Month-long Midwest Road Trip

We got the amazing privilege to travel through the month of July this year. Every four years at the church I receive a six week sabbatical, in addition to vacation time. We decided to use that time for a long family road trip. It turned out to be an amazing trip of seeing friends, family, and a wide variety of landscapes. We visited ten states through the course of the trip, and everything went so smoothly. Here are a few pictures we captured along the way: 

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Fun Memorial Day

The kids have been asking me to take them fishing a bunch this year. I ended up buying some gear and a fishing license (for Gavin... the other kids don't need one yet) and tried my best to teach them something I never really had an interest in learning. I soon figured out that I didn't really know how to catch fish around here. I didn't think there was really much to it other than a bobber, hook, bait, and lots of patience. I asked a friend of mine from church to take us to his his favorite fishing hole this morning and teach us how to fish. Wow, we learned a lot and there were several things we were doing wrong which certainly hindered our success. We caught four trout in the three hours we were out there. He taught us how to clean them, and then we cooked them up tonight for dinner.

Then later after lunch, we decided to do a hike we heard about called Red Mountain Trail. It is basically a volcano that erupted out the side of the mountain (a long time ago) which allows us to see and walk through some really unique formations. Here's some pictures:

Gavin's First Boy Scout Outing

Gavin and I (Zac) went to a Boy Scouts camping trip last weekend. It was at a place called Lee's Ferry, which is one of the main entry points for canoes and rafts to enter the Colorado River through the Grand Canyon. We stayed Friday through Sunday and the first night we had really high winds and rain. A few of the tents collapsed and so some of the boys and dads ended up spending the night in their cars. Our tent held up ok, but we didn't get much sleep.

On Saturday we did a three mile hike to the river on a trail called Jackass Canyon. This was a fun and challenging hike because it's like walking through a big crack in the earth and climbing over all the big rocks that used to have water flowing over them. You can see a few pictures below. We got rained on a little that day, had lunch and did lots of fishing once we got to the river, then hiked back out the three miles. We all slept much better that night :-)

On Sunday we did a similar type hike to the river again on a trail called Cathedral Wash. It's really cool to see and walk through the formations of what thousands of years of water and erosion create. We did lots of fishing again, but Gavin and I are not skilled in the art of catching fish. I'm feeling insired to get better though.

The campground. There were 24 of us on the scouting trip.

This is a shot of Cathedral Wash

More Cathedral Wash

Gavin got a couple bites over the weekend, but the only thing he caught was one of his socks :-)

These guys decided to grab some of the other people's fish heads and make "fish-head kabobs"

This is part of the reason Gavin didn't catch any fish... he had more fun just playing in the water

Here's one of the challenging descents on the Jackass Canyon trail.

Good thing we brought the ponchos on Saturday!

Micah's First T-Ball Game

Grand Canyon Hike

I got the awesome privilege of getting to do a backpacking trip into the Grand Canyon last weekend. I borrowed some gear from some folks at church and took a four day trip to the bottom of the Grand Canyon. On Friday, we hiked down the Bright Angel trail to the Bright Angel Campground about 9 miles from the rim. We stayed there for the next couple nights, then we hiked out half way on Sunday to stay at a campground called Indian Gardens, then hiked the rest of the way out on Monday. It was really fun. I don't think I've ever attempted to do a backpacking trip like this and I must say that I'd like to do more. There's something pretty cool about going and staying at places that you can't get to by motorized vehicle. Here's some pictures:

Had to bring a guitar down with me

We did a mini church service with everyone Sunday morning

Here's a few of the folks we were hiking with hanging out on the beach area

This is Indian Gardens, the half way point to the bottom of the Grand Canyon

Bridge crossing the Colorado River

Here's a cave that goes through the rock. The other end of the cave leads to the bridge in the photo above.

This is the camping area at the bottom. It was very peaceful.

These are mules that haul food, supplies, and sometimes people up and down the Grand Canyon trails.

Quick Photo Updates

Both Micah and Gavin joined Cub Scouts this year. Micah loves wearing his uniform. I'm hoping Gavin will be able to catch up and move into Boy Scouts next year.

Micah lost his first two teeth within two days of each other!

We took a day trip to Payson, AZ over spring break. It was pretty similar feeling to Flagstaff, just a little warmer.

Gavin got into a special program to learn snowboarding this winter. He had fun, but it sounds like he still likes skiing better.

Aubri got to go horseback riding with some friends from church. She LOVES horses!

Happy Valentines Day

Gavin's 11th Birthday

Gavin turned 11 on the 18th. All of a sudden, he's growing up too fast! It wakes me up a little bit to the fact that we only have a few years left to prepare him for being on his own some day. It's fun to watch his personality and interests grow as he ages.

On his birthday-day, he and I went skiing at Snow Bowl here in Flagstaff. We both love downhill skiing. I wish we could afford to do it more often!

We decided to take one of the lifts all the way to the top. I didn't realize the only way down were black diamond runs. Gavin was a little scared as we headed down, but he sure was proud to tell his friends he went down a black diamond :-)

Since the kids had school off on Monday, we decided to do Gavin's birthday party with his friends from Sunday night to Monday morning. They had a great time swimming at the Flagstaff Athletic Club and having a sleepover (which is fairly rare for our kids).