The sun was shining bright this morning & it was
beautiful. I was anxious to get out of the area & put the horrible
experience from the day before behind us. I was up around 6:30am since little
man had woken up screaming. Wish I knew what he was dreaming about. I put him
in bed with us & I went to the bathroom. When I got back I realized there
wasn’t enough room for all of us so I took Emry with me & slept next to
Annika on the couch bed. I got about another hour of sleep then felt Dalton
climbing on me. We all laid there snuggling then I decided to get up & get
the show on the road. I told the kids if they hurried we could go to the park
before we left. Hubby was making bacon (yum) & Annika just wanted toast for
breakfast. I went to the gift shop to see what they had. I was excited to see
the same dress that I wanted from a camp site in Minnesota. I didn’t want to
pass on it again so I got that for myself, a cute dress for Annika & a
t-shirt for Dalton. When I got back Emry had woken up & was crying. The
kids had eaten & hubby had cleaned everything up already. Woohoo! I took
the kids out of his hair so he could get the trailer ready.
The kiddos played for a bit at the park then 2 girls came
running over. Annika was excited to play with them, but they were speaking a
foreign language (French) & she couldn’t understand them. They were playing
on this airplane that was like a teeter toter & Annika got on too, but they
would make faces at her like they didn’t want her on there. She went to climb
on the back but one of the girls kind of pushed her way passed Annika then got
on the back. My baby girl just stood there. Poor thing, but she kept trying to
include herself. Dalton got on too &
I heard Annika say “be careful with my brother because he’s smaller” she also
said “let my brother get on there too”. It made me kind of sad to see this
going on, but I don’t think Annika was fully aware of what was going on & I
didn’t want to say anything since they probably wouldn’t have understood. She
stood back for a moment just watching them then she’d look over at me & I
would smile at her to let her know it was ok. She finally came over to where I
was & went down the slide with her brother & I pushed them on the
swings & they got on the see saw. Another girl came over then 2 or 3 boys,
but they were all older. I would say 10 & up to probably 14 or so. They
boys were being rough & shaking the airplane back & forth & Annika
said “those boys aren’t being nice”. They were just playing rough. Poor baby
girl just wants some kids to play with. Times like this we really miss our
friends back home.
Hubby drove up & was ready to go so I gathered up my
little hens & we headed out. It was going to be a long drive to Bryce
Canyon (about 4.5 hours). I hoped the kids would do as well as they had a
couple days before. The scenery was beautiful, but the weather was overcast
& blah. No surprise there since I’ve come to the conclusion that we are the
Bergmark cloud. As usual we saw lots of horses & cows & the kids felt
it necessary to point out each & every one. They crack me up.
We finally got to Bryce Canyon & decided we would
take the shuttle bus to see the sights. Time to give hubby a break from chauffeuring
us around. We needed to hurry since rain was coming. We first stopped at the
visitor center to get the kids their passport stamps. We decided souvenirs
would be last. Annika got the pamphlet for the junior ranger program & she
started off finding 10 pieces of trash to pick up & throw away. We searched
the area while we waited for the shuttle & she found her 10 pieces as was
very enthusiastic about it. Another checklist on her program was to find
certain animals & other items then circle them. She had to get them in a
row like bingo. We found almost all of them. There was a hands on speaking
engagements by the park ranger that we were supposed to sit thru, but due to
the weather we weren’t able to. Oh well the other stuff was fun for her to do.
The kids really got a kick out of riding that shuttle bus. It was like a free
ride at an amusement park..haha.
We made it up to Bryce Point & the view was
spectacular. It’s hard to explain that kind of beauty so you just have to go
see it for yourself. Simple as that. After looking from all the viewpoints
& plat forms we made our way back to the shuttle stop. The sky was looking
freaky. Next stop was Inspiration Point & hubby asked if we should get off
& I said “sure for a quick look & photo then back on in 15” (the bus
came every 15 minutes). I was hoping to get inspired at Inspiration Point, but
guess I was too busy trying to get photos before the rain came. There was some
neat lightning going on & the thunder was deep sounding. We managed to get a
family photo, but it turned out dark due to the very cloudy sky. We started
making our way back to the shuttle stop & it started to rain. We huddled
under the awning & more people started squeezing in as it rained harder. We
saw behind us a small yet fast river had formed & was flowing down past
everyone’s feet. Thankfully we had a good seat. The temperature had dropped
& it was cold & my poor kids were dressed for warm weather. I felt
horrible & hugged them close to me to keep them warm. We were first in line
for the shuttle but when it came people took off to get a spot on the bus. Everyone
for themselves apparently. Thankfully we managed to get seats in the back.
Dalton was up wiping the windows since everyone breathing had fogged them up.
When a group of people got off I sat next to hubby & Dalton crawled up next
to his daddy & fell asleep. Thankfully when we got to our stop the rain
stopped as well. Whew! We loaded up our circus & went to get a quick souvenir.
Annika had her eye on all the toy horses but we are drowning in horses so she
settled for a rider for her horse. Really looking forward to getting our house
so we can get these toys out from under our feet.
We made our way to our camp ground which was about 45
minutes away. Not a long ride, but we were cold & tired & I was looking
forward to setting up & settling down. The camp was 2 miles from the main
road on a gravel road so we got the suv & camper nice & dirty. Hubby
was nice enough to ask me if this road was giving me flash backs from the day
before on that horrible 4 wheeling experience. Not funny. Even though we were
out in the boonies it was a cute camp ground & a deer was next to the park
area. Annika wanted to go “play” with the wild deer, but we had to explain why
that wasn’t a good idea. She didn’t care, but maybe if she were to get kicked
or bit by a deer she’d change her mind real fast. A family of deer walked thru
once we were set up & they didn’t seem too bothered with the people around.
Thre were also lots of chipmunks running around & we were told to keep our
doors closed or else they’d get in. Yep not wanting one of those for a pet so
our doors stayed closed. I got caught up on laundry, which took forever since
there was only one washer & one dryer. I was talking to a lady about
Colorado & hubby talked to an older guy (not by choice, the guy was all
over hubby like white on rice). Gotta say hubby has been quite the social
butterfly since we started on this trip. One of the guys he was talking to said
to be careful since he’d spotted a mountain lion near the camp ground the last
couple days. Eeeck! That’s an animal on our list we haven’t seen, but I’m not
too anxious to see one up close & personal.
Tomorrow we head towards the north rim of the Grand
Canyon, which should be another awesome viewing experience. I haven’t been to
the Grand Canyon since I was a young kid (probably 10 or 11). I’m looking
forward to getting to the in-laws house in a couple days. I’m ready for some
elbow room & just relaxing for a while. I’m ready for that hot tub & I
know hubby is too.
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