Dinosaur trees

Palm trees make things seem more exotic, even if it is still Utah.

Sawyer kept calling these trees 'Dinosaur Trees'.

Flat Stanley

McKinley's Kindergarten teacher gave her a 'Flat Stanley' to take on vacation with her. We were to take pictures of him at different places we visited. Here is the page I put together of Flat Stanley's fun times. Apparently there is a children's story that started the Flat Stanley craze. I think I'll have to check it out now.

Wish you were here!

The little circle with the blue dashes inside the heart is McKinley's crying face.

Lizard hunt

We started off today bright and early (like we always do....sigh...I wish I could sleep in, at least on vacation) and went for a little swim. Then I took the kids out for a little lunch at the Outback. I fell off the wagon and indulged in their sinful Aussie cheese fries with ranch dipping sauce. Then I talked them into going on a hike. I wasn't sure how it would go since I had to talk them into it, but they LOVED it! We decided to make it a lizard hunt, and look, we found some.

My lizard catching skills stink though because we never caught one. I swear my brother could catch a zillion lizards when we were kids. I'll have to get some tips.

Then we had a little picnic with my sis and bro-in-law up on the red cliffs and hiked around again a bit. I was very surprised with Sawyer's toughness. He was climbing all over the place. He usually gets cold feet climbing up my parent's ladder to the slide, so it was very impressive. Then we headed back and played at the playground for a few minutes. It was a loverly day.

Hayden fell down and these two are helping him wipe off his hands

I think it's going to rain tomorrow.

Hanging out

After our looong drive yesterday, today was a great day to just hang out. Oh, I did go to the outlet for a swim suit and flip flops though. My old swim suit was worn out to the point of public embarassment. Then we went ate lunch, went swimming, and played at the playground.

a loooong day, but still fun

We set out this morning with my great idea to visit the North Rim of the Grand Canyon. I thought I could check it off my kid's life list (everyone should see the Grand Canyon once in their lifetime). So after the 2 hour drive (one way), we were informed that the Canyon is closed until May 15. Hmmm, so just so I didn't make the day a total waste I wanted to see something. So I took the slightly longer (ha ha ha) drive back through Page, AZ so I could show the kids Lake Powell and the Glen Canyon Dam. On the way we stopped at 'Cliff Dwellers' where some lady built her house in the rocks back in the 1930's. It was pretty interesting. We also stopped at the 'Navajo Bridge' to see the Colorado River below. There were tons of Navajo jewelry stands off the sides of the road down there. McKinley couldn't believe there were still Indians around. McKinley said she thought the Dam was really cool. Kent thinks she was just glad to get out of the car. Well, hours later we made it back, and now I have learned some valuable life lessons: 1. The Grand Canyon is closed until May. 2. Lake Powell is indeed a lot farther away than the tiny map leads you to believe. 3. More than 4 hours in a car with three young kids hurts your head. 4. They would have had fun just swimming.

This sign was at the visitor's center at Glen Canyon Dam....and this little boy is adorable.

photos by me.

70+ degrees

Ahhh. Just sitting here outside in the warm breeze watching Sawyer play while Hayden takes a nap.

Here is my favorite picture of the day.