The vacation continues...

We left Vegas on Wednesday, no rush. We headed toward Flagstaff Arizona. The drive wouldn't have been so bad except that they are doing road work for about 20 miles near the Hoover Dam and it's only 2 lane road. We didn't stop long to see the dam, but Flat Stanley got out to get his picture taken.

We got to Flagstaff and immediately loved it. We even talked about looking into jobs there. We relaxed that night and when we woke the next morning there was about a foot and a half of snow on our car. I know I've mentioned I HATE SNOW! It melted off pretty quick so we headed up to the Grand Canyon. I went when I was a kid but the rest of my family had never seen it. It really is beautiful but I didn't realize that there is no railing anywhere, and I don't have boring kids. My kids think it's fun to pretend to push the other one over, they didn't realize why this just wasn't funny! My kids also didn't realize that the Grand Canyon is a place to reflect on the beauty and splendor. They ran around laughing and joking like wild banshees. I guess I rather have them like that then some of the boring kids we saw.

Sami made sure we got the picture quick!

Sadly this is the best pictures of my kids that I could get. They're all sticking their tongues out in the rest of them. BRATS!

This is so Sami!

The only thing she would climb the Grand Canyon for.

My boys being dorks. They really play it up when the camera comes out.

Alex, don't jump!

There was this overlook at one point and when we first got there there wasn't too many people there. We started taking pictures, not normal scenery pictures but pictures that made it look like we had fallen off. People started gathering around, we tried to be inconspicuous, but it didn't work. We were all giggling and couldn't stop.

Always a HAM BONE!

We are all surprised he didn't just drop her... I would have.

We drove up a back way to the Grand Canyon. They have a lot of Elk up there and we saw tracks, but no Elk. These were the railroad tracks for the train that goes through the canyon.

We all had a really great time. I am glad that I'm not afraid of heights, and glad that most of my kids are. Everyone needs to see the Grand Canyon at least once and I'm glad I didn't take my kids when they were younger. This family with little kids came up behind us and one of their young boys, probably 4, came flying by me and I wasn't too far from the edge. Mommy mode kicked in and I grabbed for an arm and yelled STOP! I think I scared him, I felt dumb because I don't think he would have fallen off, but the parents were still glad I stopped him. A few memories of this leg of the trip.

1. The highways in Arizona are ridiculous, they have 4 different numbers for one highway. Jim missed a turn and went to turn around. A man rolled down his window and asked Jim "do you know this is a one way street?" Jim felt stupid. We all laughed until we almost cried.

2. Arizona people HATE California people. We were treated very badly, people cutting us off and not letting us over. Then when we were leaving and getting gas, I ran in to get a drink and the guy at the counter said "now get out of here" when I was done.

3. There are no gas stations up by the Grand Canyon. (where we were anyways) We had to back track about 5 miles because we realized we probably would be cutting it close on gas if we didn't.

4. IHOP has cheesecake pancakes. mmmmm

5. The iphone maps are the coolest greatest thing ever ever ever ever. We found our way everywhere with it.