Rate my shirley!

Williams; with extra cherries

Don't call me shirley!!!

Drinks for all my friends!

Griffin had his share- you can rate the best!

This is from Williams. Arizona- server thought Griffin was cute, and gave him extra cherries!

World's largest collection of barb wire- impressive!

Stick

'em up,

cowboy!

One

of

the

more

amusing

brands

for

cattle

This was a great exhibit- who knew?!

Woa Cowboy!!!

Truly one of the best theme museums I have been to-the Western Cowboy Museum had it all. and the displays are fantastic! We will definitely return when we come this way again.

Thanksgiving at the new house!

3 generations of Okies-Josh, Dave, Joe and Jim at the "Giant table"

Griffin with his Nana Katherine

Griffin and his great grandmother, Dorothy Ruth Knight

Legomania on Thanksgiving

Nana and Gramps traditionally give Griffin Lego- he was elated to receive this massive "ATT-E" landrover thingie- all I know is it was over 600 pieces and I wa glad it wa not spread out all over my floor! Griffin is amazing as he can build these with extreme patience.- and fast- he had a little help from his cousin Josh, former Legomaniac, and Josh's girlfriend, Gretchen, who was the official sticker attacher!

Amarillo, Texas

Everything is big in Texas- we stopped for lunch in Amarillo and then headed to Guthrie- this was a long drive- almost 9 hours, passing through two states.

TEXAS

Room with a view!

We were glad that we asked for an upgrade-- the resort is only three years old and the suites are very nice- we were sorry we could not stay longer to enjoy the amenties, but we had a fun night with some room to stretch out!

Welcome to New Mexico!

Reached New Mexico late in the evening and headed to the Sandia Resort, road worn and happy to be closer to Oklahoma!

View from atop of the south rim. What a day!

Best seat in town!

Griffin almost at the wheel- it really is worth the time and expense- we had perfect weather and only six people on the flight. A family from Del Mar, California shared our experience- it was great watching Griffin's reaction as we flew over a beautiful lush forest and descended into the Canyon- the beauty- magnificent!

On top of the world. Ma!

Griffin's early Christmas present- a helicopter ride over the Grand Canyon- amazing!

Jeep trip to the Colorado

Wow! The mighty Colorado river!

Griffin and our guide

Our guide on this trip- his name is John, and he was really cool- lives in Williams, and is the high school baseball coach. Along the way, we have met some very nice people who will add to our memories.

We hope to see John again!

Seligman Arizona

Seligman is the town that inspired John Lassiter to create the town of Radiator Springs in the animated film, "Cars". Griffin and I watched the film again after visitng this town, on the car DVD and it was cool to see all the references to the topography and the town itself.
We would have loved to spend more time there, but we had to beg the driver to pull over just to take a couple of pictures, and we just did not have time to go back there.

Down in the Canyon!

Griffin loving our private jeep tour in the canyon!

More pics from the cavern

Mama Mia! You can get married at the Caverns under the alter in the cavern.


Love this dino too- bird's nest in it's mouth!

Grand Canyon Caverns

First stop on our tour- the caverns. it was cheesy good fun- complete with hick guide with freat story telling skills. The guide made the tour, as we also found in the next leg of our trip.

We spent an hour at the cavern compound, and then boarded the jeep to head for the canyon. A full day of adventure, windblown hair and fun lay ahead!

Williams

Best Western in Williams was not memorable and a tight squeeze for all our stuff; two cases of wine, needed for Thanksgiving, had to be brought to the room so it would not freeze in the car, and then there are the bags, games, toys, three laptops... we brought the sleeping bag, overall pretty crammed-we were only in the room to sleep, so no worries.
Sunday morning- bright and early- off to meet the jeep tour group for our off road adventure into the canyon.

On the road to Williams Arizona

VACATION FURY!
We left home around 1pm- later than we wanted to, but there was a lot to do before we took off for 12 days- Although the cats are being cat sat by our neighbor, Ashley, and we needed to prep the house for "cats gone wild" without supervision. They have already ruined the leather sofas during their kitten shenanigans, but when you leave cats alone for a longer period, you have to look at every knick knack, piece of art, vase; expect mayhem...

Day one: driving to Williams Arizona

good drive- Griffin was so excited and was great on the drive. I rarely sit in the back to watch movies, but I did with Griffin on the last leg- we watched "Wall E" and if you have not seen this film, it is a wonderful movie- a love story and an interesting commentary about human nature and a scary futurism of fat, sedentary earthlings...
We arrived to our hotel around 8:30pm (1 hour time change- still not recognized on my blackberry) had some dinner at the restaurant and prepared for the next day at the canyon.

One more thing before I call it a night!

I have a checklist of things I need to do before we leave. Finish science fair board with Griffin: check.
Wash the cats: CHECK! Both of them are pretty good- this is their third bath. Target is the mellow one, while Rudy, who is the mellow one in his dry state, kind of flips. I survived without a scratch; just a very wet shirt- both of them are really sweet cats, and we are lucky they are not pyscho in water.
They are in the drying room with some meow mix- time to sleep!
4 more days 'til take off!

Trip planning- pre-empted by homework!!!

Science Fair...We have been working on this for two weeks. The house smells like spray mount and the board is finally completed!

This project took on a life of its own- like our haunted houses, we look around and add accessories. The only thing purchased for this project was the poster board and the tuning fork. Griffin and I worked on this diligently together, much like cramming for a final. It was fun and exhausting- looks cool , right?! I hope we get a gold star! The theme of the project is about sound waves and how they effect your senses.

Jack Skellington holds the headphones and fits in well in our two tone theme! Fair judging is on Friday, so cross your boney fingers!

Will start packing for our venture after play practice tomorrow night. We have been told to dress in layers- hard to imagine when it is still so bloody hot here in the O.C...

5 more days to go 'til we hit the road!

Oklahoma or bust! We knew we bought the tricked out mini van for a reason, and now after owning it for two years, it is going on a big one.
When you do mapquest from Costa Mesa to Guthrie, it gives you an estimated drive time of 19 hours and 46 minutes, totaling 1367.87 miles. yikes... We will be breaking it down and visiting some of the hot spots along the way!
Things to consider: should I get new tires before we go???