Havasupai

Sweetheart was given the opportunity to go to Havasupai.

He took Hurricane's camera to see if he could get a few shots.

The group left our house at 12:30 am 

so they could hike the trail head before it was too hot.

They arrived, ate breakfast, and took the hike down to the bottom.

This is the group before they started down the mountain.

The picture was taken just before the camera broke.

They made it to the bottom, jumped off waterfalls,

and hiked to different areas.

They spent 4 days in Havasupai.

Sweetheart wants to take us back.

Time for us to prepare to hike 10 miles in one day.

Spooner Lake

We went on a hike to Spooner Lake. 

Everyone went on the hike!

 

Grandma L and Auntie M

Gito and Mama Jane

The Writer, Auntie M, and Goldilocks

Hurricane and Sparky

Underfoot opened a gogurt and it exploded it on him.

Noodles and Sweetheart turned around for a picture for me.

Wind Cave Hike

After Christmas day, we visited Sweetheart's sister, Auntie M.

Aunt Y, Sweetheart's sister, and family came down from Utah.

Auntie Y wanted to go on a hike.

Auntie M and Uncle M found a hike for us.

Hurricane did a great job for his little legs on the 3.2 mile hike.

Underfoot was really proud of himself because he wasn't carried once.

We enjoyed being with cousins.

Our cousins hiked with us and were helpful to our boys.

They enjoyed being with Mr. Nature as he stuck with them most the time.

We don't get too many pictures together.

Here we are. 

Sweetheart forgot his hat so he brought his Dad's hat.

We stayed together and enjoyed talking together.

After getting hurt, I finished the triathlon and then didn't exercise so my ankle could heal.

I started to run again on Christmas but rolled my ankle a couple of times as we hiked the trail.

Since Aunt M has a pool that's not heated in the winter, I ice bathed.

I have a road of recovery on my hands.

Camping

Sweetheart wrote about our camping trip:

Wendy had promised the boys she would take them camping 

and needed to follow through even though she wrecked. 

They went camping and after work, I joined them for the evening.

cut from the campfire

Hurricane fell over at the campfire and 

cut the back of his head about 1/2 inch. 

Another family joined us and the boys played with their children and slept well. 

I returned to town to go to work.

healed cut

Tuesday Wendy decided to take the boys on a hike.

When they started, she thought they'd do a little hike. 

Instead they went on about a 4 to 5 mile hike.

The boys did a GREAT job! 

Underfoot asked to return only once, and Hurricane hiked a little slow at times. It took them about 4 hours. After supper, Hurricane fell into the fire. Miraculously, he burned only the bottom of his shoes. We are grateful for the miraculous protection he received. The boys fell asleep at 7:15 pm and then woke up at 6:30 am. As soon as breakfast was over, she brought everyone home.

Bunsen Peak

Bunsen Peak is named after the same man 

who the Bunsen Burner was named.

 The trail is 2.1 miles long one way.

The ascent was hard with a 1,278 ft elevation change.

We trained to hike but weren't prepared for this.

Underfoot started to struggle once we got toward the top.

His Uncle Beck came by to offer to carry him to the top.

I asked him not to help Underfoot to the top 

because Underfoot needed to conquer the mountain on his own.

Hurricane started to cry as well. 

Since he was hiking with Dad, 

Sweetheart helped him get to the top.

He was glad to see his cousins at the top.

Once we reached the top,

Underfoot was SO PROUD of himself.

He kept saying that he made it.

I'm grateful to Uncle Beck to not help him.

Sweetheart was our rock.

He kept us going and was positive.

I was tired - physically and emotionally.

There was a lot of changes in the last 3 weeks.

Even with the excitement of the changes,

I was tired.

Our sons were blessed to have their Dad.

We made it to the top. 

Our descent was hard as well.

I had promised that I wouldn't carry our boys on any of the hikes.

Near the end, they needed to be carried a little.

The car was a welcome site.

We know we can do hard things.

Lily Pad Lake

The second hike of the day was to be shorter. 

It was. 

The hike continued down the rim of the Grand Canyon.

The edge seemed rather close at times for my running Hurricane.

The view at the end of the hike was well worth it!

The lake is covered with lily pads.

The idea was to come and wade in the water.

And some did.

Sweetheart was in his element.

He was with his family.

He was outdoors and doing what he liked.

He got to eat chocolate out of the trail mix.

Below is a picture story of a boy, the wilderness, and a rock.

Mr. Nature would have been content all day throw and looking for things.

Where is a good rock?

This one will be perfect!

Here's the wind up and.......

There it goes!

Yellowstone Grand Canyon

The first stop on the itinerary was the

GRAND CANYON OF YELLOWSTONE.

This is the end of hike...

It is good to see what size of group we are.

And this isn't all of us still......

 We hiked the southern rim.

Parents held on to children along the edge of the path.

T-Bone is pictured here with one of his favorite girls.

Goldilocks stayed closed to her boyfriend (a.k.a. her Dad.)

 Just to prove I participated and 

wasn't behind the camera the whole time.

CF and Sparky made a good team.

Sparky and CF helped each other down the trail.

Sparky likes gum.

Aunt M is married to T-Bone.

T-Bone named himself before a surgery.

After 4 children, multiple surgeries, multiple moves,

they are very passionate about each other. 

Mr. Nature loves his Mom A LOT!

She give him the opportunities to grow.

He'll still sit on her lap.

Auntie M let the children hold onto her backpack straps.

She pretended that she was a horse and the straps were reins.

Underfoot used his first aid kit he carried.

One of his cousin's slipped and fell.

She needed a band-aid.

Underfoot provided 1st aid for her.

I'm sure glad we went on all those hikes to prepare.

Sweetheart and Uncle A took a rest 

before we climbed down the steps to the Lower Falls.

We went down Uncle Tom's Trail.

The trail is a series of paved paths 

and a staircase of 328 stair one way.

All the planning and organization goes to Noodles.

She read.

She planned.

She traveled.

She created a tour guide.

She can tell you about Yellowstone.

Hip! Hip! Hooray!

As we would pass other hikers on the path,

they would say, 

"I don't envy you to have to carry them  up."

We didn't carry our boys one step of the way!

They conquered this hike with flying colors!

The falls are 308 feet.

To put that in perspective,

Niagara Falls are 167 feet.

So the falls are almost 2x the height.

The view is spectacular!

Here is the crew that hiked to the bottom. 

A nice lady from Poland took our picture.

She carried her own tripod in to take her picture.

We did the first part of the day!

We hiked out of the canyon for lunch.

The children still had energy and played!

Cabin Hike

  Dandelions are fun.

They blew every dandelion they found.

They picked flowers and showed them off.

Our other hikes haven't had really any greenery. 

The hues have usually been brown and sage green.

At the end of the hike, I saw Sweetness running.

She's fast like a soccer player

just like she is.