Grand Canyon Trip 2009

Grace is TWO!

Mom, Dad and Hannah arrived just in time to celebrate Grace's 2nd birthday at Nana's. We were all happy to see each other after a long week apart. Watch as we sing happy birthday to her. She loves to sing. Unfortunately for her, Grace got a little too close to the candles as she tried to blow them out. No harm.

Vacation Update from Flagstaff, AZ

We are on day 4 of our vacation and we find ourselves in Flagstaff, AZ. We Spent the first 2 days in Las Vegas and yesterday we paddled 12 miles of the Colorado River after starting from the base of the Hoover Dam. We had to get permits to launch in the restricted location. It was breath taking and butt kicking. We spent the night in a Cabin, it sounds better than it was, near Lake Mead. Today we visited a Ranch, panned for gold. We actually found some gold flakes. We took a "short cut" down a 30+ mile dirt road before intersecting historic Route 66 which took us to our present location. Tomorrow Hannah and Jamey are going horseback riding in Kiabab National Forest outside of Grand Canyon National Park. I am planning on some hiking while they ride. We will spend the next 2 days in the Park and will returned to Vegas for a day and a half. It has been great but, exhausting. I wouldn't have it any other way. Here are a few sneek peeks of our photos.

Hannah's Big Trip

After hundreds of hours gleaming at our PC monitor we are finally almost ready to depart for "Hannah's Big Trip". For several month Jamey and I, mostly Jamey, have be planning a trip for Hannah, her and I. We hope to spend some quality time with her while she still "wants" to. We have literally looked from the Northwest in Alaska down the Caribbean in Dominica before we found a stop that fit most of Hannah's priorities. Horses, Volcanoes and Adventure. On Monday we fly to Las Vegas for three days, then to Arizona and finally to the Grand Canyon Village. We still have bags to pack and final reservations to nail down so wish us luck and keep us in your prayers. Not necessarily for our safety, rather our sanity after the draining task of planning a vacation on a budget for a teenager.

Happy 8th Birthday Caleb

This weekend Caleb turned 8 years old. He spent two days at Great Wolf Lodge in Sandusky celebrating the occation with the whole family. We were able to get the kid's family suite for a great price via cub scouts. The kids had their own "log cabin" inside of the room. It was a great fit for us. ALl the kids enjoyed the water park. It is not as big as Kalahari but, a good size for Caleb and Grace. Here Caleb is being a good big brother helping his little sis down the slide. Wat you don't see is him hit the bottom and lunging Grace face first into the water. She didn't like that so much. All and all we had a good time and Jamey and I think it was our first "family trip" with all the kids.