What's New...
Only three weeks of 3rd grade left and Summer begins. So proud of Tanith this school year. I believe having great teachers makes a difference and Tanith had a great teacher this year. Here are some pictures of the annual school carnival. We volunteered at the Tic Tac Toe game for a part of the carnival and then Tanith and friends had fun playing games, jumping, sliding, and hanging out.
Father Daughter with the Indian Princesses
Cousin Kevin and Abby Baby Shower
Family Summer Vacation - Flagstaff, Grand Canyon, and much more June 24-30. It was a wonderful trip with a lot of great memories. The weather was very hot, sometime over 100 degrees, but that did not stop us from exploring and enjoying the many wonderful places in Arizona.
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| Girls showing off there Travel Sway Bags. Included snacks, drawing tools, journals, and a map of the U.S. The girls were challenged to see how many out of state licence plates they could find. By the end of the trip the found all 50 States. It kept them engaged and learned about the states and where they were located on the map. |
On the road we stopped off at mommy's friend Trish's fast food joint in Bullhead City, AZ.
This was one a many deers that past by our house (aka cabin) everyday!.
The Palmer House. One of the oldest homes in Flagstaff. The family owned the lumber mill and much more. It was interesting walking through their home and see who the generations before us lived.
First night and preparing dinner together.
Getting ready to board the train at Williamson's and travel to the Grand Canyon. We actually go seats on the original Pulman train with windows (no air conditioning)
A few of us actually took a little hike down into the canyon, which was fun. Easy going down, a bit harder coming back up.
This beautiful Mule Deer just was walking casually around the rim. Up close and personal.
Next stop...Slide Rock. What a breath taking place, with amazing rocks and brisk stream. Unfortunately, the water was not safe for playing in today, which was unfortunate as it was 100 today, but we still managed to find some shade and enjoy a little bit of time there. I would love to go back so the girls could have fun.
Next stop, Sedona. I think if it was not so hot, we may have spent more time here, but by the time we arrived everyone was tired and too hot to handle walking around. We shopped a little and had a picnic lunch before heading back to the cabin.
I think everything happens for a reason. If we did not leave Sedona when we did, we may not have had this experience. Outside our cabin were over six deers. We have been seeing at least one a day walking through, but today was a pleasant surprise.
We visited Indian ruins and the Sunset Vulcano.
Downtown Flagstaff
Welcome to Bearazonia! Our last outing of our trip and a fun one. We even had the opportunity to see the debut of four new bear cubs that were born in the wild, rescued and today was the first day they were out for the public to see. They were so adorable and one even found a way out of the exhibit, but was eventually safely caught.
Baby bears climbing trees.
Final night in Flagstaff, which also included celebrating Grandma/pa's 60th Wedding Anniversary. We surprised them and took them out to a Mexican restaurant (they met in Mexico) and had cake, the girls performed for them (dancing and guitar) and took our final walk.
Driving home...it was a fun trip and I think we all loved Flagstaff.
...tomorrow, this beauty turns 9!
July 1 - Happy 9th Birthday baby girl. You mean the world to us and you continue to amaze us. You are growing up so fast and it's a joy to watch you develop and continue to be a caring and loving person. I wish you the best day ever. We went out to breakfast and kept it pretty low key as we were all exhausted from our trip. We did manage to make it to the mall (Tanith's request) to do some shopping and then home.
