Family Trip to Flagstaff

Fall Break! Glade had the big boys on a scout outing so I decided to take the other kids up to Flagstaff for a couple of days. I let them miss their last day of school before their actual fall break started and we left for Flag. I had to replace the battery in the van before we left, but other than that, we were incident free!

We arrived around 1:30 and Chelsey had classes till 3 so we went to a local pioneer museum. It really wasn't much of a museum but it occupied our time and the kids enjoyed it for the most part. The weather was beautiful so hanging out outside wasn't at all a problem!

There was a little school room that was hands on with old toys and desks and what not. That was probably the most fun thing for them. Of course they all went straight for the guns since mom never lets them play with them at home!

As soon as we reached the "forest" they all started looking for bears and were so disappointed they didn't see any. (mostly Bo and Katy) This was right inside the museum and totally made their day. This, and the head of a bobcat they had sitting on a shelf.

There was an old train they could climb on, but really wasn't much to do.

My little wagon train children.

Dalin was driving the teams.

Once Chelsey got out of school, we went to her apartment to hang out for a little bit. She had Popsicles for the kids. They were all very excited to see her.

Once she got changed and settled, we left to go find a park. Didn't have any luck, but we did find a mall! She didn't know it was a "real" mall so she was very excited when we went in and there were some of her favorite stores. We let the kids roam around the Toys R Us store and came out with a little Pokemon game and some coloring stuff for the hotel that night. We left and went to get pizza at Pizza Hut then took Chelsey home. She had institute plans that night. We went back to the hotel and the kids played their games, watched some TV and I read my book. Around 7:30 we decided to walk in the cold to Dairy Queen to get ice cream. The only trouble with this particular group of kids I had with me this time was that none of them know how to just walk and enjoy. Gotta run everywhere. That's not good when you are along a busy street in the dark with littler ones who aren't that fast! Grrrr. We were all tucked in and snoozing by about 9.

The next morning we got up, had our continental breakfast and were ready to go hiking. Just waiting for Chelsey to text me back and tell me she was awake. When that wasn't happening, we went to wake her up. We had a great plan to stick our faces on her bedroom window and then bang on it. We did that...twice...then the door opened and her roommate breathlessly told us how we had scared the crap out of her. Wrong window. Anyway, that was fun so we got her up and around and headed to Walnut Canyon for a hike. It's just outside Flagstaff a couple of miles and is a canyon with Indian ruins. It's 240 steps down and then right back up. My calves are sore!

The view was beautiful, but very unsettling for a girl who's only real fear is her children falling from high places. It's mostly just a trail around the ruins with nothing to keep you from going off the side. Then there was that running factor again with my boys. I was a nervous wreck!

They dubbed this the "time-out" cave.

See how I'm right on the edge. I'm still on the path. Scary.

This is Chelsey giving me the "oh Mom!" look as I freak when she tries to hang her legs over a ledge. Seriously....stop it!!

We rested on one of the benches and had a snack before we headed back up the 240 steps. The older kids ran up them, Bo tried to keep up and I was behind him ready to catch him when he fell. That left Chelsey back with Katy. She ended up carrying her on her back most the way up the steps. Beast!! Once we got to the top, we went on a much milder little trail and had lunch and the kids played in some other ruins that weren't on a cliff. It was a really nice morning.

We took Chelsey home, found out her roommates went grocery shopping with out her so I took her to the store, got her stocked up and then we headed home. It was a really nice and quick trip. The kids were all happy to finally know where their big sister was living!