Escape, Day 5-the end

Since our visit to the Grand Canyon literally took all day and we didn't get back until late that night, the next morning we slept in and took it easy. We spent the afternoon at a nearby recreation area located on the same creek system as the state park we had been to earlier in the week. Here we enjoyed ourselves swimming, sliding, and jumping into the creek in the shadow of a beautiful red rock formation known as Cathedral Rock. It was a fun and relaxing afternoon for us all--even Baby A had fun splashing in the shallow areas of the creek.

While on our trip, we noticed Baby A was sprouting some new teeth. We think the incoming teeth may have led to the discovery of her tongue as she started sticking it out at us quite a bit throughout the trip and thanks to the comical reactions she gets from us all, hasn't stopped since then! Funny little gal.

Day six we visited the local ward for Sunday services and then spent the rest of the day enjoying each other's company while playing family board games and reading. Though I generally am not a big fan of science fiction, it was on this trip that for the first time I read Ender's Game in its entirety and enjoyed it. I say, entirety, because as I was reading through the first part of the book (from the beginning until Ender leaves his childhood home for the Battle School) I had a slight recollection of having read this portion in a middle school text book for English...talk about a serious case of deja vu!

Day seven we packed up, checked out, and took the kids to see Ice Age 3: Dawn of the Dinosaurs before heading home. I'm so grateful for our wonderful J-rod and how hard he works to provide for our family and that he has vacation time available to take us on family trips like this!