Stephen has been hunting high and low for a trailer for our growing family, for he has longed to repeat the fond memories that he has of camping and fishing together with his brothers and sister. However, I have been a wrench in dreams because, you see, I refuse to camp in a tent. Nope, no way. Seven kids in a dirty tent is pure torture for me. Thus, the need for a trailer that met all of our ridiculous needs: tall enough for the wookie, light enough for our weakling van to tow, large enough for multitude of small people to sleep, storage enough for my sanity, and cheap enough for our tiny budget.
And he found one in Prescott, Arizona. So, we packed up the children and headed out into the desert, lots of desert. Gazing out the window at all the beautiful ocotillo can only hold a two year-olds interest for so long, so we made may stops for forced calisthenics.
One of our grand ideas was to bring along an old rug for the baby to sit on when she needed to stretch her little legs, too. As you can see, it worked perfectly except, well, Marie didn't want to stay on it. She's not one to be confined. The little ones loved the endless sightings of freight trains.
Once we crossed the border, everyone needed to stop for the hundredth snack/potty break. Um, there is nothing much out here. After promising them that
soon, real soon, we would stop, promise, Stephen found a lovely bar that had an outdoor sitting area. The kind owner generously let us picnic at his tables with the promise of buying lemonade and pie. I just asked the older children to refrain from reading all the graffiti. The lemonade was fine but the peanut butter pie was delicious!
Six hours later, just when everyone was ready to be done, Stephen stopped to see an amazing shrine called St. Joseph of the Mountains. It was a perfect moment of quiet and prayer to bless the rest of our journey.
Ta-da! Here it is! Our new-to-us trailer! When we arrived at the family's home to pick it up, the children bounced with excitement: every door was opened, every bed was lain in, every seat was jumped on. After a thorough review of how to operate our new little home, we headed off to grab some much needed pizza and sleep. Really, we slept almost all the way through the night. Hurray! That was, hands down, the best sleeping experience I have ever had camping with my family. Now I'll camp. Let the memories begin!
Since Prescott is just a small hop and a jump away from the Grand Canyon, we headed over to enjoy its majesty- our first time to the Grand Canyon for our first family camping memory. Perfect!
Olivia and Quinton appreciated the enormity of the canyon, but even the little ones exclaimed over its beauty. The boys, of course, wanted to hang over the edge and throw rocks down but we quickly stopped that! Even taking these pictures gave be heart palpitations.
Here are Gracie's words about our trip:
When I wint to the grand canyon, we got to look ovre the eag of the Grand canyon. Afdr that we aet ice cream and then we went home.
Ice cream- I think that was truly, deep down in their sweet little hearts, the best part of the day.
Once everyone had been refreshed, we jumped on the bus to head out to the other view points. The bus might rival the ice cream for the little boys favorite experience, especially since they could even stand up while in motion. That, right there, is little boy heaven.
A short hike sounded like fun to Stephen and me. Everyone else thought we were nuts to actually get off the bus and walk. I encouraged them to help me find a rainbow of flowers hiding amongst all the rock and scrub oaks. It was like finding little treasures and the hunting kept small feet moving forward.
The next morning, we headed off to Mass in a little chapel at the Grand Canyon. What an unexpected blessing! Then one more quick look at God's creation before the long drive home. That was a long
long drive. Isn't it amazing how much longer it takes to get home? We made it with a heart full of memories. Already, we are planning our next trip.
Thank you, my love
