Flagstaff

We amazingly fit everything into the truck and left our home of almost 10 years.
Moving went a lot faster than we thought it would. Obachan and Ojichan met us on the way down (here we are stopped at Marble Canyon) and Carol, Mike and Ellie came up from Phoenix to help us unload the truck. THANK YOU!!!! It only took us about 3 hours to unload the last 10 years of our lives!
We already miss a lot of things about Escalante, but for a city, Flagstaff has a lot of things we love. Four grocery stores, for example. Bike paths. City parks (with playgrounds!). Swimming pools. A Home Depot. It has been a definite adjustment having to lock our doors, pay attention to traffic and follow schedules again, but we're sure it will be worth it. We live in an apartment complex, but this is the view out our bedroom window:
It's so nice to smell the Ponderosas every time we walk outside!
And Ada is really excited about all the extra space she has to run around in. Lots of new things to explore like a dishwasher (which she LOVES turning on), new garbage cans, toilets, cabinets. And she loves her new bathtub!Bryan has had a few days of classes, and while he might not admit it yet, I think he's having fun being a student again. He's always loved learning, and now he can do it full time. Ada and I have spent a lot of time in the apartment unpacking and organizing, but all of us manage to get out pretty regularly.

How can you not, when it's so easy to do this???

When we got tired of unpacking, we drove down to Phoenix to see the Trowbridges. All the sudden, we were seeing these:
It's been so long. We were pretty excited to be in the Sonoran desert.
Carol, Mike and Ellie were kind enough to let us crash at their new place downtown. As soon as we got there, the ball pit was unpacked from the vaults, and we just let the kids go crazy for a while. It's so fun watching Ada and Ellie get excited to be together.
Their apartment was minutes away from delicious Thai food and the children's museum! Ada and Ellie had fun playing and watching the millions of other kids that decided to go to the museum that day.And I think Bryan had as much fun as they did
After a great time successfully avoiding the 114 degree temperatures in Phoenix, we headed home. But not without a stop at one of the many National Monuments we have to explore while we live here. This was Montezuma's Castle:

We have a lot more to see and do here. More updates soon!

No Time For Words

Well, maybe a few, but we are moving tomorrow! Here are the last pictures before we become residents of Arizona!

Ada loves hanging out with her cousins

We attended the groundbreaking of some new property
We had one last set of doctors appointments with our great specialists at the Moran Eye Center

Ada danced on the table and entertained us while we ate our last Menchies frozen yogurt

and found the best way to get a good view of the backyard

And this was our packing atmosphere last night
(Lucky shot)

See you in Arizona!

Summer Fun

Wakey-wakey it's summertime!!!!!

And that means it's finally time to go camping:

Yes, after a year of promises, false starts and excuses we finally got the family out in the sticks for a night. The impending 24th of July morning cannon shoot-off ridiculousness was a good reason to go so we gathered our stuff and went up North Creek.

Ada thought it was a great idea, with all the fun stuff to explore (and put in her mouth). We had to pen her up for a bit to set up camp, but she still wanted to help. Eventually we had to retreat into the tent because of the lousy gnats (which are still out - worst gnat year ever, yeah!). It was a bit sweltering, but Ada loved having all the space to bounce around in.

And there was enough space for us all to sleep

Success! She slept fine stuffed in between us, although she did keep Stacy up on and off with all of her flopping around.

Ahhhh, a refreshing morning in camp.

We did make it back to town for the 24th parade, which was fun until the fifteen minutes of sirens.

Some good schwag from Smokey the Bear.

Another of Ada's favorite summer activities has been eating corn on the cob. Yummy. We have also taken her to the elementary school playground a few times. We all have fun when we can get out of our teeny house for a bit.

Bike rides have been fun as long as it isn't too hot. Here she is ready to go:

And about ten minutes later:

Yeah, the days can be busy and exhausting. We are steadily getting ready for the move, but things are going to get really crazy in a couple of weeks!