in the car with hudson

I took Hudson with me on an errand today it was a 40 min round trip to downtown Mesa and he talked the whole way. Here is a little peek into the mind of Hudson with his conversation on the way there ...

Does that sign say Preston? I have a boy in my class named Preston. Why does that say Rd? Oh like junior is Jr? and doctor is Dr? What number exit to we go too? Why does that sign say one way? So you can only drive forward?How many blocks until we get there? That sign said 8th! Do you know what sound th makes? It goes -th- that was 8th street. And that's 6th street ... So are we at main street yet? I think that brown building is building 1. Why are you passing it? You don't know which building it is? Yeah we're here. Why did we come here? Why is there a Legos? Who built this? Can I put that in the drop box? That's it? We are leaving already?! Its gonna be a long ride home.

Hahaha, yes it will be a long ride home!!!

you have my heart

Then, 2001

Bert and I have been married for 10 years today! We celebrated last week by spending the day driving north with stops at Sedona and Flagstaff along our way to the Grand Caynon. We had long walks, delicious quiet (kid-free) meals together, and a precious night of just the two of us. It was awesome.

Now, 2011

Today we celebrate all that we have been through together ... friendship, love, growth, adventure and of course our share of challenges. I am grateful that we have always worked through our challenges together. We truly adore each other. I can literally spend all day wasting my time with with my husband (and many days we do just that) without every tiring of his presence. I am grateful to have a constant source of love in my life and am so thankful for this man, our family and the life we have built together. 

Bert, you have my heart.

hudson and some friends

A couple of weeks ago, Hudson had some kindergarten friends over to play. It was pretty funny when they decided to create a band. They played for quite some time. We were dog sitting my friend Sara's dog honey, who listened to the band play.

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!!