Vacation Post #1

First I must say I am way out of the loop, but we're back... finally! Yesterday I walked into our way overgrown garden to pick some huge zucchinis and I almost grabbed a lovely black widow. It was belly up and isn't that red belly just beautiful--until you grab it! 

Before I post pictures, I must say that Jake was being so incredibly cute yesterday at the Drayson Center registration desk. He told the lady all about the fam: "This is my little sister, Alisa. And my name's Jakey. This is my mommy. Scott is at school. and there's Ali and Alisa and Jakey. And Alisa is such a big girl and she is getting really big and she is my little sister (then he hugged and kissed her)." You get the picture. It was really cute. 

We had a week in Flag before going to Lake Powell for TWO WEEKS STRAIGHT. We did some fun things with both families. We forgot the camera everywhere we went with the Seamans, but we spent a lot of time at the pool. Flag was abnormally hot and we were at the pool almost every day. They had a tube water slide. No age limit. You just had to walk up there all alone and slide down. Jake attempted twice, but got scared. I must say it was quite a shooter, so I don't blame him. He's only three, for Pete's sake! 

Anyway, with my parents we went on some beautiful hikes and took the wave runners to Lake Mary. It was really fun and the kids, for the most part, did great! 

Here we are hiking West Fork in Sedona. I think we hiked 6 miles. My dad carried Jake in the backpack the whole way. There was a ton of poison ivy growing onto the trail so we had to be really careful the whole time. Scott carried Alisa in another backpack. We passed this little slide about 1/2 mile in, and hit it on the way back. It was a great swimming spot. If you haven't ever been to Sedona/Oak Creek, I highly recommend it! Beautiful!

Dad and I helping Jake down the slide the first time.

My mom catching him. It was deep at the bottom.

Dad the mighty cliff jumper!

Scott followed soon after.

Swimming (as Jake would say) "All Together!"

Hiking. Like Jake's Darth Maul face?

On the trail. 

Alisa and Grammy.

Jake and Papa.

I know, I know. We are so hip.

This is us hiking on the San Francisco Peaks. It was so beautiful. I love this time of year in Flag! We had a crazy adventure. We took the Kachina Trial, which is about 6 miles across the mountain. We went a little crazy and decided to hike from the end of the trail to Scott's parents house, hoping Les would rescue us! After awhile, the kids got a bit stir crazy. We ended up calling our friend Jonothan to make sure we were going the right way, then hiking another 5 miles or so before getting desperate and finally getting ahold of Scott's dad to come rescue us. I guess we were only about a mile from the house, but we were so exhausted! We left at 1:30 pm or so, and got to Scott's parents at 7-ish. We were filthy and tired and thirsty, and our kids were hungry! It was a crazy adventure! Thanks, Mom and Dad! An extra shout out to my dad for carrying Jake (who leaned out one side the whole way) all the way down the rocky trail! He is not light!

Grammy, Papa, and Jakey

Jake getting some energy out in a little cave. We had to bribe him with an occasional piece of candy or fruit snack to stay in the backpack. He really wanted to get down, and did for 1/2 hour.

Alisa with Papa's hat on. 

Jake's favorite activity at either grandparent's house: Old legos. Classic Darth Maul face. He's obsessed.

Welp, there's more, but it will have to wait for another day. Peace out, Napoleon.