Grand Canyon for Thanksgiving

We were lucky enough to take a quick trip to the Grand Canyon over Thanksgiving break! Our original plans were to visit Death Valley but the week before Thanksgiving I checked our reservations (you know, to get things in order) and realized that I had made the Death Valley reservation for SEPTEMBER 26th. Not NOVEMBER 26th. crap.

 I scurried around to get some other plans made and we ended up booking a spot at the Grand Canyon Railway RV park. When I was telling my mom of my mix up and our change of plans, she mentioned that she had been looking into that exact place to go with the grand kids one day. So I kind of jokingly mentioned that they could fly to Vegas and we'd pick them up on the way. They jumped in on the offer and we had plans all worked out less than 24 hours later!

On the way to pick them up we realized that their flight had been pushed back an hour (they were already landing at 9pm) so we stopped and had some dinner at the Long John Silvers in Barstow.
We hadn't had LJS in years but it used to be one of our favorites in Tucson back when we were newly married. Oh, the salty goodness. And those little crunchies. Where else do people want to eat the leftover crunches from the bottom of the fryer!?

We finally make it up to Vegas and we get stuck in the 'Arrivals' lane of the airport. The lane is a mile long and not moving. We try to get a hold of my parents and tell them to meet us at 'Departures' since there's no line going that direction. We're able to pull off and get to departures and as we're driving (REMINDER: we're in the RV) we can see the mile long arrival lane wind around and then hit a 7.5' height restriction! What the heck would we have done had we waited in that line only to get to the front and not be able to go forward!?! How did we luck out and get in the 'Departures' lane and avoid that? There were NO warning signs that said there was any sort of height restriction. Holy Moly, the Lord was throwing us a bone because he knew we still had quite the 'adventure' ahead of us. We were able to quickly get my parents (after the flight delay and the traffic delay) and get on the road towards Williams, AZ by 10:45ish.

This left us only a mere 5-6 hours to get to Williams! We pulled in at 4:30am, leveled out and went to bed. Good thing the kids woke up bright and early at 6!

The next morning all of us were a bit grumpy and tired but luckily didn't have anything we had to do.
The weather was beautiful and the kids rode bikes around the campground. We had access to the Grand Canyon Hotel's amenities and used their indoor pool and game room. Unfortunately, Vivi got altitude sickness and barfed all day and was unable to enjoy said amenities.

The next morning we dropped off the dogs (they have a boarding kennel!) and headed to the Grand Canyon Railway station. They had a cowboy show that the kids enjoyed and then we were able to board. The train ride was a little over 2 hours but they did have entertainment and a cafe car to help keep everyone occupied.

Kids at the scene of the cowboy show

Viv has a perpetual blue mustache in all pictures because we had been trying to push fluids with the altitude sickness. It's super cute, huh? That weird old man sitting next to her is my dad :) 

Clay and Grandma

Carter and Cory. They're not related or anything

This guy came and fiddled for us. Leave it to Carter to find a way for everyone on the train to learn his name. 

Right as we got off the train

First look. Viv asked, "Who dug that?"

Grandma and Grandpa

All together now

Cuties

We hiked the first 300 yards of the Bright Angle Trail so we could see the pictographs.

The red markings are people and a cow thing. If you can make it out. 

It was a gorgeous day

Amazing views

A little doorway through the rocks.

Grandma and Clay

Grandpa and Viv

One last look before heading back on the train

Our ride home was mostly uneventful. There was a 'train robbery' from the cowboys that had done the show that morning. I knew it was coming but the kids didn't. It was pretty disappointing actually. I was hoping for a bit more. Basically, the 'robbers' came through quickly and took a few tips and the Sheriff followed a few minutes later. There were no gun fights, falling down, or chasing of any kind really. Boo.

We ate dinner at the Pub that's connected to the hotel and had an 'early' bedtime.

