Flagstaff

We headed up to Flagstaff two weekends ago. The Decker Family invited us to spend a couple nights up at their parents home. We had a great time. The weather was cooler and we even got to enjoy a few rain spells in the afternoons. On the first day we took at 3 mile hike (which I unfortunately have no pictures of) up into the red mountains. It was a great hike...until we lost track of Reegan and Alexis on the way back. They missed the cut-off about 1/3 from the end. No one realized it (and there were 17 of us) until we all packed into the cars to leave and someone asked "Where are Reegan and Alexis?" At first I thought they were kidding..... but no. Needless to say it felt like Kevin and I couldn't run back up the trail fast enough. We pretty much knew where they got off-track. At one point Reegan figured that they were headed in the wrong direction and had the foresight to back-track. We found them a bit shaken, but fine. It was just another life lesson. But one that added a few years onto the parents!
The next day we took off for a 1.5 mile round trip hike underground. With headlamps on we descended about 100 feet underground into the Flagstaff Lava River Cave http://www.fs.fed.us/r3/coconino/recreation/peaks/lava-river-cave.shtml . It was a lot of fun! On the last day we took the kids into Old Town so that they could put coins on the railroad track. It's a Decker Family tradition.

Greer placing her coins on the track in hopes that they will all get smooshed together in one long row.
Brynn and Daddy waiting for the train.... and waiting....and waiting.....
Greer and Peanut
A train did finally come, but to the kids disappointment it was on the wrong track! It took awhile but we finally were successful. A train came by and flattened their coins. They thought it was pretty cool!

Greer, Alexis and Reegan ready with head lamps that we bought at Home Depot.
Brynn was a bit concerned about what lay ahead but she was such a trooper! She held Kevin's hand the entire way and had a great time. She was probably the only one small enough to actually walk the entire way. The rest of us had to watch our heads and crab-crawl in places.


The "Hole" (entrance).

We dropped about 100 feet where it was about 35-45 degrees. Ice hung on the walls in places. If you turned your head lamps off you were left in complete darkness!
Here we are at the end of our 3/4 mile trek into the lava tube.

The girls had a lot of fun in the tree house in the backyard. They played house like typical "girls" and even figured out how to get dirt and water up there to make mud-pies! They were more fun to make than clean up!