More Vacation Pics

The big kids heading down into the lava tubes with the dads:

J with my Aunt Joanie who came up for a visit from Prescott and got a playground tour:

The twelve kids in our posse (more than attend my big kids' school!):

The two oldest of the bunch start off the egg pushing relay on Easter:

Zippy & Cupcake playing with our friends' zipline:

The gang listening to Andy's schpeal about being safe and respectful in the Grand Canyon, ie: people didn't come all the way here from all over the world to listen to kids like you scream and yell.

Checking out some historical info at Sunset Crater:

A rare, lazy vacation moment on the deck of our rental house:

The Spark in the Canyon:

Cupcake & Dino:

AZ pics

At the Grand Canyon:
Princess Eee with bio sis at Grand Canyon lunch spot/turn around spot:

Zippy and his current BFF

Grand Canyon from the trail we hiked, about 3 miles round trip which was the best we could do with nine kids under twelve.

Lunch break:

Zippy at our lunch spot in the Grand Canyon:

Princess Eee with her special friend "Bwenda" and Little C. This is mom & youngest of the family that Princess Eee is staying with for a couple weeks in Arizona so we call them her special friends.

I love this one of #1 hula-hooping in the backyard of the house we rented:

The girls at one of several great playgrounds in Flagstaff:

Happy Spark!

National Park #2

I can't post any of the great photos we took yesterday at the Grand Canyon due to computer issues, but will add them when we get home. It was another beautiful sunny day in Arizona and we happened to come during free National Park week! Our friends skipped school and work yesterday to join us at the Grand Canyon. It was so nice to go with someone who grew up here and knows exactly where to go, where to park, which hike to drag nine kids on, and can give us bits of history and info along the way. These friends even got engaged years ago down in the canyon and have hiked from the south rim to the north rim in one day! Yesterday we hiked down into the canyon just enough to get the kids really dusty, work up a good appetite for ice cream cones, and see some wonderful views.

Getting Our Kicks on Route 66

Arizona!

Princess Eee with her bio sis in the Hilton pool in Phoenix. They cannot stop hugging, and they're not very good at sharing each other with any of the other kids in this bunch.
Here we are at Sunset Crater where Zippy was so psyched to study the lava rocks. Cupcake was cold and therefore p.o.'d, and #1 tripped and scratched himself up pretty badly.

Ouch!

At Sunset Crater:

We're off in the rental minivan!

April Showers?

Is this because many people took off their snowtires too soon!?!?