West we did go. When we were planning this trip we referred to it as our trip “Out West”. Emily might not understand that west is a direction, but she does know that it is a place to go and see. If you asked her where we were going she would tell you “west”. The other thing we discussed about driving west is that going west is like chasing the sun. She commented on that a lot and every evening of driving we would see the sun going down and ending that day’s chase.

Enough about the direction, where did we go? We drove from our home to Arizona to visit the Grand Canyon for several days. To get there and back we stopped, visited, and enjoyed sights along the way.

Highlights:

• Family time (never overrated)
• Traveling with a friend for a while. Watching the girls relate with Mr. Pat was amazing.
• Having a daily view of the Grand Canyon for a week.
• Having all of our hikers return no-worse-for-wear out of the canyon.
• Seeing quite a variety of wild animals.
• Fun dinner at the Big Texan.
• Sitting in four states at the same time.
• Walking where ancient peoples once lived.
• Watching little people explore nature.
• Eating Mexican food and lovely sopapillas
• Playing among huge sand dunes
• Walking down the memory lane of childhood vacations for both Robby and Rachelle

We met our friends on a cool August morning for a little hike and picnic. We took two different paths for a while and then turned back before we were too tired of it. After some fun exploring we had a picnic lunch in the back of our car. The girls fit in well and loved sharing their lunch together there.

Amazing! All four girls looked the same direction at the same time. This is quite unheard of. There are two decent photos, but this one is the less serious one.

The big girls exploring the bridge over a stream.

Hand in hand they go

Our little ones walk with such personality. Julia prances and Maeve has a march-tude to her step. This mama loves how personal they walk

is.

Our picnic bounty

Maeve’s sweet expression was so worth saving! What a sweet girl.

The girls and Mama joined our friends for a trip to Dollywood. We did some of our usual rides, but we also rode the train together. Julia rode the train on my lap and put her hands over her ears every time they blew the whistle. We all took turns riding the flying elephant because all the girls wanted to ride, but they can’t ride by themselves yet.

Elena wanted to ride the Veggie Tale kids roller coaster. We asked Emily if she wanted to ride too and she said no. Julia piped up and wanted to go. It was her first roller coaster ride. Julia and Elena rode together. So cute!

We made a full day of the park while Ashley and the girls left just before naptime. Julia fit her nap in between activities. She woke up just as we were getting a snack. We enjoyed our day together.

The big girls enjoying their duck ride

Emily on her favorite ride. She plans on doing this ride in the car every time we get to Dollywood.

Emily driving the yellow beauty.

Julia driving the blue car with Mama.

Julia on her unusual horse. Do you see Maeve in the background on the bench? She wasn’t interested in riding a horse this particular day.

The little girls enjoying their duck ride. I love their faces.

Julia sacked out mid-Dollywood trip

We went green bean picking at Ms. Tracy’s parents house. They were generous and shared with us. Tracy is a fast picker and out picked Mama 4 to 1. The girls enjoyed themselves and a bit of freedom. They played with the tire swing, ran around the yard, played with the cat, and enjoyed the front porch swing. Emily even tried to apply sunscreen to herself so that she wouldn’t get burned (something Mama hopes that she doesn’t do again for a while). The girls picked about three green beans each and Emily did try eating one straight from the field.

After we finished our work, Ms. Tracy got their horse Jack for the girls to ride. Julia was scared from the start. She would not pet him at all, although we talked to him a lot. Emily was skittish, but did pet him a little. When it came to time to ride we rode bareback. Emily rode first with Mama. Emily was very brave and enjoyed her ride. Before we put the horse back to the barn, we swapped the girls out and had Julia try riding for a few minutes. She was uncomfortable and wanted down at the first chance, but she rode bravely with Mama. Mama is really proud of both of for giving it a chance. Too bad we didn’t get a photo of us riding, but we needed to focus on other things at the time.

After the ride, we went back to Tracy’s to put up the green beans. Now we have a row of lovely green bean jars and fun memories. Thanks Tracy (and Tracy’s Mama)!

We played at Grammy’s house one day so that Mama could help paint Grammy’s side porch. The girls got to participate in their own painting party. They enjoyed themselves on the front porch making all kinds of artwork. They would come to tell us when they had run out of water and paper.

The girls and Mama rode up to the mountains with Grammy and Granddaddy for a picnic by the river. The girls enjoyed coloring at the table while we cooked and playing in the stream. We floated bark like boats down the side pool we were playing in, we threw rocks, we jumped in the water from the top of the rocks, we caught minnows in a bucket so we could inspect them close up, and we rearranged the river rocks. The girls were fascinated by the people floating down the river by us. We had a blast. Then we drove into town and enjoyed pizza for dinner followed with driving home. The girls minds were filled with ideas of other things we should go back and do another day.

Sisters loving on each other while enjoying their picnic.

How Julia looked when we got to the picnic area. She had the best nap of any of us that day.

Emily taking her coloring seriously.

Julia enjoyed a little pre-picnic rock throwing. She was excited!

Mama loves this photo. It was of just genuine happiness, no cheesy grins.

Granddaddy just enjoying watching the river. He also enjoyed watching the girls play and reading his book riverside. Looks comfy!

The girls were busy in the water walking on the rocks and searching for the next best rock to throw.

Julia got a little cold in the water and decided laying on the rock in the sun was a good solution to the problem.