Family Pictures

Our family pictures ended up being much more adrenaline filled than usual! As we were finishing up taking pictures, Elliot falling on a cactus. When the big spines stabbed him through his shirt and pants, he panicked and swatted at it with his hand which is the worst thing he could have done. The spines in his hand were the hardest to get out. Poor guy! To make things even worse, his screams could definitely be heard at the nearby outdoor wedding ceremony that we had been trying so hard not to interrupt.

Big thanks to Melony Hall Photography for the pictures, and for getting stabbed by a few spines yourself while bear hugging Elliot to keep him still while we de-spined him!

I absolutely love this one

These kids love picking flowers

Flagstaff/Sedona Trip

After much spreadsheet-aided deliberation, a group of our friends picked out an Airbnb for a fun weekend trip to Flagstaff. Unfortunately, Annie was still on the tail end of the bug of doom when the first day of the trip came around. We sent up Aaron and Elliot in the back of the Knell's minivan while Annie and I stayed home for a bit more recuperation. Luckily her symptoms stopped as the others left, so we joined them the next morning.

This is on the hike that I missed while driving up. They didn't last long on this hike because there was snow all over the trail, and none of the Arizona kids quite knew what to do with cold feet. 

Photo evidence that a fun time was had

Annie and I had 4 hours in the car together! She slept for about an hour of it. I had the passenger's seat stocked with different snack cups, water cups, books, and toys that I could one-handedly throw back at her. It worked pretty well!

Me climbing the giant snow bank across the street from our Airbnb

We spent the post-nap afternoon exploring the historic train park in downtown flagstaff. There was a visitor center with flyers for things like a self-guided walking tour to haunted locations around town.

Watching some modern trains zip by, complete with graffiti and everything!

Kids by a train

Cold babies in strollers

Elliot by a big wheel

Arguing over whether Quiznos is good or not

Playing with legos before bedtime

Naked baby alert! These 3 were born within a few weeks of each other.

The best part of the trip was staying up late with friends playing games. We brought some with us, but also broke out the Battle of the Sexes that was in the rental house, and we found a Newlyweds game online that was funny. Kenny also introduced us to a funny game called "SpaceTeam" that has you yell out funny instructions to cooperatively keep a spaceship from falling apart. It is difficult to find kid-free hangout times with friends these days, and trips like these are a perfect way to get that.

The plan for the next morning was to drive 45 minutes to Sedona and do a hike. We ended up leaving pretty late because people slept in after a late night and some of the kids didn't sleep super well. Google maps led us astray, and we ended up picking a different trial when we couldn't find the one we had planned. By the time we were actually hiking, it was almost nap time and it was kind of starting to rain. The very short hike was a little anti-climatic and filled with bikes trying to run us over, but at least we got to see the red rock scenery and enjoy a drive through the town of Sedona. I'm sorry to report that we did not find any of the much-advertised astral planes and spiritual vortexes. 

These two were very sad when we cut the hike short

It was Cassie's birthday while we were up there! We celebrated with cheesecakes and a dance party.

Annie was my very enthusiastic dance partner

Elliot bonked his head while executing an over-ambitious dance move

This was a great weekend getaway! I hope to do more vacations like this! Our next one is planned for a long weekend at Rocky Point.