Road Trip

Warning: Very long and very picture heavy. Well, it was a 10 day trip, after all. :P

With Papa Bear on a two week business trip to Korea, the kids and I decided a road trip was in order to help pass the time. Our first stop was the Grand Canyon. It was absolutely awesome to behold. It also inspired Crawdad to ask to study geology again this upcoming semester. Note to self: Remember to locate Crawdad some 4th grade geology curriculum over the Christmas break. :P

We drove up to the highest point for this one. I find it fascinating that the top area is so flat.

That white speck is an eagle, soaring in the canyon BELOW us.

This is pretty much what the rest of Arizona looked like. Cub said it was interesting because it's different from what we normally see. I think he's reaching. :P

 The kids were technically supposed to still be doing school the two weeks we were gone. Fortunately, one of the beauties of homeschool is.....it's portable! :)

The  boys have belt tests coming up, so they spent some time working on their forms and self defense. Cub may be being just a wee bit dramatic in that bottom one. :P

Practicing for their Christmas concert.

Thank you, Aunt Jean and Uncle Bobby, for a wonderful visit. :)

Next up was a visit to my parent's house. 

Mimi and Pawpaw (aka my parents), my picture-evading siblings, my kiddos, and their cousins

 My mom said we should call this "The Visit of the Hats" because the kids kept sticking things on their Pawpaw's head. There is a great one of him wearing a bucket on his head during Sunday School with the little ones, but I took it with my phone and haven't quite mastered the art of getting pics  from there to here.

Yep, that's right, Uncle Adam--your nephew is now taller than us both. :P  In fairness,  I remember how excited you were when you outgrew ME. Giggle.

Littlest Monster dusting her cousin :)

See, this is how you babysit three girls under age 9. (Just kidding....mostly :D)

Mini Christmas concert

Hanging out and being silly with the cousins. That's blue sticky tack on the littles' noses below. We have no idea why. Um, because they're 4 and 5, I'm guessing. :P

The final leg of our trip was to head down and spend a few days with friends.

After working the lambs with his buddy, Crawdad would love some sheep of his own. Just as soon as we get out of California, kiddo....

Playing dress up (above) and grocery store (below). 

Yep, Little Miss has brothers alright. :P

Cub, of course, was not to be outdone by the 4 year old.

Carrying the trampoline up to the house (right) so they could jump on it (below). Never mind that it was 38 and raining. :P

Cub and some Greens. One very sleepy Green, apparently. :P

  Allison was super cool and bought some gingerbread kits for the kids to make. The next several pics are all gingerbread decorating. :)

The final mini concert. I love how Cub is using Cody as a music stand. :P

 We had a fabulous time with our Green friends. :) We'd like to thank them very much for adding our chaos to theirs for a few days. 

 We stopped by the House of Mouse on our way out of town to visit with some other friends.

 New Mexico is serious about their dust storms. This was only one of the signs we saw every few miles. They also had signs that said:

• Blowing dust next 10 miles
• Use extreme caution
• Severely limited visability
• Do not stop in roadway 

Fortunately, the day was clear as a bell, so we didn't have to deal with any of the dust. The landscape also was a little more interesting on the trip home (southern as opposed to northern part of the state). I thought all the rocks were cool. 

Grrrr. Nothing like driving 28 hours cross country just to run into stop and go traffic 9 miles from home. Good grief.

 All in all, we had a wonderful trip. Thank you, Father, for blessing it! :)