The Trip--Day Two

 It was very special to spend some time with Jay and LeeAnne in their house. Isaiah enjoyed their dog, Flossie. My cousin, Hannah, and her boys came over for breakfast. It was fun to catch up with her and watch our children hang out together. 

I was very proud of my children for sitting around the table with 2nd cousins that they haven't seen in years and play games and interact like they were family. The time wasn't long enough. Hannah's boys needed to go to school and we were headed to the Grand Canyon. We all wanted this moment to last longer!

Jay and LeeAnne joined us for our time at the Grand Canyon. We had lunch and checked in to our hotel in Williams, Arizona first. 

And then we took Route 66 to the Grand Canyon. 

As we drove into the parking lot, there were 3 elk standing on the hill. We were complete tourists and took pictures. (I guess that means we can longer be annoyed with tourists that take pictures of wild ponies on our beach!)

After Jay and LeeAnne let us borrow hats and we put sunscreen on, we had our first look at the Grand Canyon. Words cannot describe the depth, the immensity, or the beauty. It is just amazing!

The weather was perfect. I wore leggings and was comfortable all day. 

We decided that we would walk the Rim Trail. I kindof highlighted it in the picture below. We only did a couple miles. It was a paved and relatively flat, easy trail. The problem was that every few feet the view would change and we would want to stop and take more pictures. Everyone enjoyed this...until some of the children had seen enough "of the same thing!" 

Aliza scared Anna and I so badly. I knew in my head that there had to be a ledge below her, but my body reacted anyway. Anna was crying. I was trying really hard to be respectful of my adult child's ability to make her own decisions. Ultimately, I was accused of completely ruining all of her fun. 

The colors. The layers of rock. The cloudless blue sky. It did not get over it!

Anna brought "Jesus" with her. She and Jay had fun playing with photography. I'll come back to the trip through Anna's lens eventually!

I did request family pictures pretty regularly!

We ate supper and then took the red bus route to it's farthest drop off point to watch the sunset. Arizona does not follow daylight savings time so sunset was about 7:30. Watching the light change was the best. 

This was Jay and LeeAnne's first sunsest at the Grand Canyon. We contemplated staying at this point until it was completely dark to see the stars with zero light pollution. It's good that we didn't because we would have missed the last shuttle back and none of us were up for walking a couple miles in the dark. 

We were on the last shuttle to the parking lot when we transferred to the blue line. The parking lot was basically empty by the time we got there. It felt pretty good to shut the park down! An hour or so drive back to the hotel and we all fell into bed!

The Trip--Day One

 Wednesday morning I woke up with the "Christmas morning" feeling in my stomach. Excited about what the day had in store and a little nervous about how I was going to pull it all together. We packed and were just about ready to leave when we found out our flight was delayed. We left for Baltimore anyway and took our time having lunch at Chick Fil A on the way. 

This was our first time flying as a whole family. I have no regrets over waiting until everyone could handle themselves! We checked 3 bags and each of us had a backpack. Anna was very nervous about going through security. Thankfully, there was no line and we could talk her through each step. Ironically, it was her backpack that got flagged. She had brought her weighted stuffed hippo along. That caused a moment of panic for her but she covered! We got to the gate in plenty of time. There were no seats available and so that meant we found a spot to play Dutch Blitz while we watched planes come in and go out. 

On this flight our seats were grouped three, two and one. The boys and Jeremy sat together, Anna decided that Aliza would be her flight buddy and I was by myself. 

Anna was SO nervous. Notice that she is holding Aliza's hand walking onto the plane and while they are waiting for take off. Once we were in the air, Anna was fine and enjoyed the flight experience. 

Isaiah was all smiles! It's possible that I was the most annoying middle seatmate in my row. I kept looking over to Anna and back at Isaiah as we took off. I wanted to see their reactions! I hope that I would be the person who would happily trade my seat (even if I have to take a "worse" seat) so that a family can sit together!

As we walked on the airplane, the flight attendant asked if any of us were first time flyers. Jeremy told her that Anna and Isaiah were first timers. About halfway through the flight, the attendant announced over the speakers that Anna and "Isaac" (lol) were flying for the first time. She told them to press their call button so that everyone could see where they were and then everyone clapped and welcomed them. When we landed in Phoenix, Anna and Isaiah got to go into the cockpit for a picture and the pilot gave them a trading card. So fun!!

There was no line at the rental car desk. I called Janell while I walked to the bathroom to find out how John's surgery went. I was thinking of him a lot knowing that he was having surgery while we were flying. The surgery did not go the way we hoped and so I had to tell the children that. We had a sober moment together as we walked to the car lot. 

