Une partie perdue

 

Aujourd 'hui nous avons regardé un jeu de football en Floride.Les deux équipes  étaient les St. Louis

Rams contre les Tampa Bay Buccaneers.Les rams ont gagné 28 à 13.

Josh Freeman, le quart- arrière des Buccaneers a lancé 4 interceptions dans ce jeu!

C 'est terrible pour un quart- arrière dans le NFL. 

Nous voici devant le bâteau de pirates! C'est cool!

 

Regarde comment nous sommes si proche des joueurs.

Voici Ronde Barber. Il est le meilleur joueur sur l'équipe. Il est un jumeau comme moi et Charlie. Son frère jumeau a joué dans le NFL aussi, pour les Giants.

 

 Cette photo et du réchauffement de la défense (defensive linemen). Ils sont gros!!!!!

 

Voici les cheerleaders des Tampa Bay Buccaneers!

 

 

Finn

For Popo

Even though all our loved ones are not on this road trip with us, we do think of you often. In some situations it is as though you are calling out to us.... This is the case with our dear Popo.

These photos are a gift to her. We knew she would laugh and smile at these. They brought smiles to our faces and warmed our hearts thinking of her.

 (This Mamma piggie and her babies and the Fat mama's hot tub were spotted along the Mississippi)

(These little guys were seen in Sedona)

 

We hope they made you smile too. xo

Sedona

 

With sadness we left the Grand Canyon.  Despite the extreme cold, we loved our days around its beauty.  Hard to mourn too long though as around every corner is another vista.  As we headed towards Sedona, we drove through the San Francisco mountains.

Makes us want to get our skis on!

As we descended in altitude, the weather warmed and the snow slowly disappeared along with our layers. The drive into Sedona was incredible: Red Rock Country! It made us a little homesick for our red isle.

The village itself is small and quaint with a new age vibe. We read in our guide book  that it is considered to be the heart chakra of the universe. This made me smile. Happy to be here absorbing the energy.

Our boys, adding their harmonious touch to the place... (interpret as you wish)

Is there anything better?

We headed out for another hike ... drawn to the rocks.

The boys racing ahead...

                                  I just couldn't get enough of the cactus (i)... this is the pear cactus. (The boys thought it was the venus fly trap, which we made us all laugh). We especially liked seeing Christmas lights on the large cactus at night. So unique to the  Southwest.

We climbed and climbed and climbed some more. The boys were in heaven.  Can you see us?

 

They made it back down safely. Phew! Time to head back to Phoenix

Homework and reflection time at the airport. The boys are busy working hard.  We head to Florida Friday for Christmas. We are all looking forward to putting our winter coats away for a week.

Happy Holidays everyone.

Carolyn xo

Sunrise in the Canyon

We woke up bright and early to see the sunrise over the Canyon before we head to Sedona. Well worth it. Our pictures don't do it justice. As we approached our chosen lookout we found ourselves with a small group of committed nature seekers, who braved the crackling cold. (-20)

This is just prior to sunrise...

Slowly, the sun finds its way into the canyon...

                                           and brings a smile to all who waited patiently.

Another gorgeous day awaits.

 

 

These guys watched too.

Farewell Grand Canyon. We sure understand why it is one of the seven wonders of the world.

Into the Sunset

 

Here are the San Francisco Peaks on our way to Flagstaff, Arizona which are over 12,000 feet high.  These are the highest mountains in Arizona!

 

Charlie at Sunset Crater Volcanoe National Monument which we visited on Wednesday.   Here he is sitting on lava that leaked from the volcano about 900 years ago that really changed the landscape of this area.  There are piles and piles of lava rock around this mountain.

 

Owen is taking a close look at what is left of a Wupatki Pueblo (village).  These homes ranged from one story, single family stuctures to this multi-level, high rise which is over 700 years old.

 

Here Charlie, Finn, and Owen try to fit through the small door in this home.

 

Here I am (John) with  Charlie standing on the floor of a Lomaki Pueblo also at the Wupatki National Monument.  Lots of native history in Arizona, amazing to see!  As you can see Northern Arizona is cold this time of year as they are at least 7000 feet above sea level.

 

The gang getting a bit to eat at Twisters which is a diner on the famous Route 66 that runs across the USA.  Tomorrow we will visit Sedona and then on to Phoenix to catch an early flight out back to New Orleans to pick up our vehicle and then off to Orlando Florida for a week.  Time to relax in the sun over Christmas and take the boys to Disney and Universal Studios and see a football game in Tampa Bay on Sunday.

Cheers, John

Grand Canyon revisted

 

You guessed it! Clear skies on our second day into the Canyon. Yay! What an unreal view! It's funny thinking we walked along side the canyon yesterday without really seeing it in its glory, oblivious to its spendor. Blue, blue skies and the rustic colours of the canyon with  fresh fallen snow. Simply breathtaking.

 

While on one of our hikes today, we saw elk and what they call mule deer. Such graceful animals.

ahhhhhhhh!

A rare family photo!

Do you recognize these monkeys? Impossible to keep a boy out of a tree!

With the skies clear, we were allowed to venture into the Canyon. Here we are on the Bright Angel trail. It sure is a long way down!

Single file, along the trail... It was icy and with John afraid of heights, we didn't want to stress him out any more then need be.  WE loved our hikes today. Off to the Sunset Crater and Native American Ruins later this afternoon. Hope you are all well.

Carolyn xo

Grand Canyon snowstorm style

Hi there, it's me, Charlie.  Guess where I am? In the grand Canyon! Today (Tuesday)  was snowing and it was kind of hard to see the Grand Canyon.

As the day went by every now and then we saw  glimpses of the amazing canyon but we plan to return tomorrow to see more. We spent time with a park ranger and she gave us a lot of information about the Grand Canyon. Here is some of what I learned: the Grand Canyon is 277 miles long and around 18 miles wide !!!!! Now, this is the most incredible fact that I learned... are you ready?The Grand canyon is the only thing on Earth that you can see from SPACE!!!!!!!Each year the Grand canyon gets wider by an inch but no one would ever notice.Visitors asked the ranger if she  noticed  the canyon getting bigger since she started working in the park and she said she did not notice.

 

Even though we could not see much we still walked around the rim of the Canyon. It was cold but very Christmas like.  We had a snowball fight.

Can you see the Canyon behind us? Ha Ha! We got 8 inches of snow today so we hope tomorrow will be better.

This is what it looked like when we flew into Phoenix. It was hot. Can you see a cactus? We are in the Desert. We had to drive 3 hours to get to the Grand Canyon. I can't believe how different the weather is in these two places because they are only 3 hours apart! The Canyon is over 7000 feet above sea level so I guess this explains it. I hope when we write tomorrow we will have better pictures to show you. It was still fun in the Canyon today. We hiked a lot and we are tired now.
By Charlie