Where in the world

Jack loves the idea of having friends and family figure out where we have been for the day, and frankly, so do I!

Today's adventures took us to a National Park(hint) and to a town that Keith and I have zero reception in(hint). Disclaimer: all photos from today are from my phone. Regular photos to follow! 

 First water break all smiles here!

Trekking through the canyon

 We reached the tip top of our hike with zero incident; thus, soaked in the amazing 360 views had a snack and made our way back down. Amazingly, this is where we learned all of our hiking lessons for the day:

1. No surprise hugging the parents while at the top of a steep mountain-however sweet and thoughtful this may be, we need every ounce of predictability and feet flat on the ground that we can get.
2. Of the animals to be fearful of in the desert a bumble bee is not one of them.
2. If you happen upon an animal that does elicit a fear response(NOT A BUMBLE BEE) the proper reaction would not be to flock to mom, who is cliff side, and attempt to scale up her to safety.
3. When trekking down a gritty trail, put your weight on your toes and lean slightly forward, otherwise you WILL slide head first until you hit something that will stop the descent.
4. No shouldering past anyone while we attempting tricky maneuvers, it's not a race, just be patient.

In the end, we all came away from this hike A-okay, Cash had a minor scrap on his elbow from his head first slide. I think if you ask him, he would say it was worth it. He relentlessly asks if we are "climbing any mountains."

 Keith, Sam and Cash made their way into an old Native American dwelling on the side of the mountain. It was carved by hand! Sam and Cash said it was "pretty cozy."

Really the reception dilemma is just fine with us; really, we are visiting a beautifully serene town. After hitting the hotel (which is the best yet!) A small storm rolled in this afternoon as we walked around town and left us with overcast skies and deep blue silhouettes against the horizon. Absolutely stunning!

Tossing pennies into the wishing well. I explained a wishing well to the children this afternoon only to discover that I only had 1 penny. No more than 20 seconds later, as if sent just for us, Cash found 3 brand new pennies laying on the sidewalk. Here all four littles make a wish as they toss their lucky pennies in.

Before ice-cream photo  ----->

Keith was beaming when we hit a local brewery/eatery. Here, we were able to watch the children kick off their shoes and play in the sandbox; also, Jack and I hula hooped a little pre-meal. Of course I more than made up for any extras we've done today when I ordered "the fatty." A feta, black bean, mashed potato and chili burrito! It was so worth it.