Holy Cow!

When Will's flight was delayed, I had to cancel our hotel reservations in Flagstaff for our scheduled trip to the Grand Canyon. (We were scheduled to head up there the day he was supposed to come home.)

This worked out alright, although Rhayn was out of school more than we wanted her to be. I knew she would want to be home with Daddy as much as possible. So she spent the first three days he was home with him. It was the week of parent-teacher conferences anyway, so she missed a few half days.

We decided that we would head up to Flagstaff after school on Wednesday, February 25th. I found someone who was willing to watch Ms. Lily so we took her over there midday. The trip up was uneventful. We stopped at Cordes Junction to use the restroom and have an early dinner at McDonald's. Neither Will nor I had printed off a map to the hotel. We knew it was near Flagstaff, to the south just a little, but we had no idea which exit to take. We ended up purchasing a map to find our way.

The truck was quite cold.

The hotel was decent. The only problem was that the water would not get hot, and the tub took forever to drain. All in all, the room was bigger than the hotel we had stayed at in San Diego. The hotel didn't offer breakfast, which meant we had to go out for breakfast. We had breakfast at Denny's where the girls ate "alien pancakes" and orange juice. Gwennie was so excited and kept pointing out the snow! over there! and more! over there! It was quite chilly. The truck told us it was 24 when we had left the hotel at a little after 7.

We took the western route to the Grand Canyon. The drive was nice, so much snow up through the San Fransisco Peaks area. We all kept our eyes out for wildlife but didn't see much, only a man cross country skiing.

Snow in the canyon.

When we parked at the canyon, Rhayn and I got out and walked out to see. Will helped Gwennie put on a jacket and it took him a few minutes to walk over. Rhayn and I had both been before, although it was more beautiful with the snow on the ground. The snow was only in the shady areas, having mostly melted in the sun.

Will and Gwennie pause for a picture.

We drove into the Grand Canyon Village area, and stopped for lunch at the restaurant in the Bright Angel Lodge. I was feeling rather gassy, and bloated. That made the entire day rather uncomfortable, sometimes you just have to deal with discomfort in life. I did take many unproductive trips to the restrooms.

A friend (the same one who was watching our dog) had told us that if we wanted to hike a little the Bright Angel trail was a good wide one to walk down with kids, so we hiked it a little ways. Lets just say that icy trails where one side goes pretty much straight down into a canyon are scary things. Will carried Gwennie because she was wearing cowboy boots and he didn't want her to slip and fall. Mule manure made it less slick, and although normally one attempts to avoid stepping in poop, we tried to step in as much as we could. (That is why the trail looks brownish- mud and manure.)

Will carrying Gwennie on the Bright Angel Trail.

After our hike we drove around the park for a while, looking at the views. We saw four large elk grazing by the side of the road, and I saw a nice winter furred coyote walking along the road. We arrived at the Watchtower and as usual, I didn't not climb to the top. I can not help it, I am scared of heights, and it is quite often debilitating. I know that it is ridiculous, about as silly as my fear of mirrors in the dark. I can deal with it most of the time, there are just some situations that I can not handle (like the freaky mirror in Hairball's childhood bedroom, shudder.)

Gwennie and I look out.

It was getting late and we decided it was time to leave the canyon. We drove out of the park, thus completing the loop and made our way back to Flagstaff for dinner. We wandered around the down town area of Flag, trying to decide what we wanted to eat. Gwennie kept her eyes out looking for dogs to pet. She always asks the owners nicely "Can I pet your dog?" first. Dinner was decent, we all slurped up hot miso soup.

For breakfast the next morning we went to McDonald's (I know, twice in one trip, yuck.) We recently purchased a membership to the Arizona Science Center and it gives discounts at Lowell Observatory. We wanted to take the girls there, and drove up to it, only to discover that it doesn't open until noon. Instead we played in the snow at a park for a bit before heading back to the valley and the warmth.

The girls riding a dinosaur in the snow.

In case you wonder why the title is "Holy cow!" It was Rhayn's exclamation about everything. The snow? "Holy cow!" The Grand Canyon? "Holy cow!" I think she said it about fifty time over the course of the two days. Will said that she must be in India, where there really are a lot of holy cows.

Quick Update amidst packing

We have all gotten over our illnesses. The dog has had solid poops, no more diarrhea!

We are leaving for a weekend camping trip first thing in the morning, and I am pretty excited! Yeah! We are getting out of the hot for a few days. The forests here are all under "no burn" laws. That means no campfires, no s'mores. That is the only downside, but there will be fishing for the guys and I am not sure what us girls will do, but I am sure it will be F U N!

