Miss A and Big B's Baptism

We returned from our trip in time to make it to Miss A and Big B's baptism.  We are their God Parents so I don't have pictures of the actual baptism since I was standing up there.  But here are some pictures from afterwards.

 Dominic looking so handsome in his shirt and tie.  Luke was not cooperative at this time!

Grand Canyon Vacation

We have just returned from our family vacation to the Grand Canyon.  We had a wonderful time.  The weather was amazing.  We literally saw maybe 6 clouds the entire week.  When we were walking to our van in the KC airport, Luke says, "I want to go back to the place without any clouds!" because it was storming in KC.....again.

Like I said on facebook,  family vacation + new camera + handsome family = 650 pictures!  I will share a few here.

 Luke handsome as always.  Ready to make the final few steps to "edge" of the canyon.  FYI - I was scared to death the kids would get too close to the edge.  There are no rails or fences......

 Seeing he Grand Canyon for the first time.  WOW.  Luke is standing about 8-10 ft from the edge.  That is as close as my heart could take.   Mark is standing just out of the camera view too!

 Dominic thought that since he is older, he should be able to get closer to the edge!  I don't think so Mister!

 Need I say more?

 We hiked part of the Bright Angel Trail.  It is one of the most traveled trails into the Canyon.

 This is the overlook at the Watch Tower.  Great views from here.

 The boys had a great time at the pool.  The biggest bonus was the water was nice and warm!

 Walking on the road to the Devil's Bridge trail head. The boys were fascinated with red sand.

 Dominic was taking a break as we walked up the trail.  It was just shy of 1 mile up the mountain!  He did great....all by himself....both up and down.

 This is the first of 4 or 5 sets of "stairs" cut into the rock to reach Devil's Bridge.

 We decided to to take a little break on an overlook before making our final push for the top!

 Devil's Bridge.....a unique rock formation that literally forms a bridge between 2 other cliffs.  Yes, you can walk across it if you are not bothered by the 150-200ft drop.......no thanks.  While it is not roped off, we heard from other hikers that it is not recommended you actually walk across it because the integrity of the rock is unknown.

 We then hiked under the "bridge".

 We went to Red Rock State Park too.  As seen on Luke's face, the boys were done with walking and hiking.  They had enough walking by then!

 This is one of my favorite pictures of Dominic from our trip.

 After hiking, we spent the afternoon at Slide Rock.  This is a really neat place.  It is Oak Creek - which ran by our hotel/cottage.  At this particular place, the rocks are very smooth and slippery.  It forms a natural water slide.  Mark was not having any part of the 55 degree mountain water...so it was up to me to swim with the boys.  The creek swallowed up my favorite flip-flop....but that is what I get for wearing them into the water.

Hint to others......rocks are still rocks.  If going to this place, I advise water shoes or tennis shoes that you don't mind getting wet.  Also shorts and a t-shirt to actually go down the slide would have been helpful.  My hips / butt are sporting little strawberries and bruises from the rocks.

 We visited the "Chapel in the Cliffs".  It is a Roman Catholic church that has only non-denominational services.  But the views were really nice and they had a great gift shop!