Vacation Pictures 2013

Warning...lots of pictures!

First stop... 

In all 4 states at once!

 

The cliff dwellings are amazing to see.

Hard to imagine living on the side of a mountain.

And it's amazing how many there are!

 Travis and Addison went on a tour of Balcony House without Mackenna and I.

It was a more difficult tour, with crawling through a tunnel and a 32 ft. ladder, and we weren't sure how Mackenna would do.

 Addison loved it!

 We all toured Cliff Palace, which wasn't as difficult.

 Mackenna did enjoy climbing five smaller ladders!

Addison loved completing the Junior Ranger program!

She learned a lot and was given a badge from a real Ranger!

 

We also went river rafting one day.

The water was pretty low this summer, so the rapids were nothing like Travis and I have done before.

But, the girls were able to go and they both loved it!

 I tried really hard to get Addison to sit up on the front with me.

She wouldn't do it!

 

After Mesa Verde, we spent one night in Red River, New Mexico.

 We rode the ski lift to the top of the mountain.

At the top they have a frisbee golf course, so we took our frisbees up with us and played.

 pictures on the ski lift

Went hiking at the top and found this cool tree house. 

And after a long hike and frisbee golf, we all needed a snack!

We split this giant cookie 4 ways!

Family Vacation

Our family vacation was kind of comical this year.  The plan was to drive out to Mesa Verde National Park (SW Colorado) and camp with my brother and his family for 4-5 days.  We were all set. Cari and I had made a menu, I bought the stuff we were to bring and we were packed and ready to leave the next morning.

The night before, my brother called to say they had been driving that evening and got caught in a big storm.  Baseball size hail broke their windshield and they wouldn't be able to drive that vehicle the next morning. They said they were going to try to pull their pop-up camper with their mini van but weren't sure if it would make it through the mountains.  To make a long story short, we left and were about half way there when they called and said the van was giving them problems already and they wouldn't be able to make it. We were disappointed, but felt so bad for them.

The funny thing is, we have 2 tents here at home, but they were bringing us their tent, since they now have a camper.  Their tent is much bigger, so we thought we would try it out.  So, off to Walmart we go to buy a new tent!

We got to the campground and checked in and it dawned on us that we only had half the food.  We were bringing most of the meat, so we had to buy some things at the camp store to go along with our meat!

On the way home, our AC in the van went out.  Thankfully the highest the outside temperature ever got was 93.  It could've been so much worse. 

We had to laugh when we passed a hitch-hiker that afternoon.  Here we are in a van that is packed full in the back, 2 kids in booster seats that were fighting at the moment, windows rolled down, sweaty hot and hard of hearing because of the constant wind noise.  As we passed the guy, his thumb up turned into him flipping us off because we didn't stop.  Travis and I just looked at each other and laughed wondering if the guy would really want to ride in this van?!

Even though they weren't able to join us, we had a great time camping. The girls missed their cousins, but we made the most of it. Despite the unexpected surprises of the trip, it was good!  I'm thankful we were able to spend time together as a family and have some time to rest, away from the normal day to day stuff.

Home

It's always good to be home when you've been away for awhile!

The last few weeks have been busy.
Mission trip for a week.
Home for 3 days...just enough time to do laundry and pack again.
Leave for family vacation.
And home again!

The house is a mess.
Lots of laundry to do.
Not much food in the house.
Camping stuff that needs to be put away.

A busy week ahead, but I'm feeling refreshed after spending time in the mountains, relaxing and having fun with the ones I love!

Desert Museum - Spring Break 2013

We were there to watch the "raptor free flight" and it was awesome!  There were about 5 different raptors that they let loose, one at a time.  The trainers would stand out in the field and wave their arms to get the attention of the bird.  Then they would place a piece of food on a branch or hold it in their hand and the bird would fly right over our heads to the other side.  It was amazing how close the birds came to hitting the tops of our heads!  And they would land right in front of us.

 Hummingbird exhibit

We also saw a show about animals that run wild in your neighborhood.  The kids loved it!  There were lots of different animals that they talked about as the animal walked right across a stage.

Addison's favorite part was seeing the javelinas and the reptile exhibit (my least favorite!) It's a great museum to go to if you're ever in the area!

Spring Break 2013

This year for spring break, we drove to Tucson, Arizona to visit my parents, my grandma and my uncle.  They are snow birds and go there for the winter.  We begin to miss them after they've been gone all winter, so this year we decided to visit!

On the way there, we stayed for night in Albuquerque.  We left early in the morning and drove south and this is what we saw!  The sky was filled with hot air balloons!  It was beautiful and so fun to see.  We pulled off the interstate for awhile and watched.

My parents stay at a retirement resort, so we were able to swim everyday.  The girls loved that!

 Tried these on while shopping!

We went hiking with my uncle one day in Saguaro National Park and did a 5 mile hike. It was beautiful!  Addison went with us.  She loves hiking and did great.  She was our leader all the way down and was sometimes hard to keep up with!

 

 Getting her head wet in the trickle of a waterfall.

We had about a 1/2 mile left when Addison took a step on the left side of the trail and heard a rattle sound.  I was behind them and all the sudden I hear Travis shouting for Addison to "RUN!"  (My initial thought was that there was a mountain lion because we had just seen a mountain lion warning sign. Thank goodness it wasn't!) She had stepped right next to the head of a huge rattlesnake getting ready to cross the trail.  Poor Addison was stuck on the other side of it all by herself!  She was scared, but very brave! It was a great story for her to tell!