Wupatki National Monument (May 23)

We spent the night in Flagstaff so that we would have time to stop by Sunset Crater and the Wupatki National Monument in the morning. The visitor's center for Sunset Crater was very interesting. Rachel's favourite part was the seismometer—they had a pad you could jump on and it would record your own personal earth quake. 

My favourite part was a sign that said something like, "Whether the natives found it terrifying or fascinating, they no doubt wanted to find out what it was," as if the quality of being terrified rules out the possibility of being fascinated. I submit that it's possible to be both terrified and fascinated at the same time. 

Pokey the Tortoise (May 22)

We didn't have church until 12:30 in the afternoon. We were ready by 10:00 in the morning, complete with Rachel getting her hair curled by Grandma. Can you tell we've acclimatized to having 9:00 church? We hardly knew what to do with ourselves.

We took a few pictures of Rachel with her curly hair and then I sent the girls outside to play for a minute if they "promised not to get dirty" and then brought them back inside, literally, after a minute because they went straight for the dirt.

We love to see the temple (May 21)

You can't tell from the pictures we took (because we didn't take any) but today was wonderfully hot (not too hot but hot enough to warm the pool up quite a bit) and we spent hours by the pool. We didn't venture outside until after lunch, but then we spent a good solid five hours swimming. It was fabulous.

Children's Museum and more Russia friends (May 20)

We went to the Children's Museum in the morning; but barely. We made it there by 11:00, which was just in time for story time. They made an announcement to tell people where to gather for story time and since my girls love reading we headed on over. 

It was possibly the most boring story time I have ever gone to. As you can see my children were not very interested in the telling of the story. The staffer was standing on the complete opposite side of the room and read the book haltingly, without much enthusiasm. Rachel was polite enough to sit through the whole story. Miriam, on the other hand, tried to run away. Twice. 

Un-cousins (May 19)

Arizona does not observe daylight savings and so even though they're right underneath Utah they're an hour behind Utah. That means that my dear children were suffering from a mild case of van lag—Rachel decided to wake up at 6:30 in the morning.

The upside was that I was able to work for a while before anyone else in the house was even awake. The downside was that I was on vacation and was up working before anyone else in the house was even awake. 

Fortunately, Aunt Marci babysits Barrett during the day and he was due to arrive at 7:30. Barrett is Andrew's cousin Therena's son. He turned four today, I believe, so he's just a couple of months older than Rachel. They met for the first time at the family reunion in October and were best buds; the minute they saw each other they picked up where they left off in October (ie. best buds).

Unfortunately, Barrett had to leave for preschool about an hour after he arrived.

Fortunately, Cyndle and Sterling, the children of Andrew's cousin Bethany, showed up soon after he left, this time providing playmates for both Rachel and Miriam. Rachel is two months older than Cyndle and Sterling is about six months older than Miriam. They had a grand old time.

They rode the "Ranger," a dune buggy of sorts (maybe; I don't actually know what it is...) with Uncle Rulon...

Through rain and hail and sleet and snow... (May 18)

I could live in Arizona. I don't think it's any secret that I'd rather sweat through the summer than freeze through the winter. And, seriously, we drove through rain and hail and sleet and snow to get to some nice, warm weather, which I find a little ridiculous since it's the middle of May!

I hate snow. 

I know a lot of people hate hot weather, but I much prefer jumping into a pool to cool off than shivering under the covers. And, as Uncle Rulon says, "You don't have to shovel heat!"