Our family vacation in Arizona

We had a wonderful time on our vacation this week. Last Saturday, we loaded up the kids and a truck full of luggage (why does one baby require twice the amount of luggage as a normal person?) and headed to the airport. Our flights went smoothly, other than the fact that I confirmed that I definitely had an ear infection on top of strep throat (OUCH!). Fortunately, that finally cleared up after several days of antibiotics. Elizabeth was a trooper on the flights - she spent most of the time flirting with anyone and everyone that she saw. Once we arrived in Phoenix, we checked into our rental mini-van (something we were very grateful to have all week) and headed north toward Sedona. The drive was so beautiful through the desert and mountains!

We spent Saturday night in Sedona, then on Sunday we drove through Oak Creek Canyon, stopping at Slide Rock. The water there was a nippy 60 degrees, so David was the only one brave enough to actually try the slide. But, the scenery made it worth the stop.

Here is a picture of the mountains surrounding Slide Rock:



And the slide itself:



David sliding in the cold water:



While the rest of us sat in the shade and watched:



Jonathan even got to do some rock climbing while we were there:



After that, we continued northward to Sunset Crater Volcano, where we got to view the volcano, and even hiked along the solidified lava flow. That was really cool!

Here's a picture of some of the lava:



And an oh-so-rare picture of the whole family:



Then, we ended the day by driving to the Grand Canyon, which we got to look at from the Desert View observation tower before finally checking into our room (we stayed at the park) and grabbing some dinner.

On Monday, we got up and had breakfast at the historic El Tovar hotel, in a dining room that overlooked the Canyon. My mom had recommended the restaurant, after seeing a Rachel Ray show on it. It was definitely a great place to go! Then, we walked around a bit, before Elizabeth and I headed back to the room for a nap and some playtime, while David and Jon actually hiked into the Canyon for several hours. Then, we all joined back up to take the shuttle bus down the Hermit's Rest drive, stopping at several overlooks to see different views of the Canyon, which were all quite spectacular.

Here's one of the great pictures David took of the Grand Canyon. Even though they're all beautiful, they still can't do justice to the amazing vastness and beauty of the Canyon!



Jonathan enjoyed sitting on the edge - but not too close - and looking out over the Canyon:



Here are David and Jonathan on their Canyon hike:



After that exciting day, we decided that our Grand Canyon experience was complete, so we ended up checking out of the hotel a day early on Tuesday and driving eastward to Meteor Crater, which believe it or not, is a huge crater (~2-1/2 miles around, 4000 feet across, 550 feet deep) formed by a meteor. All sarcasm aside, it was really neat to see. David and Jonathan even almost got blown into the crater when a duststorm with 60mph gusts blew in while they were overlooking the rim. Fortunately, Elizabeth and I were safe inside at that time, getting a break from the very hot sun.

Here is Jon braving the gusty winds - seriously, it was very windy - they even stopped letting people access the crater rim soon after this. On a related note, Jon also has finally admitted that he needs a haircut (woohoo!!!!):



Here's a picture of David with the kids at the Meteor Crater:



We ended the day by driving to Camp Verde, Arizona, where we went swimming for a bit at the hotel before dinner.

On Wednesday, we got up and went to Montezuma Castle, which is actually not related to Montezuma at all (an error made by explorers that first discovered the ruins), but instead is the ruins of a cliff village built by the Sinagua Indian tribe.



Then, we headed to Montezuma's Well, which is a beautiful sinkhole with a very scenic hike around the natural well/springs.



Another picture of David with the kids while hiking at the Well:



Finally, we drove to Phoenix, where we checked into our resort at Pointe South Mountain.

We planned the week pretty well, because by the time we got to Phoenix, we had been able to see a lot of different things/places and we had really enjoyed the beautiful scenery, but we were all exhausted. So, Thursday was spent as a nice day for R&R. We spent most of the day at the water park and pools at the resort. That's the only way to beat the Phoenix heat! Everyone's right, in that the "dry heat" is definitely better than the humidity we're used to. But, let's face it, 109 degrees is still pretty hot!







Today (Friday), we braved the heat to visit the Phoenix Zoo for a little while. Elizabeth got a kick out of all the animals, birds, and fish that she got to see. However, it was so hot that most of the animals were hiding and we couldn't stand the heat for very long ourselves. So, back to the hotel we went for more time at the pool and water park before heading back to the room to pack for our trip home tomorrow.

The only thing we wish we could have done to improve upon the vacation would have been to convince Elizabeth that it really is alright to sleep in a bed that's not her own. She did sleep fairly well on Tuesday and Thursday nights, when we got much-needed visits from the Sleep Fairy, but most of the time she did not sleep well at all, which meant David and I did not sleep much either. Oh, well! At least we had a lot of fun things to do to keep us awake during the days!!!

We head back to Kentucky tomorrow (Saturday). Then, Jonathan has one more week at home before he heads to camp for 2 weeks, then on to Alabama for the rest of the summer. Elizabeth is definitely going to miss her big brother (and, of course, David and I are going to miss him too!)!!!