Today is Kelsea's birthday AND she and Kenny both have the day off!! So Alisa, the kids and I decided to make a fun day trip and meet them in Sedona. We met at Oak Creek Brewing Co for lunch, which I had been to before, but the rest of the crew hadn't. They hav some good craft brews that I really like...and the food is good.
We planned to have lunch, then go over to slide rock for the afternoon...but by the time we were going to go there, it was packed. So, Kelsea knew of this little hidden gem not far from there that we could hike to that wouldn't be as crowded. So, we packed up our gear and headed down to find some water!
The hike itself was pretty intense....for the 4 kiddos....and us in flip flops! Avery had a few shoe blow-outs but really held her , didn't complain and trekked on! Alisa and I switched off carrying Barrett, as he proved to be the biggest obstacle haha! We definitely got our workout in! When we got down to the creek though it was totally worth it. Soooo pretty and the water was cold and amazingly refreshing. The kids had a blast. The water current was pretty strong and Avery started to get carried away a few times...which she thought was hilarious just getting flipped around in the water! Me, on the other hand, was having an anxiety attack haha. The water looked calm, but was very strong. Kenny rode the water, on the rocks pretty far down the creek, to where it emptied out to a pool. Kids liked climbing on the rocks & jumping into the water there.
Clouds were rolling in and it looked like we were about to get hit with some flash floods. So about 5pm, we decided we better start our hike out, knowing the climb we were up against! The big kdis did amazing and helped carry some of our stuff out. Kelsea, Alisa and I switched off with Barrett. Avery was hurting on her trek up, but we promised her we would go get ice cream if she made it! She was all in, so sucked it up and fought her way up.
Hilarious - once we got to the top, loaded up the car, and started to get in, Avery had a major breakdown crying hysterically. Once we calmed her down enough to figure out what she wanted, we couldn't stop laughing. She wanted her ice cream! Haha...I think she thought it was at the top of the hill. She didn't understand we had to drive to it.
So we all headed into town to get some much needed ice cream! We sat out on the patio watching the amazing red rocks & the clouds rolling in. It started sprinkling on us a little and felt so, so good.
We decided it was getting late so we better head down the hill. Barrett had been perfect all day, but we knew he was missing a few naps, and probably starving. So we started our trek, stopping at the Red Rock Visitor Center so Alisa could feed him first. It was closed, but the kids and I walked around the grounds checking stuff out. This actually used to be one of our contracts so I had been here many times. After feeding, we started our way down the hill. A few mins into it, Barrett started screaming....and basically didn't stop until we got home :) We stopped a few times trying to calm him down...but as soon as we buckled him back in, he would lose it. Poor guy...he was so tired and uncomfortable....he had a REALLY, REALLY long day!!
So much fun though....we should be doing that every week haha! Sedona is beautiful and right in our backyard!
