Petrified Forest National Park

As soon as the sun went down last night the wind picked up and made falling asleep in our shaking tent difficult.  After a restless night sleep, Carter woke me up at 6am.  It was 7am our time, so it wasn’t so bad.  We were showered and out of the campground by 8am.  Gavin and Renee did get to climb some sand dunes before we left.  When we crossed the Arizona boarder we gained another hour, putting us at Petrified Forest National Park at 8am.  It was a beautiful park and the petrified logs were amazing.  The kids completed the junior ranger program and earned their badges.  We stopped at a lot of scenic overviews and did some short hikes.  We left the park at 1:30 and drove to the east entrance of The Grand Canyon.  Our first stop in the Grand Canyon was the watchtower.  The view was so beautiful with a storm approaching.  The rain hit on our drive to the visitors center, which we didn’t make it to before it closed.  It did let up when we got to our camp, so after another dinner of sandwiches we put up our tent.   We did see some elk on the way to our camp and two babies.  They were running around playing and making the cutest noises.  There is a ranger presentation tonight that we are going to go to.  I am already exhausted, but if I don’t wear out the kids completely before they lay down in the tent, they won’t let me sleep anyway.  So far they haven’t been fighting too much.  Renee got all offended that she couldn’t be in the center of a picture, but other that they are doing really well.  We are staying at the Grand Canyon for two nights, so it will be nice to have a day without any driving.

Sand Dunes in Gallup, NM

Painted Desert

The kids in Petrified Forest National Park 

Painted Desert Inn

Raven 

View of Route 66

Puerco Pueblo

petroglyphs carved in the stone

Puerco Pueblo

Our first glimpse of petrified wood.

Renee displaying the wood.

I love this one of the kids on the petrified wood.

Blue Mesa

Hiking the Blue Mesa

holding petrified wood

Huge piece of petrified wood. 

Crystal Forest

Crystal Forest logs.

We were really impressed with the length of some of the logs.

Getting sworn in as junior rangers

Grand Canyon watchtower.

elk

Gallup, New Mexico

Today is the first day of our month long cross country road trip.  We were actually on the road at 6:30am.  It was our longest drive of the whole trip and we drove twelve hours.  Texas is a really big state and it takes a long time to get out of it.  The kids did really well in our new SUV.  Gavin sat in the front and I put a big cooler in between Carter and Renee.  Gallup, NM is on the boarder of northern Arizona.  We are staying in Red Rock Park and I am actually surprised how pretty it is.  We got our instant tent set up (Love, Love, Love how quick and easy it is.)  We took an hour hike from our campground and there were magnificent views.  In town, they do free Indian dances in front of the courthouse every night in the summer.  We got to see Zuli dancers tonight.  I am exhausted after such a long drive and an early start.  Hopefully the kids will let me sleep in a little tomorrow.

Pyramid Rock Trail

Eagle Dance

Pottery Dan

Turkey Dance

White Buffalo Dance

The kids with the Zuli dancers.

Stop Lights

‎"Jesus didn't invent stop lights. Satan did." - Carter

Celebrating with Fire

We had the Cockburns over for a barbecue on the Fourth of July.  Peter and Sam went and bought fireworks.  They were just as excited as the kids to light them off.  We went to our friend's neighborhood that isn't incorporated into Fort Worth yet so there aren't laws against fireworks.  It was crazy over there.  

Sam with a roman candle

Lighting fireworks with a blow torch. 

Renee using the torch. 

Kris and I

Carter, Renee, Sydney, West, Sophia, and Gavin (I really don't know which twin is which.)

The Cockburns

Happy Independence Day!

I went from Alycia's house to having Jenne visit.  I'm lucky to have two of my sisters within driving distance.  Jenne got here late on Thursday and left on Monday after she did a news story at Hawaiian Falls in Roanoke (15 minutes for me.)  We visited the Science Museum on Friday and built a tower out of straws and connectors taller that we are.  We had to wait for the other kids to leave so we could get all the straws.  Jenne and I spent all day Saturday shopping.  We found some great sales.  On Sunday we made a Strawberry rhubarb pie after church.  We went swimming on Monday morning.  The kids loved playing with Aunt Nay in the pool.  After Jenne's interview she brought us free tickets to Hawaiian falls! 

Carter's newest trick 

It is amazing that Jenne can lift Carter. 

Lovely Renee

Strawberry Rhubarb