Update # 4

Hello to our dear Friends and Family,

Lovely to chat with you.  We miss you all and wish if we threw a party you could all come on over and join us for a while, we'd love that.  Anyway,  I thought it might be time to send a further update.  I'm trying to get the children to make a few posts here and there too.

Las Vegas

We were delighted to see a city after the 2 national parks. The contrast is quite stark however especially to Las Vegas!.  Wow, what a place.  Barry calculated 100 000 tourists arriving daily in this place.  What a Mecca for entertainment.  50 - 60 shows a night.  Buildings; colossal, amazing.  We walked through Ceasars Palace shopping mall, its streets reminiscent of a quaint European town, just gorgeous.  The Bellagio Hotel has a foyer as a wildflower garden and butterfly farm. A life size picture made from fresh flowers - beautiful.  In it's forecourt, a large volcano erupts several times a night.  Additionally, the Treasure Island Hotel hosts a full free drama outplayed in it's forecourt with 2 ships and crew, we had cannon fire and ships sinking and the 'girl' ship having to rescue the 'boy' ship.  Lots of fun.  We decided to sport the boys to the Lion King and a Cirque de Soleil show.  'Just wonderful, amazing, inspiring.  Reading the program, many of the cast of the Lion King were Christians who thanked God for getting their part including the 10 year old Simba!  The boys were really impressed with this.

We attended a wonderful church in Las Vegas.  Full of emotion and passion.  There was a call to the front for any needs at all within half an hour of being there.  Half the church was out the front.  So I felt the urge to wonder up for these dear old ears of mine.  A lovely, lovely lady called 'Rachel' prayed so beautifully for me, holding my hand so warmly as she did.  I suggested we catch up when we're in heaven as I will probably never see her again in this life sadly.  I felt very blessed by her.

Grand Canyon

My first thought was 'it's just like the photo's' and it is.  We enjoyed a great family bike round around the south rim and last Tuesday chose to do a 15km walk to the base and back.  We all did very well.  Campbell and Barry charging on out front.  Angus and I seemed to bring up the rear with Wesley somewhere inbetween.  But boy, I was impressed with 2 pairs of 7 year old legs with  3 hours of 'up' with every step.  To pass the time, the boys would describe a movie they liked in incredible detail!  This was a great strategy!  We enjoyed a couple of Ranger talks, a sunrise and a sunset.  I felt like this was God's show as compared with Las Vegas.

National Parks Junior Ranger Program 

At each each park we've discovered they have a Junior Ranger Program.  The boys are getting right into them.  There's always a booklet needing filling out about what they are seeing, reading or hearing and then sometimes there's a challenge or task that needs to be completed, various activities.  The Ranger's look very carefully at the completed booklet's to ensure learning has taken place before they give a Junior Ranger badge specific for that park and then the boys all have to raise their right hand and swear an oath to the protection of that park.  Our guys love it and are now collecting quite a few badges while learning a lot about each place.  It's terrific really.

Flagstaff

We had some lovely days in Flagstaff enjoying warmer weather.  We were hoping to ski again only to learn that the field has just closed.  But we enjoyed some volcano crater watching, some caves inspections and visited an amazing place called Sedona.  Full of awesome red, red rocks and wonderful cuisine.  A bit like the Bowral of Arizona I'd suggest, just desert style!  A family next door in the RV park invited us to join in their campfire around which marshmellows were roasted.  A really lovely night!.

Phoenix

We've just arrived.  Happy to have a weeks' break from touring.  We're all getting a bit tired of going out every day.  It's beautifully warm here.  I'll tell you next time if we get up to anything interesting.

We love hearing from you, so please write and say hello.  We trust this finds you well.  Thanks for reading this far, it's lovely for us to share our adventures.

Much love,  Heather and Barry, Campbell, Wesley and Angus..