Animals in Grama and Papa's Backyard

There are many animals in my grandparent's Arizona backyard. There are so many you can't avoid seeing them. Most of the time all you see are birds, but even the birds are interesting. I have already seen three blue jays today! And yesterday John and I saw a cool reddish-brown bird on the roof. Another animal you can see is the coyote. Every morning after breakfast, we put out leftover meat for the coyotes. This morning only one coyote came. He was really funny because he would pick up more meat than he could hold in his mouth, drop some of it on the ground, and try to pick it up again. That's why we named him Gus-gus after the food-greedy mouse in Cinderella. You can see Gus-gus in the picture above. Another animal we saw today was a deer. Two deer to be exact. They just came into the backyard and started to eat the greenery. They were really fun to watch because one kept coming closer to the house and the other stayed way back. While everyone else was watching the deer, I saw a little tiny chipmunk scramble up a tree. Lucy only saw it while it was in the shadows and said it was a frog, but I know it was a chipmunk because it had the cool black and white stripy thing down its back. These are just a few of the animals you can see in Arizona, there are a lot more out there. There are many more types of birds and there are definitly rabbits and snakes out there, but if you want to truly enjoy watching the Arizonan nature, you have to come to Arizona for yourself! You won't regret it!

We're back home!

Due to rumors of bad weather heading straight through our projected travel path, we packed it up early and left Sedona on Wednesday, 12/27. We stayed in Amarillo, TX on Wednesday night and then drove 17 hours straight on Thursday/Friday so we could beat the snow - arriving home at 3 am Friday, December 29th. The trip was smooth - until we tried to get in the house and found the door locked with no key in sight. Apparently one of the contractors working on the bathrooms must have slipped it into his pocket by accident, or so we thought. We ended up leaving a note for a neighbor and sleeping in the van until about 6 am when Linda saw the note, got her key for our house and let us in. What a way to end a wonderful trip. (In reality, the key was only a foot away from where it should have been but we just couldn't seem to find it... oops!)

But this is it for this vacation blog writing - check out our regular blog to find out when there will be more exciting GKids adventures and stories to tell.

Cave Exploring

When we were hiking in Sedona today we went to a Native American's cave where they used to live. There was black ashes on the ceiling from the fires they had to keep themselves warm and for cooking their food. You had to duck down because it was a cave. It was not tall at all. If you were very, very tall you would not fit in unless you ducked really down because it was not all at all. Then me, and Papa and John headed back home but then Lucas and Marie were standing out on their balcony and they said we could come in and have some cider. We went in and sat by the kitchen and they gave us some cider and then we sat down by Papa and got a Haunted House book and I read it to John and Marie. Sophie, Mom and Dad went and hiked farther and we thought we were beating them home because we did not see them anywhere but we saw people we thought they were them but then we thought they were not them because there were only two people. They were already home with their swimsuits on ready to go in the hot tub. So we joined them. Lucy

Hiking out Grama and Papa's Backdoor

Yesterday I went hiking with my dad, Lucy,and John. We were in my grandparent's backyard. They live in Sedona, Arizona in the winter. In the summer they live in Cando, North Dakota. Well, like I was saying we were going hiking. They have red rocks in their backyard. When we went hiking we stopped at a few familiar rocks to take pictures. On our way home we went through a wash. There were lots of rocks in the wash. Lucy and I found this cool cave on the wall of the wash. (Bottom Left) Well, actually I really found it, but we both used it to scare my dad and John. We also found a smaller cave before we found this one. I really want to get to the top of the red rock mountain this year but I probably won't able to. Up in the mountains there are two caves. One is bigger than the other one. The smaller one is higher up than the bigger one. John thinks it's a mountain lion's cave, but it's not. Papa and my dad just think it formed over the years and it's not been lived in or being lived in ever. I don't know what I or Lucy think about it. I like hiking in Sedona, AZ. Sophie

Fruit Trees

When we were in Mesa, Arizona we picked lots of grapefruit and oranges off the trees in my grandparents’ backyard. John was the one who picked the most grapefruit and he ate the most. He always put a little pack of sugar on the grapefruit. Sometimes we shared and then got more and then shared that too.

This morning Lucy found a little lime that hadn’t turned green yet

and Grandpa James picked an orange for my mom. I like picking fruit from the tree. Sometime I make orange juice and grapefruit juice for my mom. Sophie

Animals on the Corners

While we were in Arizona Grandma Bev, my Mom, Lucy, John, and I went down to a children's musem thingy (Arizona Museum for Youth) and got to make a paper skateboard, ride a pretend non-moving motorcycle, decorate a white car with magnets, and take lots of pictures. Once we were done we walked to Quizno's and had lunch. Grandma Bev and John were done first. They went outside to the statue of the polar bear and her cubs on the corner. On the picture to the left you see me on the mama polar bear's back. But if you ever come to Phoenix, Arizona be careful because the statues are slippery.

There are more than one statues and they're not all animals. We went to three other ones that were a rhino, a collared lizard, and a boy lion. I want to do this again sometime. Sophie

Birds

Morning doves come to Grandma Bev and Grandpa James' house everyday and come to all their birdfeeders. They have six birdfeeders if you include the grapefruit one and the liquid one. Even parrots come some times. They like the one out back by Grandpa James and Grandma Bev's office. The parrots come not often, but some times. The morning doves come mostly by the kitchen window to that birdfeeder. It's green. Every day the bird feeder runs out and me and Grandpa James and Sophie go out to fill them. One time we only filled the one out front by the kitchen, but today we filled all four seed ones. The liquid one didn't run out and the grapefruit one didn't run out because we ate lots of grapefruit. The reason why is because after we eat grapefruit and pour out most of the juice there may be some juice left so we put it outside for the birds. Lucy

Brain Quest for the Car

On our way to Arizona my mom, dad and I played " Brain Quest For The Car" I read the questions and they tried to answer them. Most of the time someone got it right, but sometimes I had to tell them the right answers. First I just read questions about the states we were going through or were going to go through,but after a while I started to just go straight through the deck in A,B,C order. We still haven't finshed all way through the deck yet, though.( I don't think we're even halfway.) We had fun and learned a lot too. I think we're going to play it on our way to Sedona (We're in Phoenix right now.) and on our way home to Grand Forks. It is fun to play Brain Quest for the Car. Sophie

Create It!

Today we went to an art place called “Create It!” There we painted pieces of ceramic. In the photos below it shows us painting the pieces we made. John made a pirate ship, with help from Mom, for his special birthday plate. Lucy did a snowman for hers – she had help from Mom too. I made a flower on mine and I had a tiny bit of help from Mom and the lady that was there. I want to go there again sometime. Sophie

Sunflower Birdfeeder

Today when we were in Arizona me and Grandpa James and Sophie hung up the sunflower birdfeeder. We gave the birdfeeder to Grandma Bev for her birthday. We were hoping that the birds would come. Lucy