When one of the options was a 2025 Honda Odyssey, we were really excited! Jeremy especially enjoyed all of the features that come with the newest technology. We drove about 2 hours to Chino Valley, AZ to my aunt and uncle's house. It felt like it was the middle of the night when we arrived! It was only 10:30pm Arizona time.
 

Joy Dare::April

 13,246. Homemade sourdough whole wheat bread
13,247. A really fun Easter party
13,248. Watching the Artemis II launch
13,249. Spending the afternoon with Melinda
13,250. Taking advantage of the really close Chick Fil A
13,251. Seeing Mom for a few minutes
13,252. Good Friday Scripture and songs
13,253. Being a big sister
13,254. Brian knows when to call me
13,255. Jeremy has the brush pile burned
13,256. An afternoon of Easter cooking and baking
13,257. A morning to work in the yard
13,258. Walking into church on Easter morning
13,259. Isaiah walked me to the car with an umbrella
13,260. Inside Easter egg hunt
13,261. Thoroughly clean kitchen
13,262. Easter dinner leftovers
13,263. Planning with Aliza
13,264. Coffee in a greenhouse
13,265. Anna made it through dance
13,266. Just doing what I can
13,267. Concentrating on school this morning
13,268. Getting some extra things done this morning
13,269. Aliza was successful on a huge test
13,270. Sean excited to be at "Aunt Carla's" house
13,271. Reconnecting with an acquaintance
13,272. Proverbs 3:5-6
13,273. Shopping for a bridal shower gift
13,274. Finding pictures of Josiah
13,275. Watching Artemis II land
13,276. Sitting at a fun table for the bridal shower
13,277. Mowed grass
13,278. Jeremy determined to fix the car A/C
13,279. Morning with Anna
13,280. Bible study discussion
13,281. Holding Aliza
13,282. Anna spending the evening with Janell  

13,283. Sisters praying together

13,284. Tech week driving
13,285. Testing finished
13,286. Isaiah happily helped me clean the porch
13,287. Anna's last dance class for the year
13,288. Early morning pulling weeds
13,289. Meeting one of my customer friends
13,290. Christie called at just the right time
13,291. Allie here for the day
13,292. Isaiah was ok with missing PE today
13,293. Stopping in at Mom's house
13,294. House is clean for company
13,295. Seeing Anna's dances for the first time
13,296. Hearing about Aliza's first show
13,297. Jeremy got to recital after changing the flat tire
13,298. Anna's dance recital
13,299. Perfect evening to be outside
13,300. Watching Ronan play
13,301. Experiencing The Lion King
13,302. Anna had a happy evening
13,303. Tired and we did all the things
13,304. Home this evening
13,305. Ice cream with Aliza
13,306. Car time with Josiah
13,307. Full table for supper
13,308. An evening at home
13,309. Jeremy handles stress with grace
13,310. Isaiah and Anna excited about new shoes
13,311. So many flowers on the counter
13,312. Grace for inconvenience
13,313. Teaching English
13,314. Flowerbeds spring cleaned
13,315. A little bit of rain
13,316. Coffee/Talk therapy
13,317. "Faith is the path peace."
13,318. Spending time with Bea and Andy
13,319. Family gathering
13,320. "The Blessing"
13,321. Watching The Lion King one more time
13,322. Pictures
13,323. Isaiah finished another subject!
13,324. Aliza home for lunch and supper
13,325. Hearing lots of laughter
13,326. Inviting people in
13,327. Isaiah is a great helper.
13,328. Waking up to birds chirping
13,329. Anna accepted an invitation on her own.
13,330. Making Isaiah my morning buddy
13,331. Trying to be a good friend
13,332. Finishing the ESL year
 

Theater Weekend

 I found that I was much more relaxed watching Aliza dance in Lion King than I was when she had a leading role in Little Mermaid last year! This year Aliza's main role was assisting the director as a student intern. Aliza did all of the communication with parents, planned the Christmas party, was part of every rehearsal, attended most of the costume, set and tech meetings, and had many brainstorming phone calls with the director. AND Aliza also got to dance as a lioness. 

Aliza got to dance with her cousins again. 

Grandma and Grandpa and Joel, Amanda and Ronan were able to come for the show. Ronan was not a fan of Aliza being a lioness. 

Anna and I were in attendance three times. I love watching Aliza in the world that is all her own. 

I cried after the last show. Aliza had the privilege of seeing a few glimpses of how she had impacted some of the younger girls in the cast. I knew how hard Aliza worked, how much she cared about the cast and how much she loves dancing. After the last bow, I saw Aliza point up to God and knew that she was acknowledging that this was her last performance and all glory goes to God.