Grand Canyon Day 2

This morning we headed off to the Ranger Station to pick up a Junior Ranger Discovery Pack for the kids. Ranger Lexi taught the kids how to use the items in the Discovery pack and gave them each a field journal. She explained that the kids who completed the field journal would earn a patch. She then took us on a hike from the Ranger Station to the Trail of Time. We then hiked down the Trail of Time to Verkamp’s Visitors Center. During the hike Falyn kept busy trying to spot lizards. She got so excited every time we found one. We also had a deer jump right across the trail while we were hiking. When we reached the visitor center, we stopped for a snack. A squirrel tried to join in our snack. He ran off after discovering we were not going to give him any of our food. After refilling our water bottles, we hiked a bit more down the rim trail. Everywhere you looked along the rim trail the image was just breath taking. At times it looked like a painting and was hard to believe that it was real. It is impossible to take it all in. After our hike, we took the shuttle bus back to the Ranger Station where we had parked our car that morning. We headed back to the camp site to wait for Dan’s parents, who would be joining us for the next several days. They arrived in the afternoon and we helped them get their campsite set up. Then the kids finished up their field journals and we took them back to the ranger station where Ranger Lexi swore them in as Junior Rangers and gave them their awards.


















At the Grand Canyon

We left at 6 am this morning and drove to the Grand Canyon. We only stopped twice and made it there around 2:30 in the afternoon. We got two of the tents up before an afternoon thunderstorm struck. It was pouring down rain while Dan and I put up the third tent. The kids were able to wait out the storm nice and dry in their tents. It stopped raining a bit after we finished getting up the last tent. We went over to Mather Point, but left the camera behind because it was still drizzling and cloudy it wouldn’t have made for very good pictures. They have a ban on campfires due to fire danger, so we had to cook our dinner on the propane stove. Once it got dark, we all headed to our tents. The boys are all in one tent, with the girls in another one. Dan and I have our own tent. It didn’t take long for the kids to fall asleep. Everyone is looking forward to exploring the canyon tomorrow.

The 4th of July

We had a great 4th of July! The boys started out the day participating in the Huntington Beach 4th of July parade with the cub scouts.





Meanwhile, the girls had fun participating in a neighborhood bike parade.

After lunch, we had an epic neighborhood water-balloon fight.







We then had a big BBQ followed by hours of fireworks fun.







Cake Pops

The girls and I made cake pops today for the 4th of July celebration tomorrow. They were very easy to make, but a bit time consuming. This site has instructions for making them if you want to try it yourself. The kids sampled a few and really liked them. We are saving the rest for tomorrow.