Family Vacation - Junior Rangers

Everyone wants a badge and a title right? Well my three junior people definitely earned their title as Junior Rangers. They went on hikes, learned in museums, attended multiple Ranger programs, completed their ranger booklets and saw lots of wildlife.
The road to Junior Rangership at the Grand Canyon

Step 1: Ranger Programs

Story Time

The Tales of the Ravens

Fossil Hike

Step 2: The Ranger Booklet

BORING

She is totally faking.

Step 3: Experience the canyon

Not Boring

But a tad bit scary for mom.

Step 4: Take the sworn oath and become a

JUNIOR RANGER

VIOLA!

There you have it the Mecham kiddos are now Junior Rangers.

It doesn't get better than this.

Family Vacation - The Canyon

This year we decided to explore the great outdoors of Arizona and one of the great wonders of the world, the Grand Canyon. We are so blessed to live so close to such an amazing natural creation. This is the second time we have camped, hiked, explored, played and learned at the Grand Canyon.

I can not express enough how much I love the pines. I love the sights, smells and beauties of being in the mountains amongst the pines. What better way to escape the CRAZY of every day life then to live amongst Gods great creations.

I love camping this for me as a youngster defined family vacation. That's what we did camped and fished, oops I think I mixed those two up, we FISHED and camped. That is what vacation was all about and that is all it had to be about. MY LB and I wish nothing more then for our kids to put camping right up there with their most cherished kiddy memories. No phones, No computers, No video games, No rides, No silly people in costumes, No T.V. and ABSOLUTELY NO rushed schedules and places we had to be at a certain time.

Don't get me wrong I love Shamu and Mickey as much (o.k. maybe not as much as some) as anyone else but there is so much more to life to experience.

The real creations the ones that make your mouth drop, goose bumps multiply, eyes widen and your faith in the Creator of all reach new heights.

THE GRAND CANYON

It rained everyday! They were the biggest coldest raindrops I have ever felt. We watched as people ran for cover, put up their umbrellas or whatever else they could find and yelled to others to hurry up. NOT US!! We let the rain hit our warm bodies and laughed with delight as the big cold drops drenched us.

I can not begin to express the amazement we felt as we all stood looking over the edge. I loved watching the kids (when they weren't to close) their expressions reading excitement, anxiety and curiosity. This year they were also old enough to wonder, HOW? It was so much fun to visit the different museums and read about the hows and the whys and answer all their questions. Like MY LB and I they just couldn't get enough.

This is my favorite picture of the canyon. If you look closely you can see the Colorado River rapids. It is an absolutely ERROSIVE picture.

The Saturday Before Vacation

I love Saturdays, especially the ones that are BLANK. You know the ones where you wake up in the morning and are suddenly filled with the realization that you have nothing on the calendar. The day actually belongs to your family and only your family. I guess this sounds very selfish, BUT we give so much and have such little time together that it is always a time to CELEBRATE.

CABELA'S

Why is this such a treat? What is so exciting about dead animals and camping gear? I don't know what it is but I too get a little exciting buzz every time I walk through the door.

The Animals of the dead kind

Feel those piano keys

Ferocious Beasts

Feeding Fish

AMC and watched the movie "UP"

Great movie, even Kendal sat through it.

Some fun in the sun

Have you been here? It is a great place right outside the theatre to just play and relax. Of course it smells of great food and Cold Stones so you may want to plan on eating there, bringing your own grub, or totally letting down your tummy.


This is what we do with our BLANK days, we fill them up with family fun!

A little bit of BALANCE

Trying to maintain a good balance of activities during the summer in the heat of the Valley is not always easy. But I am a determined mom! Determined to keep these kids SO busy that they don't have time to fight, whine, play video games, eat all day or be subject to the wrath of "MOM".

My kids love science, the boys actually want to be Scientist's when they grow up. So when I came across this Science Museum at the library activity I was stoked. This is where you learn just how much I will sacrifice for the kids I love. The location was deep in the city of El Mirage (the old El Mirage) located next to "SCARY" at the Dysart Community Center. I am being dramatic, I lived in El Mirage for 3 years (the new El Mirage) and it is really not that bad.
The kids learned Scientific terms, performed experiments and got to see a Diet Soda erupt. VERY COOL!!


There was also some good homemade entertainment that did "NOT" consist of a game device. We had Michelle's clan over and with the help of Levi the kids made 1 awesome fort. It wasn't until a few days later when I was helping the kids take them down that I found the posters. The fort was called the Astros and their oath was this: "As an Astro, I will study space and all it's inhabitants."
There were also books ALL OVER the floor which I was NOT happy about but come to find out through a poster that the fort actually doubled as a Library and Spencer has a Judy Blume book he still needs to return. I love kids!!

There is one thing that I feel like my kids are deprived of and that is "NATURE". I try my hardest to view the desert landscape as beautiful but I NOT secretly want to live in the Pines. I think this has put a little wedge between my kids and nature. So I am making my own oath (so kid like, how fun) "As a mother with children living in the Valley Of The Sun I will grasp the beauty of the desert and provide my children with good healthy outdoor experiences." Also the pines are only about an hour and a half away and there is no reason me and the kids can't take a little break from the desert.
Today we took the desert by the horns and went for a hike. My kids actually stop and read EVERYTHING, it actually makes for a pretty slow boring trip (they must get that from their dad). And for the remainder of the trip Matthew has to retell, point out and out smart all of us with his newly found knowledge.
Everyone was hiking great with Maggie as the exception. I guess her legs were partly broken and she wasn't sure what was happening with her feet (maybe experiencing nature has little to do with the desert). However we hiked on (ignored her until she stopped) almost making it to our intended destination, THE WATERFALL. We were very close when a nice couple let us know that there was a little bit of water and a LOT of bees.
I didn't even have to ask the kids what they wanted to do I just turned and started walking back down the trail. According to my kids (some of you may know this already) bees are a natural disaster and everyone must run and panic at the sight of them. It was only about 5 minutes of what ifs and then the bees were forgotten. What if we got there and they surrounded us? What if they stung us in the face? What if ....... what if............ what if..........

So you see this week of summer I tried to establish BALANCE. Some Science, swimming, library, sprinkler park with friends, movies, nature hike, homemade forts and ice cream and of course VIDEO GAMES.

Funny of the day

ALAS, the true Mecham creek swimming experience.
Thank you grandma for the pictures.
Spencer

This little bugger is so strong! I could not get him off of me and when I finally got him off and threw him into the creek he got up and gave me a big slug in the arm. Can't say that I blame him, I was laughing at his expense. I mean he did say he saw a water lizard.

TEE-HEE!!

Matthew

This kid was so freaked out that he was to easy to over throw and he was in the water quite quickly. However he was right back on me just as quickly frantically looking around the water for whatever it was that was killing those Crawdads. I think it was mostly the Crawdads.

Maggie

No pictures of Maggie's frantic swimming but dang that girl can swim. Not sure what she thought she was swimming away from and I don't think she knew either. Just a precaution based on the reactions of her older brothers. They must know something that she doesn't, right?

Kendal

Look at the face on that little girl! She loves the water, even horrible water dwelling creature water. According to my 9 year old, "she is a baby and doesn't know any better and that is why she is able to enjoy the experience." Well one thing is for sure she definitely enjoyed the experience.

Now some of you may be thinking how mean it is for me to be throwing them into SCARY water but the intention was not mean my plan just back fired. You see I thought that if mom fully dressed would get into the water with them they would feel more comfortable and enjoy themselves. NOPE, I am obviously no match for the "CREEK CRITTERS".