July 4

How to celebrate the 4th of July.

1. Find a barn.

 

 

2. Get a whole bunch of family and friends.

3. Spend hours to fill up HUNDREDS of water balloons. 

4. Five minutes later (when they are all used up) fill up some more. 

Grab squirt guns,

and show no mercy.

5. Get a DJ and have some contests.

Just be prepared for kids with serious skills. Ben could do this all day.

So could Gavin.

But in the end there could only be one hula hoop champ.

Congratulations Ben! We don't even own a hula hoop. 

6. Have a kids talent show. This dance troop has some interesting moves.

7. Finish up with a patriotic parade 

and fireworks.

Happy 4th of July!!

Taking it S.L.O.

Ryan and Leanne recently moved to San Luis Obispo.  Some call it the happiest place in America. It's pretty great. We spent a few fun filled days there and can't wait to visit again.

The property is so pretty with lots of space to run around and explore. 

How about this hot tub view.

Watching the sunset with Papa:

There is plenty of room for a pretty intense paint ball battle.

This was Noah's first combat.

This spot downtown reminds me of a story: A few years ago, my mom gave the boys a quart size (QUART size!!) bag of gumballs each to enjoy on the drive back home. The boys loved it. They were chewing it up the entire way. I thought I had made it clear about how to dispose of their a.b.c. gum, but they must have been confused because instead of spitting it out in the provided container they mostly spit it out on the floor. True story. That's why this is a place my boys can really appreciate. Gum Alley:

 

Yes, the walls are covered with chewed up gum. Finally, a place for the lazy kid to get rid of their flavorless gum! 

Isn't it disgusting?

We spent a little time on Morro Bay.

The cliffs behind the boys were filled with birds.

Ice cream break.

The kids (mostly Zack) liked feeding the animals at Avila barn.

Henry has been here before and was excited to show the others the "mysterious turkey."

This place was noisy and crowded, but when Zack's done...he's done. 

The Grand Canyon

The Grand Canyon is amazing. Before we entered the park we watched the IMAX movie about some of the people who first explored the canyon. Talk about crazy! I can't imagine getting on a wooden raft and heading down a river that you didn't know anything about. John Wesley Powell was nuts...and he only had one arm.

For only $2 more, we also watched a bird show which included a falcon, hawk, condor, crane and money taking crow (I think it was a crow--it was black).

You can't take enough pictures of the Grand Canyon.

 

I don't have much to say about all these pictures. It was spectacular and amazing and beautiful and on and on. We thoroughly enjoyed ourselves. Most of the time. It was a little hot and we did a little bit of walking and sometimes the buses were crowded and sometimes we didn't get our way....

 but it was definitely worth the trip. 

The Route

Visiting the Grand Canyon has been on my to-do list since we bought a National Parks pass almost a year ago. Time is running out, so we picked a weekend, invited John, Michelle, Sean & Luke and hit the road. 


The way to the Grand Canyon from Vegas involves driving by the Hoover Dam. Which means we had to drive across the newly built bypass bridge. I saw it with my parents in October and just looking at it gave me anxiety. 

I crossed it! I also drove it both ways because it totally freaks me out and I needed to be in control of the situation. I may be a little over dramatic because the dam isn't even visible from the bridge (not that I dared take my eyes off the road) so you barely know you are driving across it. But the thought of it makes my heart race.

We also had a little navigation error which turned took us off the main road and onto Route 66. What a great mistake! We eventually stopped at a nearly deserted diner along the way to make sure we would eventually end up at our destination and to take pictures of all the random things that were there. (It was smelly, so no eating.)

We saw Herbie,

Betty Boop (Zack was too embarrassed to be in the picture alone)

and a rotary phone. Ben has impressive old school dialing skills.

Along the route I nearly ran over a prairie dog that was standing up in the middle of the road. He totally beat me in the game of chicken he must have been playing with me. 


We enjoyed reading the red signs for Burma-Shave.  Back in the day, this was a clever and effective advertizing campaign. They were fun to read even though the meanings were a little vague and/or cheesy.  

We stayed in Williams, Arizona (about an hour from the park). Williams is a fun little town.

The restaurant we ate in had a whole bunch of fun retro signs and decorations. The food was good too. 

 Check out the bathroom:

 Yes, Williams is awesome. We are fans.