Our final destination of our vacation was beautiful Bryce Canyon. The beauty of our surroundings on this trip was incredible. Talk about sensory overload. Grandma Griffin very thoughtfully planned out every aspect of this part of our trip. She chose Bryce as her 80th birthday celebration destination. The amount of energy and planning that went into this trip was pretty intense. There isn't an 80 year old on the planet with as much energy as her.
When we arrived at the Ruby's Inn campground, the kids were pumped to be staying in a real tipi.
Our little family fit quite comfortably.
I was excited to find out about a nearby rodeo happening that night. Since my summer has been lacking in the rodeo department, I sort of pushed my family into going. I was also able to recruit Rusty, Collette, Owen, Dyson and Grandpa Griffin.
Owen was in a loving mood!
This picture is made 100% better by Max's cute little mug. Too bad his happy demeanor ended shortly after it was taken. In his defense, it was a pretty lame rodeo made up of teenage kids with minimal experience. When the announcer asked for audience participation, Hank jumped out of his seat to run into the arena! He must have been bored as well!
He lined up with a group of other kids with the task of grabbing the ribbon off the tail of a cow.
He was so close! The boy to the left of him, pushed him out of the way to snag the ribbon right before Hank could. It made an otherwise forgettable rodeo memorable.
Max was up to no good this particular day. He's so handsome though, little punk!
After a restful night in the tipi, we were ready to explore beautiful Bryce Canyon.
A little cousin love before getting on the tram was in order.
Speaking of cousin love!
Sam just had mommy love, no surprise there. After the hiking in Zion's and now Bryce, I think I carried this 30 pound kid 20 miles! Good thing I'm tough.
Such a gorgeous place.
After we ate lunch, Sam and Max weren't exactly thrilled with the prospect of another hike. We convinced them it would be cool to hike to the bottom of the canyon but in retrospect, we probably should've listened to them and headed back to camp.
Max decided to run away from us and Sam demanded someone carry him. The 5 minutes we convinced him to walk,he slipped and skinned his knee. The ear piercing screams were enough for me to turn around and go back with him. After carrying him uphill for 10 minutes, I took the wrong turn and missed the closer shuttle. Needless to say, after a couple miles of holding a sleeping 2 year old, my entire body was trembling with exhaustion. Oh and did I mention it was HOT!
Once we returned to the campground the older kids headed to the pool and Sam insisted he wanted to swim too. He needed a bath anyway so I agreed.
Except for the the second he got in the water he wanted to get out. Ahhhhh!
Enough complaining... I was able to rest for a bit before our chuck wagon dinner.
I was amazed those two horses could pull all of us!
Lennon made a great center piece.
Hank really enjoyed spending time with Randy's cousin Austin. Colby, Dyson, and Hank followed him like little groupies. They think he's pretty much the coolest kid around.
The rest of the night was spent celebrating Grandma Griffin. I felt so awful I had to miss out on the programs. Sam had a monumental meltdown and fell asleep for the night before the program began. Hank and Max had a blast though.
I wish I could've spent more time with Grandma on this trip. Our kids were just exhausted and demanding all of my time. I really do love and respect her very much. She is one of a kind and I feel so lucky to have her in my life. Now if I could just bottle some of her energy! It's going to take me weeks to recover from this marathon vacation.
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