Adventures Both Scary and Grand

Day 2 of our Williams snowcation featured a train ride to the Grand Canyon. (A four-hour round trip train ride, for your information. Just one more thing that I would have said "no" to. Good thing Craig didn't ask.) The girls actually did really well, on the train ride and the Grand Canyon tour, despite the fact that none of them slept on the way there or back. And, considering the fact that the Grand Canyon is a scary place to bring your small children to, (doubly scary when the ground is covered in slippery snow and ice) I'd say that fact that we all got back in one piece made the trip a rousing success.

Craig and I decided that next time we'll make the trip without the kiddos, so we can enjoy the scenery instead of hyper-vigilantly keeping our eyes on all kids at all times and running various hypothetical rescue scenarios through our heads.

Enjoying someone else's hard work before the train took off.

Vanna was the only one of our kids properly equipped 

for the snow--both boots and gloves--thanks 

to the kindness of a snow-going friend.

(This is what happens when you forget 

to bring gloves for two of your kids.)

(And this is what happens when your middle 

child is made up of three-parts sunshine.)

Cozying up before the train left the station

 Bright, that's what our future is.

Love this girl. (And the binky that saved the day.)

Cheers-ing with Sprite and chocolate milk

This is the main reason the girls did so well. There was 

quite an impressive spread of fruit, juice, and yummy treats
in our train car, not to mention all the soda they could drink. 

(Which, incidentally, is a lot of soda.)

Good thing our seats were right by this huge train bathroom.

I did a lot of waiting on this fancy couch, I'll have you know.

I Heart Daddy

Have I mentioned that it took two hours to get there?

Good thing Daddy is an excellent entertainer of Bored Little Girls

And good thing this guy is an excellent entertainer 

of Bored Adults. (Unless, of course, you are 

an adult who finds Johnny Cash and Hank Williams 

covers just as boring as a two-hour train ride.)

After the train, we hopped on a bus to head over to lunch 

before we started the Grand Canyon tour

Lex ate lettuce dipped in ranch dressing for lunch.

 Only she didn't eat the lettuce.

Cherry lover

This is how the girls entertained themselves on the bus 

tour...holding on to the seat backs and swinging around 

every time the bus turned a corner...which was a lot.

Do you see where the railing ends, right to the left of me?

Did I mention that we were hyper-vigilant on this trip?

Lex doesn't know what the word "plummet" 

means, but her Mommy sure does.

So beautiful, and yet so cold.

Cheeseburger

Julia was too busy playing in the snow and pretending

 it wasn't cold to take time for this one.

We improvised with glove-socks this time. 

That's what happens when you're a slacker.

Perfect weather for a picnic

Our tour guide stopped the bus so we could take pics of this guy.

We had some time to kill after the bus tour before the train

headed back to Williams...so, we did the rational thing 

and found a warm place to hang out for a while.

This creature is made of real sheep's wool. 

Alexa would not get near it until she realized that 

it wasn't real, after which they became best friends. 

(Not a great gift idea, but a gift idea nonetheless.)

Personally, I'd rather have this guy.

The picture that never was.

Icicles of doom.

And, more of the same.

Don't you love how there's no railing at all at this part?

We sure didn't.

Grand as the Canyon was, we were all ready to 

board the train and head back. Except Lexa. 

I think she was missing her fake sheep friend.

These bandits boarded the train much to the dismay of Savanna...

...that's because Craig told her that they would kidnap 

any children who hadn't taken a nap.When she started 

to cry, it was so sad and so funny all at the same time.

But mostly funny.

On the way back, we passed back by the North Pole 

that we had visited the night before. When 

Craig told Julia, she said, "No wonder it's taking so long!"

We were happy and sleepy to be back in our cozy hotel.

Yep...happy...

and sleepy.