we could get off at the next stop where we could get ice cream.
How do you say no to that?
You can't!
As we drove back through all the small towns to the KOA, we passed this speed trap on the road.
I tried to get a good picture of the really cute sheriff. But Daniel drove too fast. I think it made Daniel jealous that I wanted a picture of the cute sheriff. Daniel just said he was a big fake dummy. Rude!
We then packed up camp and started the long journey to our next destination. But along the way, we had to stop in St. George for some In N Out. yummmmm.
And then we got distracted by a Dinosaur museum in town.
So we stopped to visit.
As we drove through Vegas in traffic, this lady in the blue car kept passing us. Then we'd pass her. I finally took a picture because her license plate made us laugh. Daniel kept saying it said "Special Day" Then we thought it was "Special Lady" (I want a license plate like that!) But really it't "Speech Lady".
On the the Hoover Dam.
Here is the cool bridge they are building.
This is Isaac, my skinny little cuss, who squeezed through the seat and door. Where no one should be able to squeeze through.
A very kind man took our picture.
These cones are our way of saying, "(the) Dam, it's hot!"
And heat makes the mom cranky. And tired. And we had been on the road till dark. The KOA was still 2 hours away. So we set up camp here...
And had pizza and slept in beds!
The next day, since we didn't have too much to drive and mom wasn't quite so cranky, we decided to take Route 66 for a while.
Then we got to Williams. It was a quaint town just outside of the Grand Canyon...South Rim.
They had lots of trains. That made some boys really happy!
And they had a playground. Isaac took some time to read a new book.
Sam and Ruthie played. There were some older girls playing and they stopped Sam and Ruthie at the top of a climbing thingy and asked, "What are your names?" So they answered. Then they asked, "Are you related?" To which Ruthie and Sam said, "Yes!"
All that happened while dad was calming some noise from work on the phone.
That's not Daniel.
It's a dummy.
That's another dummy.
And the final destination of the day.
Another KOA.
We got a guided tour to our site.
Daniel was setting up the tent and the ground was too hard for the regular stakes. So he had to use the stakes from the nice shade maker. He also forgot the mallet. So he was reduced to using a rock.
Then he upgraded to this snazzy tool.
A note from the management: Sorry this is taking a long time. But what can I say? It was a long trip and we did a lot of stuff. If you are still reading and looking at pictures, congratulations! and you should take a brief intermission here. Go get yourself some chocolate and something cold to drink. Go on! You deserve it!
Now back to the regularly scheduled program...
The Grand Canyon's South Rim.
Aaahh...The Beauty!
From the start, my sweet young'uns were complaining! They wanted to go back to the campground and swim. What?!? You want to swim with all this grand beauty behind you?!
Oh yeah, it only gets better...
Hey look! It's me! Hi!
It was such a beautifully cool day. Then, out of nowhere, came these ominous clouds.
Just kidding. They didn't come from nowhere. We planned on it. It had rained all the night before. You see how pretty it is with the rain falling in the canyon?
We had gotten the car parked close to a shuttle, ate lunch, grabbed our sweatshirts and headed to the shuttle station.
As soon as we got there, it started to pour! Seriously! Pour! Then the shuttles just passed us by. So people left. Thank you! That got us under the roof!
It rained for about 45 minutes straight. The shuttles kept bringing loads of people back from the rim. They wouldn't take any more people out because of lightening danger. So more people left. I don't know where they went. There isn't much cover out there!
We just sat tight in the cold and rain until the skies cleared and the shuttles started running people up again.
So we did all the fun stops along the rim and got some pretty pictures.
The kids loved how deep the canyon was.
We kept hearing words like Sweet, Cool, Wow, Amazing!
They kept asking when we would get to the gift shop so they could spend more of their money!
The one thing that kept coming to mind when the kids would stand on the ledge for a picture was when the Brady Bunch went to the Grand Canyon. Those were the days.
On the shuttle ride back the kiddos were exhausted!
They all laid down and rested.
Some of them are really weird. Boy, do I love that guy!
Aahh..Back to the pool. Yes! I did swim with them. Just not at this pool. You see, I had a visit from my Aunt Flo. And then there was the endless pile of laundry. Dirty, smelly, stinky laundry.
Some women in the laundry room are extremely territorial. Sheesh!
So they splashed without me!
Here's a question for you...What produces the loudest, most obnoxious noise in the world?
My family in the shower outside the pool area, that's what!
Finally a campfire for s'mores. No rain. Just chocolate, grahams, marshmallows and chocolate.
On our way out, we stopped at the Hoover Dam again. This time we got out and did the Dam Tour. It was hot!!!
Hey! A cute family picture. Why do they always put their hands in their faces when the mom actually looks decent?!
And after a long long long long drive, along with more In N Out, my ankles and feet looked almost as big as they did when I was pregnant.
Well, that does it! I hope you enjoyed it! It seriously took me almost 4 hours to get all the pictures on and write. I don't like this computer and I don't like sitting to blog.
My new hard drive came today! Yay!
Have a wonderful day!

7 comments:

Susie said...

Holy blogger batman! I think it took me 10 minutes to read all that, but I did enjoy! Looks like that pham had a lot of phun. Sorry your feet swelled I honestly know how that is and it's not fun. Thanks for taking all the time to post and describe your vacation, it was fun for me too!

Anonymous said...

How fun! Thanks for posting. I just kept thinking of the Brady Bunch too and was waiting for a picture of all of you on donkeys, slowly descending into the Grand Canyon... - Katie

Crissy said...

Good greif, Lady!! That's a TON of pictures! I enjoyed seeing them!
I can't believe how fast they have worked on that Hoover Dam bridge since we were there!! Looks like you parked in the same spot we did! Awesome photos :) Glad to have you back home.

Andrea said...

Looks like you guys had a great time! Glad you guys were able to get out and enjoy yourself!

Mama Bear said...

Looks like such a fun trip! It looks like a vacation that wears you out and you come home the good tired. You guys are nicer than me when it comes to the license plate. My first thought was Speech Lady, but then again it is almost 4am and I'm awake! Blah!

Kim said...

Wowie! You were busy! So fun to see all of your pictures of your fabulous trip. What great parents ya'll are for taking your kids on such a grand adventure! Some of my best memories from growing up are of camping trips with my family.

BTW - that moth looks like it belongs in the dinosaur museum!

Single Women Adopting Children said...

YOu deserve a medal for documenting your vacation so well! You'll be really glad when it comes time to print the next set of blog pictures.

Looks like a good time. I remember the Brady bunch at grand canyon - funny.

Great to see your family out in nature - I love all of those places. YOu got some really nice pictures.