Blowing Chunks

What is more fun than being puked on in the middle of the night? Not much I can tell you. Gwennie has always had a strong gag reflex, so at first I assumed that she had just coughed and made herself puke. That was not the case. While I was making breakfast she vomited on the floor, over and over, backing away from it like it was going to attack her. She spent the whole day fussing, barely eating and drinking just a little. She had quite a lot of "gup" though.

Saturday night was a bad sleep night for me, as she started puking and fussing around 1 am. I finally fell asleep sometime around 4 am. She and I slept on the floor most of the night because every time we lay in the bed she gagged again. There really wasn't much left in her so most of it was her tiny body dry heaving. I figure it would be easier to clean the vomit off of the floor than the mattress. Gwen seemed to sleep fine but I woke up feeling sore all over.

Father's Day morning, we were all up around 7 (our "sleeping in" time.) I was out of it, but still made french toast and we gave the Daddies their gifts (I made books and had the girls color in them.) It was an ok day. We took a nap around 1:30 and I was so out that at 3 when Gwennie got out of bed, I didn't even notice and stayed there until 4pm.

Instead of going out for dinner I drove to the nearest Pei Wei and picked up dinner. We all ate and relaxed for a while. I realized that Gwennie had hardly peed all day. I sat down and Gwennie had an hour of "gup" while I watched tv.

We went to bed and I slept fine until 4 am, when I heard someone gagging, and puke a little. It was Rhayn this time. I sett up her "sick bed" and gave her an empty trash bin and towel. She lay down and dozed and puked on and off for an hour or so. I know that both Will and I have talked about our stomachs being upset.

The alarm rang around 530 for Will to get up, I dozed until about 615 and got up. Gwen and Rhayn got up at 630. Righ now we are all watching Max and Ruby while they sit on the couch with cups of water and some "oit meal"(that is how Rhayn says it.) I am worried about Gwen who did have a wet diaper at 7, but it had been dry DRY all night. She had a weird mucousy poop at 730.

I just hope we are all feeling better soon. We are going camping this weekend with my parents andG'Rat's family. We are all looking forward to it.

A long Hike

On Saturday the family got together for a hike. We were headed up a majorly difficult route, and the girls knew we wouldn't make it. Ok, we might have, if babies had not been strapped to backs. This area is located only a little ways from Superior, its called Picketpost Mountain (On this website, Todd's Desert Hiking Guide is a decent description of the hike that I did not do! I did make it to that giant barrel cactus.)

We parted ways, some of us heading home, and some attempting to make it to the saddle. Those who headed back, took their time, having two one year olds, a five year old and a nearly nine year old (is that right? I forget how old Bethy is!) We looked at many rocks, and stopped to rest quite a bit.

The first group to arrive at the cars, us wimpy girls, made sandwiches and had a leisurely lunch.

The second group to arrive back consisted of Will, Mr. Dacheese, and D.O.G., JVA's dog. Mr. Dacheese's shoes were NOT meant for hiking, and the dog, well she is just a pup. Will had come back with them, to make sure they were OK (you should never hike alone.)

Ender, my Dad, JVA, SLA, and Gavin-guy made it back to the cars at about 2:30pm. I am always impressed by Gavin-guy. Look at that big smile, and he had JUST walked up to us! He is such a trooper!

I love hiking, and really can not wait for our next adventure (which will be in the Superstition Mountains.) Ah the glories of Arizona winter!

Mama Says Om: Camp

Bugs, caterpillers, and spiders, all things that around our house we want gone. However in the great outdoors of camping, they are friends. Well, sort of.

At the family reunion camping trip, all of the kids found these caterpillers. They carried them around on their shirts, in their hands, and even in little bug cages. I have never seem my daughter so happy. She wanted to bring them all home, to see what they would become.

The great thing about camping, the very best thing of all is getting dirty. At home, I try to keep them clean. While we camp, I give up. There is no way to keep tiny hands from touching dirt or twigs. And they love it.

I remember, as a child, camping all of the time, every summer we went camping. Yet my oldest daughter has only been camping a few times. Once when she was only 4 months old, once when we went to a family reunion for my dad's side (wasn't really camping as we stayed in a cabin) and this summer, which really counts since we were in a tent, and it rained on us, and it hailed and we came home dirty.

Why don't we go more? Why? Because my darly husband is in the military. He said he has had his fill of camping while doing training. So I will patiently wait until he is once again ready to camp, because he and I- we've only been camping together once, and it was long before kids. (Yes, that means every time I have taken Rhayn camping, its with my parents.)

So here is to getting to camp more- maybe next summer!

mama says om