We wanted to go on a road trip with the Meisters this summer so we decided to go to the Grand Canyon. Amanda and her kids have been before, but my kids had never been. Andy stayed behind, which made it even easier to all go in one car. We missed Andy, but it was fun to do a moms/kids trip.

We left Wednesday morning and headed to Williams, AZ. On the way, we stopped at Cracker Barrel for lunch. It's one of the Meisters' favorite restaurants and another new place for my kids. We all really liked it.

Joey and Zachary played checkers while we waited for our food. 

We got to Williams in the late afternoon. We checked into our hotel, and then we went to the pool.

For dinner we walked down the street to a KFC/Taco Bell and then to McDonald's for dessert because we are very fancy. 

The next morning we got up and got on the train to the Grand Canyon.

The train ride took two hours and fifteen minutes which seemed a little long, but there was some entertainment like this "Rock 'n Roll Cowboy."

When we got to the Grand Canyon, we immediately went to see the amazing view. My kids especially were pretty in awe since it was their first time seeing it. Hannah and Joey both commented that even in person it looked like a painting.

After a quick look at the view, we grabbed lunch.

Then we hiked along the rim trail for a couple of hours, stopping for lots of photo ops.

This was one of my favorite pictures. I remember doing this when I was a kid at the Grand Canyon.

Since it's monsoon season, you never know when a storm can suddenly come upon you. At one point there were storms on either side of us complete with thunder and lightning. It was so cool to see, but we were so thankful that we never actually had any rain on us. It's like the Lord kept us in a bubble, for which we were very thankful. At one point though, the lightning did come close enough that everyone except for Ellie and me felt the lightning when it struck. It kind of whooshed their hair and made it stand on end! So crazy! 

We had about four hours at the Grand Canyon before we needed to head back to the train. 

On the way back we went to the cafe car so we could play some card games.

Later our train got robbed by masked bandits! ;-)

The marshall came a few minutes later and had more fun giving me a hard time than catching the bad guys. Ha!

We made it back to our hotel that evening, grabbed our luggage, and drove a few minutes away to our AirBnb where we were going to stay for the next two nights...

Papa J had wanted to take the boys to a baseball game, so they decided to go on July 31st.

The Padres won, and the boys had a great time.

July 31 ended up being perfect because it was Abigail's birthday and my birthday eve, so while the boys were enjoying baseball, we had a fun girls' day. Abigail wanted to go down to Pacific Beach to visit one of her favorite stores, Brandy Melville.

Then we had an early dinner at a delicious Italian place with a lovely patio.

Ellie tried Tiramisu for the first time and loved it! 

After dinner, we walked down to La Jolla Shores beach.

It turned out that the water was nice and warm.

We stayed there for a little less than an hour and enjoyed the beautiful evening.

Then we drove down for one more stop at La Jolla Cove to see the sea lions and sunset.

It was such a special, beautiful day!

One of the things we were most looking forward to this summer was a visit from my brother's family. Benjamin and Christina weren't able to come out for Krause Christmas this past year, and then they had Adrian in February, so we were extra excited for their visit.

It was so wonderful getting to meet the new little addition to the family. The first official "Krause" grandkid.

He was just as sweet and snuggly as we heard.

Benjamin, Christina, and Adrian were out for almost two weeks so we had lots of good time with them, including plenty of time for games.

 

While they were there, we celebrated my birthday. Adrian wore this shirt just for me! 

My mom made me three berry desserts. It was epic.

In addition to my family, Andy's parents also came 

and my Aunt Kim, Uncle Kramer and cousin Brian. 

I loved having so much family all together.

We mostly spent time at my parents' house, but we had everyone over to our house for a couple of days as well.

Adrian had his first dip in the pool.

We had the Meisters over also so that they could meet Benjamin, Christina and Adrian.

The cats were excited to have lots of laps to sit on.

Their last day in town, we met at the beach in the morning. It ended up being a beautiful beach day.

My cousin Abby, her husband Stephen, and their baby Vivian happened to be in town on vacation, so they came over that afternoon. It was great getting to catch up with them.

Second cousin love.

It was funny that my kids are now at the ages where they stay up later and play games with the adults. My kids enjoyed teaching Benjamin and Christina some new games.

It was so great getting such a long visit with Benjamin, Christina, and Adrian!