Vacation!

It was our spring break this last week, and we had a rockin' good time.  We were fortunate to be able to go to southern Arizona and New Mexico, visit a lot of family, and have some adventures.  We toured a mine in Bisbee:

Although Rachel was a little disappointed that it was not the mine where Snow White and the dwarfs are.

We went to Tombstone, Arizona...

 Ella, William, McKinley and Gennie posing with the outlaws; Rachel was scared to death and Caleb was too grumpy.

Me: We're going to Tombstone!  It's a town from the old Wild West!
Rachel : (matter-of-factly) Well, they need to get a new west.

She was not a fan of the gun show, but she was a fan of the fudge we bought for an "edible souvenir" as we left.  Some how Ella missed it when we turned into the fudge shop and after we tested samples and chose our flavors for probably around 10 minutes, we finally realized she was missing.  No worries, she had walked straight to the car and was waiting for us there. Whew!

We enjoyed time with Derek and Kristy and family in St. David and the kids loved sleeping in the camper and feeding the neighbor's goats.

Next we cruised over to Tucson to visit Rob and Kristen and family.  Yay Cactuses! (cacti?) We got to try our very first Eegee (yum) and visited the Tucson children's museum, which was awesome!  Puts the Denver one to shame, truly.  We forgot our camera for all those things, but were able to catch Rachel and Sarah on their surprise egg hunt!  The dads and older kids went fishing, and a secret easter bunny left eggs in the front yard, which was an awesome surprise for the little girls.

Next day we hiked around Honeybee Canyon by Rob's house.  It was very cool!

And we celebrated Rebekah's 9th birthday with a party at the park on a beautiful day.  There's a guy there who come around regularly and brings a bunch of sand toys and builds cities with the kids.  Caleb was in heaven...so was McKinley.

Happy Birthday Rebekah!

On our way back towards Virden to visit Thygerson cousins, we stopped for a few hours at the Pima Air and Space Museum.  Holy huge museum.  There was so much to see!  The kids loved it.

 (insert famous Top Gun song here)

Can you even see the kids by the front wheel of that massive thing?!
We did make it to Virden and had a nice time visiting with the Thygerson relatives.  We were able to spend a good part of a day riding out to the old ranch and exploring where grandpa Tone used to work through the days.

 Exploring Moorebox (sp? Morebocks? Morbachs?)

 (the old Indian post office, plus a few newer messages)

 Caleb got his first 4-wheeler driving lessons and has talked non-stop about it since.  He wants to go to grandma and grandpa Thygerson's NOW and keep practicing. :)

 McKinley with cousin Melissa.

Everyone was SO dirty (but happy!) when we got finished!  That was one dirty bathtub, let me tell you.
The drive went well, the weather was perfect, and we were so glad to have some time together having fun!  Thanks to the Morrisons and the Mitchells and the Rhotons for putting up up with us for a few days apiece, we sure appreciated all of your generosity and had a great time visiting!