Tucson Day Trip Part 1

 We were able to spend the day in the Tucson area, just as a way for us to get out and explore as a family-probably our favorite past time.  We had very different plans for this day honestly-we had planned to spend most of the day with the Hammerquists.  Sadly, we only briefly visited their house to drop off cards and a few gifts, as Suzie lost her baby just shy of 17 weeks gestation.  My heart has gone out to her in more ways than I can express.  I can't adequately describe those feelings and her experience, especially since it is not mine to share, and I'll save a few thoughts for a different post.  For now, we'll focus on our day trip.

We started off by hiking Sabino Canyon.  We were prepared to be somewhat chilly....that was not necessary!  It was fairly warm, and we quickly warmed up while hiking in the sun.  We enjoyed a quick lunch and hiked a few miles to one of the dams, which actually had water flowing.  The sky and landscape were beautiful, especially around the foothills area.  We were so proud of the kids-they had such good attitudes, especially Jordan and Sara once it started to warm up.  I packed Jackson in my backpack carrier and he actually fell asleep for the last 10 minutes of the hike-that hasn't happened in a long time!  I even loaded James up onto my back for a good half a mile, carrying both of them while Jared stayed with the other kids...it was a good workout, that's for sure!  Once we started heading back, the three older kids ran ahead, which we didn't mind because the path was pretty clear.  When we got back to the parking lot, they were nowhere to be found.  We checked the visitors center, the car, and the restrooms-no kids.  I was just starting to feel that inkling of panic when they came walking up the path together, saying they had heard our voice.  Turns out, they got to the parking lot and waited for a few minutes, then went to the car thinking we had headed straight there.  Upon that not being the case, they started walking back down the trail to meet up with us and took a wrong turn!  They found their way back to us at that point. I was proud of them for staying together-we could have been in a bad situation if Karianna hadn't had the where with all to keep the boys with her.

All in all, it was a really fun, beautiful hike, and we probably could have stayed there a lot longer if we had alotted ourselves more time!