Day 8- Hiking and Baseball

There is one great thing to Phoenix summers where the temperature currently reaches 110 Degrees!  That is the quiet and beauty of the early morning.  The boys woke up around 5:30, so we were able to eat and head out on our Siphon Draw hike first thing in the morning!  It was cooler and beautiful.  Surprisingly, there were several hikers at 6 AM.  This was our morning sunrise over the Superstition Mountains.

My hiking partners!  We are heading up the Superstition Mountains that are behind us!

Love this picture of David and Logan hiking together!

We stopped for snack and water part way up the trail.  Love this family picture! 

At this point, David and Jimmy were hiking all the way to the top of Flat Iron and they boys and I would continue about another mile before we headed back. 

My two hiking partners...  

 David and Jimmy had an easy time getting to the top, but a much more difficult time coming down.  The view of the Phoenix area was amazing and Jimmy should have been very proud of himself!  The hike was 6 miles round trip and was not an easy hike!

The panoramic view from the top!

 This is what hiking does to you!

We were excited to go to a Diamondbacks game and even more excited that they were playing the Braves when we were in town.  We all donned our Braves apparel and headed into a Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives Restaurant called "The Deuce".  It was an old boxing practice gym turned restaurant and the food and the experience was amazing.  We would highly recommend this to anyone in the Phoenix area. 

 We had to give them a name to announce over the loudspeaker when our order was ready.  We went with "Go Braves".  So, when our food was ready, the announcer in Phoenix said "Go Braves, your order is ready, Go Braves"  :)  It made us smile.

 It was also nice because it was within walking distance of the stadium!

 Silly Boys!

 The first inning, the first guy batting for the Diamondbacks hit a home run.  

 It was all down hill for the Diamondbacks from there.  The Braves won 5 - 2!

 Louis Gonzalez and the boys!

After the game was over, we watched them open Chase Field in about 4 minutes and we got a fireworks show.  On the way to the car at 11 PM, the temperature was 101!  Did you notice I said 11 PM?

Day 7- Boot Hill Graveyard and Arriving in Phoenix

Let me start with MAN, does the sun come up early out here.  The boys are all awake before 6 am local time.  David and Hunter started their morning with a walk through the quiet streets of Tombstone at 5 A.M.  We ate some breakfast and walked up to Boothill Graveyard.  

This sign made me laugh out loud! 

 They love to point out the cactus and surprisingly, only Hunter has been pricked and only one time.  For the most part, they are listening about keeping their hands off of the cacti.

The graves of the McLaury brothers from the gunfight at the O.K. Corral are buried here. 

There were also some funny tombstones! 

 City Hall in Tombstone.

After our brief morning in Tombstone, we packed up the camper and headed to Phoenix.  We did have a dead battery at the campground, so they had to jump us off.   I did not do my best work ever as the wing man because I was listening to Google Maps and it took us a longer way.  David was threatening to fire me.

This is the view from our camper.  The lighting in this picture wasn't great, but the scenery was awesome! 

After dinner, we made homemade ice cream in a ball that has to be thrown around and shaken for about 20 minutes.  Some of it still wouldn't set up because of the heat, but we will be trying this again when we get to cooler temperatures.

The boys spend a good chunk of the evening riding their bikes around the campsites and playing with all kinds of toys.  It was a much needed low key day and we were all in bed by 8:30 p.m.  

Day 6- Tombstone

We left New Mexico this morning around 9:00 and were in no rush to get to Arizona.  We had about 3 and a half hours of driving to do this morning.  We were disappointed in the Arizona Welcome Center sign, but we have been spoiled with Louisiana and Texas with the awesome state signs!  

We checked into our campground and then went into town to watch the reenactment of the gunfight at the O.K. Corral and go through the museum.  It was awesome and the boys totally loved it.   

They loved the stage coaches and the other items that they could interact with!   

 My chauffeur!

Getting ready for the big fight!

 Doc Holliday is ready!

The Sokols, Earps, and Doc Holliday!

The Sokols with the McLaury boy! 

Logan roping a steer

 Walking up Allen Street.  This is blocked off to car traffic.

We had another great day.  Heading to Boot Hill Cemetery in the morning and then heading up to Phoenix to spend some time with one of my best friends from high school and her husband.  Going to wrap up the night playing cards with the love of my life- may even let him win one or two since I love him so much!  

Day 5- White Sands National Monument

We left Carlsbad early this morning.  We stopped by a local meat market and got some wonderful ribs and then headed out towards Arizona.  Hunter is just playing with his rainbow loom as we travel along.  

We would drive for miles and never see another soul.  We finally stopped to take a few pictures along the side of the road.  This scenery was pretty in a unique sort of way.  I am not a huge fan of the dessert scene, but it is so different than what we see in Georgia, that I could really appreciate it.  

We went through a tunnel and then pulled off at a spot right after it.  We got out and went down a few boulders to look at the canyon.  In the picture below, way out near the horizon, you can see a thin line of white.  That is White Sands National Monument, which is about 25 miles away to give you some perspective of how vast the sand actually was.

We stopped here and decided to go sledding down the dunes.  We were slightly worried about how hot the sand would be because the temperature was 107 degrees.  However, the sand stays pretty cool, especially if you bury your feet about ankle deep, it is very cool.  

My three loves getting ready to sled!

Walking back up the dunes carrying the sled was a little difficult for Hunter and Logan, but they enjoyed the sledding!  

The dunes were everywhere the eye could see.  They looked completely out of place!

Logan loves to spend time with either of his brothers!

We sledded for about an hour before the heat got to be too much and we headed out!

My love is grilling our ribs in our outdoor kitchen.  Love the slight view of the mountains in the background!

As soon as we get to every campsite, the boys can't wait to get out their toys and run and play as hard as they can.  My actual words to David this time were "I think we need to sell our house and buy land with 20 acres so the boys can run free."  I was only kind of kidding!  

Jimmy found a shade tree (which is difficult to do in New Mexico) and was finishing reading his book!

The sunset from our campsite!

The trip is still in its early phases, but as I told David tonight "Everything about this trip so far has been exactly what I envisioned when I started planning it two years ago."  I am sure there are parts that will not go according to plan (and there have already been a few), but watching the boys point out beautiful things on this earth that God created is pretty spectacular to watch.  I am loving getting to watch them love to play outdoors.  I get more excited each day!