Travels West -- The Grand Canyon

Two junior rangers just lounging around. They earned their badges in Grand Canyon National Park and in Mt. Saint Helens National Park.

The Grand Canyon was one of the highlights of our trip and is truly GRAND! Our breath was stolen away at the first glimpse. It's magnitude is a shock even when you're prepared. We had a lovely time hiking along the rim and down into the canyon (just about 1 mile down).

Below is a tall wispy plant which grows along the steep canyon walls. Bret especially found them fascinating. We also saw California Condors (two!) gliding around over the canyon.

It was a fabulous view over the ridge and we found ourselves drawn to it again and again.

Travels West--Hoover Dam

We traveled west this summer. Originally we had planned to travel by train, but the flooding in the north central plains caused us to cancel these plans and book our flight only a week before our departure! I might have panicked, but my amazing hubby brought home a powerpoint presentation outlining the advantages to flying (through Las Vegas) and seeing the Grand Canyon and Hoover Dam. These pictures are from our stop at Hoover Dam. We rented a car in Las Vegas and drove by the dam on our way to the Grand Canyon, only a four hour drive.

Hoover Dam is REALLY BIG!!!

I made the kids journal a few times during the trip about their impressions and things they enjoyed. Although they complained about this, I'm so glad they did it! I'll include some of their comments in upcoming posts.

It's been a while...

I'm sure by now many of you have given up checking this pathetic blog. After all it's been MONTHS and the delinquent blogger has done NOTHING to provide witty comments or interesting dialogue. There hasn't even been a cute picture of offspring, which often seems to fill the void. So, dear readers, I apologize for leaving you hanging for so long. This error will be corrected over the next few weeks as I attempt to explain what we've been up to and provide the requisite photo documentation...proof positive that we were actually out of town for several weeks during the blogging drought. :-)

Soap Making Fun

I tried soap making yesterday. Below is the large chunk before I cut it up into the bars above. I really had fun doing this. I got the idea and thought I'd give it a try. Actually a little nervous about doing it right...but it turned out great in the end. This batch is made with organic coconut oil, extra virgin olive oil, vegetable oil, (of course, lye and water) and peppermint extract. It smells minty and fresh. Unfortunately I have to wait 4 weeks for it to cure before using it. I'm trying now to find some creative ways to package it for storage after curing. There are tons of blogs about soap making and I'm looking forward to trying something more creative (with different additives) to see how it goes...

Celebrity...I hope it doesn't go to his head...

You'd think from looking at him that he must be a celebrity...a serious rocker...you're thinking..."I've seen him somewhere before"..."what was his name again?"...yeah, he's rockin' out the new electric guitar...every night after his "day job."

6th Grade Musical

The sixth graders put on a musical with their music teacher and it was really fabulous! August was a "friar" and really enjoyed participating. The moral of the story was "swords into plowshares" which really thrilled mom and dad. ;-)

Science Fair Pictures

Here are the Science fair pics I promised. Above, Katie proudly poses with her sugar crystals, alum crystal, and borax crystals. She was proud to be the only third grader who participated in Science fair this year! August made an oral presentation about his guinea pig maze experiment and won a first place prize!