Grand Canyon, ARIZONA

May 25-28, 2010

Day #2 (Tuesday, May 25) we drove another 10 hours through New Mexico to Grand Canyon, Arizona. The kids did pretty well in the car. We brought along homeschooling books which fills time. Music and books on CD also help the hours pass quicker.

We arrived at our camp ground mid-afternoon and were reunited with the Elliott Family. The Elliott’s served with us in Paraguay for 2 years and are now serving in Mexico. What a blessing it was to be able to see them again and get to know their teammates (the Neufelds) who also came along. We absolutely loved hearing about their new ministry and catch up on life.

Jeff camped a lot as a kid with his family and through Boy Scouts, but I never did. When Ryan was 18 months we went camping (my very first time) in West Texas. Can’t say that we had a great time. It was hotter than hot, the Lake was dried up, Ryan was on the go the entire time and wouldn’t nap…and then….it rained that first night and we discovered our tent was no longer water proof. Drenched, we took shelter and semi-slept the rest of the night in the car. In the morning, we threw the tent in the trash and drove home exhausted.

When we realized that we’d be able to ship our car to Paraguay and fill it with whatever we want, we decided to invest in camping equipment (including a 10 man tent, chairs, sleeping bags and a camp stove) in order to be able to take more affordable vacation in Paraguay. Our West Coast trip provided a great opportunity to begin. So, this is our first time to camp as a family and we all were all pretty excited.

We all had so much fun. Ryan’s favorite part about camping was eating s’mores and making new friends, Ginny loved the hammock and roasting hot dogs, Joshua loved being by the fire and Tyler and Micah loved playing in the dirt the most. As we sat down to eat our first camp meal, Joshua said, “Let’s pretend we’re living in the 1820’s.” Ginny said, “This is just like Little House on the Prairie”.
Over the three days, the kids played so hard and stayed busy exploring, riding bikes, playing games and just being kids that by 9:30 each night they were exhausted. Never have I seen so many kids (11 in all) begging to go to bed! It was great!

It got pretty cold at night. We had to bundle up in jackets, gloves and hats to sleep comfortably. I, being 7 ½ months pregnant, slept surprisingly well on the air mattress. It was a very dirty camp spot and we all got filthy…kind of reminded me of life in Paraguay (except the dirt wasn’t red). After 4 days of dirt, I was ready to get my family clean and take a shower.

Wednesday, May 26th we went to 2 scenic spots at the Grand Canyon (Joshua kept calling it the Great Canyon). Wow! How wonderful to marvel at creation that points to a marvelous Creator! Thursday, May 27th we saw the Grand Canyon from an air-conditioned IMAX theater and that evening we went back to the Canyon to see the sunset.

click on the photos and they will enlarge for you to see better.