The Grand Canyon

The next morning we woke up very bright and early to go visit the Grand Canyon.

Here the boys are checking out the visitors center.

Here are the boys rock climbing.  They scared many other tourists with their crazy rock climbing skills.

Luckily they had mom and dad to follow closely behind them.

These two loved checking out the view.  We couldn't peel Cameron away from watching even to take a picture.

Checking out the local wildlife with Daddy.

Taking a ride on the Grand Canyon Bus.

The view was breathless.  Hunter said it made him feel so peaceful.  It was such a great trip.

Scaring Grandma and Daddy while we were eating lunch.
It was an amazing trip.  The boys loved it and did so well on the trip.  It was so fantastic and so much fun.

Flagstaff

Despite the fact that Patrick and I grew up in Arizona neither one of us has been to the Grand Canyon.  We have been wanting to go and take the boys since we moved back to Arizona.  We thought this would be a fun weekend get away with Grandma and Grandpa.

 We stopped in Flagstaff and found this fun park.

 The boys loved exploring all of the lava rocks with dad and getting out of the car to play.

 Then we headed out to eat with grandma and grandpa.  We found a great barbecue place that had a koi pond so the boys were fascinated looking at the fish.
 Flagstaff is home to the Lowell Observatory where Pluto was discovered.  Hunter is absolutely obsessed with outer space.  He can name and identify all of the planets and Cameron can almost name them all also.  The love outer space and are always talking about being astronauts and flying on a rocket.  They also had a science presentation.  The boys loved all of the experiments they got to play with spectrum glasses, dry ice, and liquid nitrogen.  It was so fun.

 Cameron and the telescope.

 Mom and Cameron at the Pluto telescope.  Cameron loves baby Pluto.

Searching for Pluto.
The observatory was so fun and Hunter loved seeing Mars in his telescope.  Mars is his favorite planet because it is red.  These two kids are so much fun.  They are so curious, smart, and fun to be around.  It was a perfect day.

Books and Hikes

Our little book worms love reading outside.  Cameron loves taking a big stack of books outside to look through and read.

 I love watching them explore all of their books.  They are so cute.

 Then we went to explore the desert park and look for a friend for our pet lady bug.

 If you can see Hunter's face in the picture you can see his despair at not finding any lady bugs.  We searched and searched.  We found a lot of other bugs and things but we did not find a single lady bug.

 This purple cactus is the boys favorite plant.  Whenever we find it on a walk, hike, drive the boys are so excited and squeal in delight.

Making silly faces.  These two little guys are good little hikers and are so cute when they hike around talking about the gold rocks, cotton candy clouds, blue blue sky, and spiky plants.  I love exploring around with them.

Naptime

I love coming up with fun ideas for Hunter and I to do while Cameron is napping.  Today we decided to play games.  After playing dominoes Hunter wanted to build with them.

 We made him an H to knock down.  He was so excited.

 He couldn't believe it worked.

 Building his own domino stacks.
Then he wanted to make his favorite red velvet cookies with frosting.

 Showing off his red tongue and enjoying the frosting.  He loves licking the frosting bowl.
I love my afternoons with this cutie.

Museum of Natural History

Today we decided it would be fun to go to the dinosaur museum.

 The boys love this polar bear statue outside the museum.  He is such a cute little boy.

 The boys love this green screen exhibit that makes you a part of the show.  Hunter likes to wear a green shirt because sometimes it makes his body disappear.  They were so cute acting and playing on the tv.  Cameron was a little confused and surprised.

 Then we headed outside to pan for gold.  Hunter was so excited to get gold nuggets.  He said "I am so lucky I have gold and the best mom".  It totally made my day.

 Then they began to dig for fossils.  They were so excited about each bone and rock that they found but now everywhere we go Hunter is sure that any rock is a dinosaur bone.

 Hunter was giving me the best looks today in all of the pictures.  Here he is sad that he is in jail.

 He is scared of the t rex behind him.  He was so funny today.

 Then the boys had fun at the pottery exhibit putting together these two different puzzles.  The boys were pretty proud of their work.

 Taking pictures in the fake desert.

 Cameron loves this pteranadon rocking horse.  He would spend the whole time riding it if I would let him.

  Playing by the LED fire.

Then we came back to play.  These two are the best of friends.  They love each other so much and always want to play together.  Cameron wants to be with Hunter all of the time and Hunter is always talking about how much he loves Cameron.  I love their little conversations and watching them play together.  I am so lucky to be these two little guys mama.