Our Grand Adventure...... at the Grand Canyon

Last weekend was UEA and the kids had 3 days off. We opted out of a baseball tournament and decided last minute to go on vacation somewhere. It was a crazy week for me. My SIL Emily and I went to St. George on Tues. to watch Les Miserables at the Tuacahn theater. We had won 2 tickets and a $60 gas card at the school auction (for only $50, what a deal). It was truly an incredible show and such a fun trip. Anyone who knows Emily knows how much fun she is- even when we're sitting in a bathroom out in the middle of no where because she needs a breathing treatment. Love Ya Em. We definately need to do that again soon. We came home Wed. before 5 p.m. and so I washed clothes, packed and had us ready to head out on Thursday morning. (Did I mention that I also had to run payroll this week). We stayed the first night in St. George where we ate at the Outback the girls shopped and the boys watched baseball & football (the games weren't that great so the boys ended up shopping too.) Oh we also had to get in some swimming. Britnee was very disappointed to find out later that it would be her only chance to swim- the pool at the Grand Canyon was closed for the season- and she brought 3 swimsuits. Life is just not fair when you are 9.


We took the long way to the Grand Canyon so we could stop and see the Hoover Dam. It was pretty cool. I think Broc held his breath while driving over it- he really doesn't like dams- not even the one at Flaming Gorge. It was a beautiful day and so after all that walking we spent way to much money on ice cream cones- but it was definately worth it.

We stopped in a little town in Arizona(I forgot the name). The only place we could see to eat was Wendy's so we drove a little off the beatin' path and found Route 66 and this great little diner called Mr. D'z. The atmosphere was great and so was the food. If you're ever traveling thru you should try it out. (after we made the turn to head to the Grand Canyon the full town came in to view. It was not as small as we thought. There were hundreds of places to eat. One of the first one's being In and Out Burger. We told all the kids to close their eyes-- especially since that is Shalece's favorite) Given that further information I would still chose Mr. D'z.





We spent that night in Williams, AZ. It was a fun little town with a lot of cute places to shop for all of us tourists. The next morning we woke up early for a train ride to the Grand Canyon. It started out with a wild west show and then we boarded the train. The kids had so much fun. They have a cafe car on the train where you could get drinks and all kinds of goodies and there was entertainment.(harmonica's and guitar's all your western style music fun-- Britnee's favorite was "Ring of Fire" by Johnny Cash-- thanks to Sadie who taught her all the words.)










The Grand Canyon truly was breathtaking. This was a first for all of us and we loved it. We had 3 hours there before the train would take us back. Not enough time to see all of it but we took off around the South Rim and went on a pretty great hike, took tons of pictures and realized that you got a completely different view from every look out on the trail. Every since Ryan fell off the cliff at Zion's (ok it wasn't a real fall but he did completely freak out me and Emily) Shalece had been dying to take a picture of her falling off the Grand Canyon. This made me a little nervous but finally Ryan found a safe place for her to "fall". Then all the kids had to take their turns. I think everyone there thought we were crazy but the pictures did turn out pretty good.










On the train ride home those same crazy cowboys from the Wild West Show jumped aboard our train and robbed us. It was a true wild west experience. Really great for young kids. Britnee tried to give them her diet coke because that was all she had but they just wanted cold hard cash. That night we ate at a Mexican restaurant in Williams. The food was incredible and all of us enjoyed the entertainment except Shalece. Country Music just isn't her thing and lucky for her she was sitting right next to the speaker. Britnee (our little entertainer) sang and danced and had a great time. Broc was able to watch the Red Sox game so he was happy too.




Sunday we took our own car and went back into the Grand Canyon to see the Visitor's Center (kind of lame) and some other views. For Ryan and I these were some of our favorite views. For Broc, he figured he'd already seen the Grand Canyon so sometimes he just stayed in the car and played his PSP while we would take pictures and enjoy the scenery. We stopped at the Indian Ruins and took pictures for Britnee's Indian Project at school and then we all got out for lunch at the watch tower. That was definately a must see. (Broc even enjoyed it, even though he probably won't admit it.)





Then we got back in the car for the 7+ hour ride home. Our kids were all such great travelers. There was no fighting or complaining or "are we there yet?". All in all it was a really great trip. There is still so much we didn't see that we plan on going back. 4 day trip with my family-PRICELESS!!!!!