the grand canyon

This week marks our 10th wedding anniversary, wowza! To celebrate Bert and I headed north to the grand canyon. Neither of us had been and it was really past due that we visit and see this wonder for ourselves. We took the scenic route and stopped along the way which made for a really lovely road trip. We always reconnect really well on road trips and this was no different. It was lovely.

First stop was breakfast in Sedona. Always a wonderful place to visit. I never get tired looking at the red rock mountains. They calm me so and leave me feeling at peace.

Then we drove through scenic oak creek canyon and stopped at a viewpoint about 20 miles outside of Flagstaff.

Once in Flagstaff we had lunch downtown at a place called Mountain Oasis. Really great stop for a sandwich. I can't believe all the times we have been to Flagstaff we never went downtown. I felt like we totally missed out all these years - it was a really nice downtown area.

Bert was a good sport here, I wanted to take a photo of the pretty canyon painting above his head. I think the artist is Lynn Mathews and I want to check out her work more. I had a portobello burger pictured below and Bert had roast beef with pepper and onions with a super yummy pasta salad. Such a great lunch!

Finally we arrived at the Grand Canyon. It was really massive and beautiful. We had a great stay at El Tovar which is right on the canyon. We literally walked out the hotel and it was right there.

That's our hotel El Tovar on the side of the canyon.

There was a fire on the North Rim about 10 miles away over the canyon, the winds pick up in the evening and it filled the canyon with smoke. Around 5pm was the worst of it, we ended up going inside for awhile as breathing was tough. We went back out around 7pm before dinner and the air was a bit better. It was the perfect time of day to see the canyon. All the tourists seemed to be at dinner so, it was really quite and peaceful. Just gorgeous. I couldn't get over how blue the rocks were.

 

Our dinner was at 8pm - we got dressed up a little and had a lovely fine dining experience at El Tovar. The food was delicious and being that it was a little later in the evening it was quiet and romantic as was our late night canyon stroll. Just perfect.

I love this man!

I don't think I got how big it was right away -  I needed time to take it in, a few different angles, viewpoints and times of day helped me gain the full perspective (and we only really saw a small portion of it). We woke up the next morning and walked along the Trail of Time, it really hit me how amazing this canyon was. We saw a red condor, some squirrels and lots of birds. I was excited that we had binoculars in the car to see even more but, when we looked they weren't there. I think I took them out for Hudson one day so, I bet they are in the garage. Oh well - next time. We are already talking about going again someday.

tonto natural bridge

Last Saturday we drove an hour north to Payson, Arizona. We visited the Tonto Natural Bridge State Park and hiked the Gowan Trail - approximately 1/2 mile long, ending at an observation deck in the creek bottom. Thousands of years in the making, Tonto Natural Bridge is known to be the world’s largest natural travertine bridge. The 150-foot-wide limestone bridge arches 183 feet above Pine Creek. The bridge is surrounded by pine trees, while flowing springs and fern-draped grottos line the narrow canyon upstream. This has always been one of my favorite places to visit. It was the first time we brought the boys there. They enjoyed the hike and loved climbing on the rocks in the grotto - although you would have thought Hudson was on roller skates the way he slipped and slided.

Stopping on a rock at the beginning of the trail

We made it to the Observation Deck!

Pine Creek

Cooling off in the grotto

Looking through the bridge tunnel

Waterfall up above

Mossy rocks under the waterfall

Headed back out of the grotto to tackle the trail back up

 

science center

Free admission weekend at the Arizona Science Center! It had been awhile since we have visited the science center so, we decided to tackle the crowds and explore on the free weekend. Ethan loved it as always, but Hudson was scared of many of the exhibits. Not sure what that was all about, he did like a few things though.

first day of school!

So, I'm trying to play catch up ... the first day of school was 2 weeks ago and here are the school day highlights! The boys are both really happy to be back at school (and us parents are pretty happy too). Hudson is LOVING kindergarten and all the fun activities he gets to do throughout the day.

Hudson - Kindergarten and Ethan - Second Grade

Walking to the Bus Stop

Happy Family!

Waiting in line, Hudson looking so small!!

summertime fun!

Soooo, I haven't written since May - eek?! What in the world have we been up to? The kids are back in school so, it's about time I wrap up our summertime fun. I think we hibernated a lot more then usual this summer and we mostly had fun on our trip to New York!

Play dough is always a good time

Making a necklace for Aunt Katie's birthday

At the beach on Long Island, NY

Celebrated Sarah's BatMitzvah

Celebrated Katie's 30th Birthday

 

Hanging with old friends

Swinging in Central Park, NY

Enjoying the view in Williamsburg, NY

zoo and ava's first birthday

Lots of beautiful time spent outdoors this weekend.

At the Zoo

Ava's 1st Birthday

Ethan turns 7!

This month marked Ethan's 7th Birthday.  I can't believe my baby boy is 7 years old!  He is so "grown up". We had a nice long weekend of celebrating.  I tried to bake a cake but, for some reason my cake stuck to the pan and we ended up having to trash it.  Oh well, the Carvel cake was really yummy!  Bert, Hudson and I gave Ethan our gifts.  He got a new bathing suit, flip flops and shorts, 2 super Mario action figures and a new Wii game, Super Mario Sports Mix and we all sang Happy Birthday wearing Mario mustache's.  I was a Mario-rrific Birthday!

I am really proud of the smart, kind and generous boy he has become. He loves learning, with each subject in school he is consumed by it, enjoying learning all the facts and details, his new favorite saying is "Dad, can you look this or that up on Google". Right now, they are learning about the solar system and he couldn't be happier.  He even created the solar system you see below all on his own and brought it to school to show the class.

Friday night we met Nannie & Tom for dinner, bowling, mini golf and rides at Amazing Jake's. Saturday he received cards in the mail from Grandma & Grandpa and Great Grandma and Great Grandpa.  That afternoon we headed to Target as his birthday money was burning a whole in his pocket.  I was so impressed with Ethan's shopping trip!  He stopped and calculated everything and thought about what he really wanted. He bought a new DVD player for their playroom, a Mario movie, a new Wii game and even bought a DS game for Hudson.  That was super nice of him (and I have reminded Hudson just how nice many times).

We didn't have his birthday party yet.  He has his heart set on a pool party with a waterside so, we worked it out with the boys that we'll celebrate both their birthday's together this year at one of the city pool's.  It will be a little strange having their party so far from their birthday but, April really isn't pool weather and Ethan wasn't budging on his pool party idea so, summer party it is.  I think it will be a lot of fun!