A few stops on the way home!

This is the last post on Arizona....I promise!! It's just that if I don't write it down on the blog I will probably forget about  the memories we made and I want to remember all these places we went! The first stop we made on the way home was called Sunset Crater Volcano National Monument. The second stop was Wupatki National Monument. Both of which I had never heard of! In fact if you look at a map you would probably overlook it!

The Sunset Crater Volcano National Monument erupted over 900 years ago.

 

The landscape from the volcanic explosion was pretty fascinating!

We started seeing the park by hiking the Lava Flow Trail!

As you can see all three kids love to balance!

Two best hiking buddies!

Ty on top of the lava rock!

Mara checking out the view from on top of the fense!

Along the trail were rocks and caves to explore and hide in.

Caleb thought he needed a ride on my shoulders along the 1 mile loop!

Here's the hiking gang!

Talk about an awesome piece of wood!

Ty will find any tree dead or alive and climb it!

And Mara will do prett much anything Ty does! She too loves climbing trees!

My big hiking boy! He always enjoys being outdoors in nature just like his dad!

How cute is that little hiking boy?!

The next place we stopped was Wupatki National Monument.

Here we saw a few ancient Pueblos.

We did a few short hikes around to view the ancient ruins.

Now that is pretty cool huh?!

Three cute little Indian children!

I couldn't believe such an old Indian ruin could still be standing!

After a great adventure in Arizona we were ready to go home!

Sedona Arizona

A few short hours from Phoenix is one of the coolest places called Sedona. When Nate and I retire we want to have a winter home in Sedona! We love it there! On our way home from Phoenix we stopped in Sedona for a hike and check out the town!

The first hike we went on we thought was a quick loop...but the more we hiked the more we realized we were on the wrong path! We kept thinking one more bend would get us closer to the end but finally we had to just turn around and go back!!

Althought it wasn't the hike we thought we were going on it still turned out to be a cool hike!

Ty and Mara found a great tree to climb!

Check out those spikes on that cactus.

We enjoyed seeing all the different cacti on the hike.

Just taking a quick break along the hike! The weather was perfect not too hot or cool!!

The scenery was fantastic!  

This little hiking boy hiked the entire time!

3 cute kiddos loving the sunshine!

After we turned around and hiked back we hiked to the top of a peak and had an excellent view of Sedona!

Me and Miss Mara enjoying the view from the top!

Maybe we will hike to the top of that peak next time!

Ty found a few rocks along the way for his rock collection!

After hiking all afternoon we walked around the town of Sedona and checked out some of the shops.

Look at those 3 handsome boys ready for another hike!

After a good night sleep we woke up early ready for one more hike!

The path we were on was the right one this time! And it was a great hike!

The kids sure like hiking with sticks! Ty can always find a good one and helps Caleb and Mara find a good one too!

The red rocks are just as fabulous here as they are in Southern Utah!

Two cute hikers...or should I say rock climbers?!

With views like this why would we want to go home?! 

If you couldn't tell Ty loves being the leader and first one on the trail! Sometimes he lets Mara take a turn!

We are almost there! Total distance of our hike: 2.6 miles! I think Caleb hiked most of it!

Destination: Submarine Rock! We made it!

The rock Caleb is standing on looks like a submarine, that's how it got it's name!

After our hike we were famished! We went to a famous BBQ place in Sedona and had some tasty BBQ sandwiches!

Baseball Game!

While in Arizona we were able to go to a baseball game one night: Reds vs. the Rangers! It was a lot of fun watching the game and even more fun just being together.

Here's the crew at Goodyear Ball Field! It was a perfect evening for watching a baseball game!

We didn't really sit down in one spot to watch the game!! We enjoyed walking around the stadium and seeing the game from different spots!

Mara and Caleb trying to watch the game through the fense!

Oh that's a better view! They liked trying out different seats in the sadium!

Another fun thing at the stadium was the blow-up toys! Ty is practicing his pitching skills!

Great view right behind home plate!

Ty really enjoyed watching the baseball game.

This little buddy is probably the next pro baseball player!

But for now he is my cool little kid

Ok--this is the funniest part of the entire night...Caleb enjoyed having a ride on his daddy's shoulder's. I happen to walk behind him and look up to see the cutest little butt-crack hanging out his pants! I pulled up Caleb's pants a bit but couldn't help take a quick picture!!