The next day we had to head home. Lucky for everyone, Viv was feeling better and Cory was able to take her to the pool for a few minutes.
We packed up and headed to Vegas to stay at the Nellis Fam Camp for the night. My parents had a flight the next day so we had planned plenty of time to get to Vegas, check out the campgrounds and enjoy a leisurely evening setting up.
Newman had other plans and as we started towards Kingman, AZ he promptly started shitting himself in the 'hallway' as we were driving down the Highway. He couldn't control it, WE couldn't control it and I started yelling at Cory, "PULL OVER NOW! I DON'T CARE THAT THERE'S NOWHERE TO PULL OVER! MAKE SOMEWHERE TO PULLOVER!"

We stopped in Kingman bought a crap load (ha! See what I did there?) of paper towels, 409 and Imodium and cleaned everything up. We lost two rugs to the 'Newman Crap Debacle of 2014' but it was a small price to pay considering we had WALL TO WALL CARPET IN THERE ONLY 2 WEEKS PRIOR. What would we have done had we still had carpet? Gone home? With the laminate floor I was able to 409 the crap outta that floor. Literally.

Sooo.....We googled an emergency vet (because surprise!  - there was a ton of blood in Newman's stool!) and parked in a sketchy part of Vegas for blood work and meds.
The doc told us is looked like colitis and he'd be fine. So that was $260 well spent. :/

We doped him up and headed to the fam camp. We pulled in 4 hours later than we had planned with some cold McD's and irritable kids. Yay.
My mom took the kids for a walk and Cory took the dogs for a walk and we all at least went to bed at a reasonable time.

The next morning actually went just fine and we pulled out of the camp on time and headed towards the airport. We decided on a whim to drive the RV down the strip. It was only 11am on a Sunday and we thought the kids would enjoy it.
After our trip down the strip we dropped my parents off without incident and said our goodbyes. We grabbed some subway and then hit the 15. Yes, you read that correctly. We got on the 15, on the Sunday after Thanksgiving leaving Vegas which will now be known as "Cory and Lauren's Worst Decision EVER (Except For Maybe Getting A Great Dane But That's Another Post For Another Day)"

The trip from Las Vegas to Edwards is a mere 210 miles. However, it is a 2 lane 'highway' most of those miles. Also, every person that traveled from SoCal to Vegas is headed home on a Sunday. And they are all taking the 15. On those two little lanes. This equals 9 HOURS to get home.  Do the math. We could have almost biked home faster. (That is, if we were avid bikers. But that's besides the point)
There's actually more I could write about the 9 hour trip home but I'm still so raw and angry about it. That I just....can't.
So there you have it folks: Thanksgiving 2014.
Did I mention we're taking the RV up to Chicago for Christmas?

Clayton Turns 6

I don't need to tell all of you about how much of a blog slacker Ive been for the last year (or, ahem - two) but I'm on a mission to get back.
One of the reasons is that I was really proud of myself for writing the kids' birthday letters over here. I'm not great at taking pictures and Carter only got half a baby book filled out. Poor kid.

So I'll start back with Clay. I missed last year's birthdays. Your last one was when you turned 4.
I'm sorry babe. I think five was good for you. You went to Transitional Kindergarten and blazed through it. You're an awesome reader and can multiply in your head. And then, not surprising to anyone, just skipped to first grade.

Your brother, Carter, is always the trailblazer and so LOUD and smart that most of the time your incredible intelligence sneaks by without us noticing until we actually pay attention to what's going on in your head. I guess that's the curse of the middle child, huh? But when we slow down and watch you read, or watch you explain how something works, or listen as you answer 2nd and 3rd grade math problems in your head at the tender age of 5, we remember.

But mostly, you're just SO SWEET, and kind, and thoughtful. You still love to snuggle and have someone lay with you at night.

You are so forgiving. You take the brunt of the "next time" or "later" or "not tonight" because you are the most agreeable. I'm not saying this is fair by any means. But your brother and sister are mostly just so unforgiving. 
I am more likely to buy you a treat somewhere just because. Does that count for something? Please say yes. Because I know being the middle kid isn't the most fair. And I know that you know. You point it out occasionally. But me and Daddy and trying. We never want you to feel like the middle kid. We love you SO MUCH. Always remember that we do.

