Nevada and California Pictures

I've spent so much time this week working on lesson plans for the upcoming school year that I forgot to finish putting pictures on the blog. Thursday, June 14 we left Kingman, AZ and drove to Mammoth Lakes, CA where we spent the night.

 First stop: Hoover Dam. Here is the new bridge completed in 2010 that bypasses the actual dam. After crossing it we got off the freeway and drove down to the dam and old road.

 Views of the dam with the new bridge in the background. Before the bridge was built the road went right on top of the arc of the dam. That's how I remembered it from when I went when I was little.

 The kids in front of the dam.

 The kids on the bridge walkway.

 The view of the dam from the walkway.

 Second stop: Las Vegas. First we drove down the strip to see the fancy hotels while we waited for Little Ceasars to open. Kylie had it all planned out and we couldn't change. :) We bought a hot 'n ready pizza and took it to the Las Vegas Temple grounds for lunch. It was so beautiful and peaceful.

 Alexis took these pictures.

 When we got to our hotel in Mammoth Lakes they said to bring in all of our food because they have frequent bear attacks on cars in the parking garage. Normally I just brought in one overnight suitcase with our pjs and toiletries and one suitcase with the next day's clothes for everyone. It was definitely a chore for us to bring in all the food but it got us to clean out our car and organize.

Most hotels we got a suite with 2 queens and a sleeper sofa. Kylie and I slept in one bed, Madalyn and Lexi in the other and Spencer, Thomas and Kaitlyn slept in the sleeper sofa. The baby slept in her travel bed. This night was so near Yosemite that all the suites were either full or way too expensive. So we just got a normal, cheap hotel room and had to put kids on the floor. Three kids were in the bed on the right and three were on the floor. I loved having all my kids in my room with me. We bonded so much and this night we were a little sad that it was our last night in a hotel. We'd had so much fun driving and couldn't believe our trip was almost over. At the same time of course, they were excited to reach our destination: California!

 Friday we left our hotel before 7 am and spent the day at Yosemite National Park. We hiked Lower Yosemite Falls where we were asked by a dozen foreigners (mostly from Korea and China), "You all one family?" It was obvious since we were wearing coordinating clothes but they couldn't believe I had 7 kids. Many said we were lucky or blessed because they only had 1 or 2. I felt sorry for them and I was grateful to live in a country where we can have as many kids as we want. I love my big family.

 The kids playing on the logs and rocks on our hike. They had a great time together and it was very relaxing as we went at our own pace and were not in any hurry. I love Yosemite! I tried to soak it all in and enjoy the moment. I camped there many summers growing up and miss it so much.

 After our hike we rode the shuttle around the valley and saw the sites.

 After spending the morning in the valley we ate sandwiches in the car and drove up to Mariposa Grove of Giant Sequoias. I had done a recent report on these so we were really excited to see them. Unfortunately Kaitlyn was a bit on the cranky side--wanting to be carried and nobody wanted to carry her, but otherwise it was a good hike. This picture above is of the kids standing next to a fallen tree's roots.

 The kids inside a giant sequoia.

 The kids hiking back down. I loved watching them skip down the path and again felt a bit sad that the trip was almost done. I absolutely loved having the kids to myself without any distractions from normal life: friends, activities, errands, callings, etc. The kids were at perfect ages too. They loved travelling and playing in the car and seeing the sites. I'm afraid of having teenagers who will miss their friends or have attitudes. I'm so glad we did it this year. I felt a love and bond for them that I've never felt before.

Spencer offered to carry Makenna so that I could carry Kaitlyn.

 I did this with my cousins one year when I was little so my children wanted to try it. We found a tree that the 6 kids reached around perfectly.

 We arrived at my parent's house (aka my childhood home) at 6:45pm. It was a wonderful trip! I have so many wonderful memories that I'll cherish forever. I'm so glad we did it despite all the doubts and fears I had. None of them came true anyway: car breaking down, baby screaming, or being robbed. Instead I discovered that travelling is my favorite activity with my children. As the only adult I got to decide when to go to bed and get up, what to eat (besides the times the kids took turns choosing), where to stop, and things like that. The kids are at such agreeable ages with no talking back and they they thought everything we did was cool. I loved the sweet spirit we had in our car and hotel rooms. I can't wait until we drive home and I can't wait to plan another trip. It was so fun!

New Mexico and Arizona Pictures

The drive from Florida to Texas didn't include any site-seeing since each day was a long drive and we've seen it so many times when we made the drive when we lived in Texas. We spent the weekend there and on Monday we drove to Carlsbad, New Mexico. There the site-seeing began.

Ocotillo plant.

Our first stop was at the Living Desert State Park where we took a 1.5 mile hike in 102 degree weather to see and learn about this and many other desert plants and animals. Despite the heat, it was a very fun hike and I enjoyed learning about a place that is so different from North Carolina. I thought the ocotillo was pretty cool and we saw it all over New Mexico. 

That night we went to the night bat fight program at Carlsbad Caverns. Here the children patiently wait for it to begin.

The cave where the bats emerge at dusk. When they first come out they fly clockwise around the opening and then finally fly off into the sky. They always came out in groups and the groups would circulate and they fly away. This lasted about 30 minutes.

Before they got messed up Kylie had everyone's pajamas laid out on the bed so that when we got home from seeing the bats we could quickly hop to bed. She was my right arm in helping organize and being efficient on this trip. The two of us had a great time working together because we're so alike in planning, organzing, scheduling, and keeping on schedule.

The kids took pictures of themselves with the Friend at various landmarks to be like "Flat Stanley."

Here Madalyn holds it at Carlsbad where we took the cave tour the next morning.

The caves were a refreshing 55 degrees while it was 109 outside! We've been to some small ones in North Carolina, but these were huge!

Spencer took most of these cave pictures. This one shows an old explorers' ladder. I can't imagine how they explored this huge cavern back then with only lanterns.

After the caves we drove 3 1/2 hours over some pretty mountains where the temperature dropped to 72. We didn't get out to enjoy it, but kept going to White Sands where it was back to 100 degrees.

We played for a short time and as we were getting in the car someone gave us a sled so I had to let them play some more. The kids enjoyed it, but not as much as I did as a kid. Probably because it was too hot.

After White Sands we drove up to Albuquerque. The highlight of this boring drive was spotting dust devils, which Madalyn tried to take a picture of here. The kids counted

The girls sleeping on an air mattress at a friend's house in Albuquerque. The friends were so gracious and generous feeding all these kids, providing blankets and pillows, and even letting me do laundry there. They had a sweet spirit in their home and we didn't want to leave, but there was no time to stay and play. The next morning we left at 7:30 for Arizona.

First stop: Me and my 7 young'uns at the Painted Desert and Petrified Forest. We ate our sandwiches, saw the visitor center, and drove around the park. I bought a National Parks pass for $80 otherwise it would have cost us $50 for a van of 8 to drive through the painted desert and petrified forest, which didn't even make it on the kids' fun list.

Second stop: Grand Canyon.

We only spent a short time here, seeing

a geology museum, taking pictures, and of course using the restrooms/filling water bottles. We drew attention by Kaitlyn's fits.

We also drew some gasps with each of our kids wanting a picture like this one. Makenna is so heavy that only Kylie's picture turned out realistic. (The other kids can't hold her out like that.) Don't worry, there wasn't really a cliff right there.