Pics from the weekend

Maria has shared some great pictures from the night in Flagstaff. The first two are from the Polar Express ride. The third picture, which I think is great, are of Ben and the kids. What a good sport he is!

Landon invited Jacob & Annie to go on the "polar express" with him, so we all headed down to Flagstaff. The train ride was actually out of Williams, AZ and it was on the Grand Canyon Express. Brian accompanied the kids, and they all reported having a great time. I forgot my camera, so I'll post some pictures after I get copies from Maria. On the way home the next morning, we decided to take a 27 mile lunch-detour to the Watchtower of the Grand Canyon (South Rim). The weather here is turning colder, as to be expected, but is still generally comfortable during the day.

Sedona

On Saturday, we headed down to Sedona for a wedding. It was the kids' first wedding, and they were very well behaved. It didn't hurt that it was an outdoor wedding, in a beautiful location on a ranch in Sedona, that the weather was perfect, and the ceremony lasted about 15 minutes. Annie kept asking when she could dance. Along the way, we drove the scenic 89A route through Oak Creek Canyon and we also stopped at another National Park. This one is located near Flagstaff, and it is called Walnut Canyon. It had been closed (well, the main attraction) due to some large boulders falling on the hiking trail. This happened in December 2007 and they opened up the trail in mid-October 2008. I remember thinking, "how could a boulder or two take that long to remove?". But after visiting the park, it is easy to see how it would be a difficult task. It was a nice hike with the kids with good scenery and interesting cliff dwellings.

Halloween 2008

Happy Halloween! We had a great time trick-or-treating. We headed out for a bit up and down the street with friends. Everyone got into it and the streets were full of trick-or-treaters. We also went to a small Halloween party afterwards, where the kids got to run around while the adults got to talk. How nice is that!

Last Hike with the Wilsons

We met up with the Wilson's for a last hike, this one in Zion National Park (Kolob Canyon). They are winding down their station in the U.S., and this is the last we'll see them for a while. We'll hope to meet up with them again in the future. We also saw a little more of St. George, which was nice. It included a stop to see one Jacob's friends, David, who's Dad was recovering in the hospital there. I had hoped to take the kids to see Pipe Springs National Monument on the way home, to see the gardens and the longhorn cattle, but Annie was sleeping and Jacob was very into the movie Speed Racer on the portable DVD. I'll be sure to post some Halloween pictures and some pictures from our trip to Sedona next weekend.

Quick Trip to North Rim

After waking up this morning, we decided to make a day trip to the North Rim of the Grand Canyon. We bought our new yearly pass earlier this month, when we visited a small park called Pipe Springs National Monument. I didn't bring my camera for the Pipe Springs park, but we'll likely make a stop there if we travel towards St. George or Las Vegas. It was a nice little park - scenic, a short trail, interesting - but not a place you'd spend too much time or a place to go out of your way to visit. Anyway, the North Rim closes for the winter season, so we thought we'd head back for a last visit in 2008. We basically got there, walked around some, viewed the canyon, ate at the restaurant, listened to an interesting ranger talk on condors, and then headed home. We did see some wildlife today: On our way out this morning, Brian noticed a red-tailed hawk perched on our back yard fence. It was just hanging out there, and didn't leave until sometime after we drove away. Then we saw a coyote rambling near the highway (not that big of a deal for this part of the country), plus a few deer inside the park, and I got to see my first porcupine.

Happy Birthday Jacob!

5 years old! We had a nice birthday party at the bowling alley on Saturday, but I forgot to take pictures. Just running around keeping track of the 5-and-under bowlers kept me from even remembering that I brought my camera. I did snap one post-party picture, with Annie in the purple party dress. Today, Jake celebrated with his pre-school class, and then we had a small celebration at home. Since we had cake on Saturday and cupcakes at pre-school, I decided to frost some sugar cookies for tonight for a change. When I was making the cookies, I needed my rolling pin, which I do own, but NEVER use. I finally gave up and remembered the kids had a plastic one in their playdough stash. I washed it off, and it worked quite nicely. The birthday boy got some great gifts, and he loved them all. I wish all of our friends and family could have been here with us. Hard to believe it has been 5 years.