Thanksgiving!

In honor of Thanksgiving, this post focuses on giving thanks for our vacation that happened to be during Thanksgiving as well.

 Oh yeah, Emily is getting much better at sitting up by herself.

The kids loved the cacti.  Our last night there, they found out that some cacti are more forgiving than others.

 The zoo
 Elaine petting a stingray...

 

The monkey cage was very impressive since you actually get to be in it with these monkeys running around.  

 The kids, Nana and PopPop.

 The kids love climbing rocks.  The problem is that they are good at it.

While we were hanging out at the lake, some kayakers were finishing up and offered to Mara try it.  They let Ben and I go too and even took Ashlee out.  I need to get a kayak.

 I also stole some time to go running and saw some amazing places.

 Cliff dwellings were pretty cool, especially since Mara is learning about the Aztec’s and the Mayan’s now.  This one is called Montezuma’s Castle since it was originally believed to be Aztec.  (It wasn’t though.)  It was all original except for a section that was blown up by looters.  The kids earned their junior ranger badges as well.  (Awesome program by the National Parks that help kids actually learn at the parks instead of just running wild.)

 Of course we went swimming too.

 We even got to check out Christmas lights!

 Oh yeah, we went to this place too...

 ... and did a little hiking