These days you're into riding your bike (which you did at 3 by the way! Earlier than any of your siblings! You can always rub that in their face later in life. I give you permission.) You love playing with friends and being rough and wrestling. You have really enjoyed soccer and basketball this past year. You're such a boy. But you are also so capable (and very good!) at playing with girls, and playing with your sister. You've got the whole package babe. You are smart, and kind, and extremely good looking  (Zoolander?). I'm pretty certain I'll be standing in-between you and many o' ladies in the upcoming years.

Clay, the day you were born a very special thing happened between the two of us. I still feel it every. single. day. I hope you always do too. I love you!

Student of the Month

Carter got student of the month in October! I'm not really on the up and up with the whole student of the month thing. First of all, you can only be student of the month once you're at least in second grade. Second of all, I didn't realize that there's a student of the month for each classroom each month.
Soooo....I'm also not completely sure what qualifies you for Student Of the Month. I'm guessing some sort of algorithm that includes good behavior, grades and cuteness.

Cutest 4yr old in the World

We finally got Vivi's School pictures back. I can't believe all three kids' school pictures turned out so well!

Minnie Winnie Remodel

If I had been really smart, I would have take awesome before and after type photos. But, we were just really ready to start ripping stuff up....So we mostly just have after photos. You can take a look at what it looked like in our Spring Break 2014 Posts if you need a comparison.

Our new back splashed step. All these steps were carpeted. As you can imagine, one day of camping and these things were trashed.

Notice all the nice hardwood laminate too! :)

The couch just has a fitted sheet over it, but you can see my curtains  (I made all of them) and my mattresses and new dinette cushions.

Up on the bunk, there are two long green mattresses. They're stacked onto of each other in this picture but  that little drawer pulls out and then the mattresses can be side by side.

New dinette cushions and curtains

A better view of my mattresses (that I also made!) and curtains for the bunk. 

Here's a decent 'Before and After' Pic:

Notice gross couch, disgusting carpet, tacky window coverings and nasty wallpaper.

NEW!

Into our bedroom

Behind the couch

Bedroom

Bedroom, again.

Bathroom. We just put new floor and painted the walls in here.

A view from our bedroom looking into the living area.

Front door. 

Boys' School Pictures

We got the boy's school pictures back last week. They look so much better than last year! Ha! I'll post Vivi's once I get hers back. Also, I'll have to post Clay's soccer pictures. We sent them back because they said "CLAYTGON 2014" on them. So that was super.

Carter 2nd Grade

Clay 1st grade

Halloween 2014

It was super cold this year. Normally, it starts to cool off around Halloween but this year a cold front moved in and it was super chilly! Luckily we didn't have too many Halloween activities during the week so that we were burnt out on Halloween before it showed up. We had the AWANA fall festival the day before where Cory and I volunteered and then went trick or treating on Friday. The kids all picked out their costumes a few weeks back and luckily still wanted to be those same characters by the time Halloween rolled around.

Carter just finished the first Harry Potter book so he was very excited to be Ron Weasley. Although, he was a little frustrated that everyone assumed he was Harry. He kept saying, "Mom, don't they see my red hair? Ron has red hair like me so they should know that I'm Ron!"

Vivi was determined to be Optimus Prime. She's quite the tomboy and girly things are not 'cool' in her book. Really? Why must my only daughter do this to me?

Clay had been wanting to be Boba Fett (Or Jango) for awhile now and so he was perfectly content with his costume as well.

Cory and our friend Darren took the kids around while me and Darren's wife (also named Cory; I know, very confusing) handed out candy and tried to stay warm...with what we dubbed as 'not coffee'.

After trick or treating all the kids (including our friends') came over, dumped out candy and traded and talked about their loot. We then put Ghost Busters on until late into the evening.

Our Jack Skellington and one 'regular' jack o lantern