For our 2nd day at the Canyon, we road on the Grand Canyon Railway!

The kids were so excited for their first REAL train ride.

From getting our tickets punched to walking in between the cars, it was cool!

They look like regular ole passengers on their morning commute don’t they?

The entertainment was great:

And AB loved our hostess, Tessa:

The marshal kept an eye on Peepa for us:

But he must have been napping on the way back because we experienced a train robbery!

Another plus of going on the train is that there’s no traffic. It really was a fun experience.

At the canyon we enjoyed some more amazing views…this time from Yavapai and Yaki Points.

Here we are enjoying the view:

And there’s Gramma, if you can spot her:

And here she is sniffing a ponderosa pine trying to smell vanilla or butterscotch 🙂

I had nightmares all that night of people falling off the rim so I took it as a reminder to not let our guard down and to stay back many body-lengths away from any true cliff. So if it looks like we’re on an edge – we aren’t.

We saw people making the most idiotic decisions… most often to get a photo. This isn’t a new topic and many leaders are trying to shed light on how “we” are literally killing ourselves for approval and a following…. but I think it’s so much deeper than we even understand. The inflation of self and the low view of the Lord is seen clearly at the canyon. More on this later…..

It was a happy day and I’m grateful for the kids’ mostly- great behavior this week and how they enjoyed the visit with Gma and Peepa! I’m also thankful for the little moments B & I had to ourselves here and there:

We ended the grandparents’ visit enjoying Williams. Look at this bathroom with tailgates as doors:

We told Betty about that and she was highly offended. She said after her retirement she wants to be stuck in a garden with flowers all around.

We tried our first Route 66 malt and black cows:

I loved these pics of the girls. It was a great sunset!

RR has wanted a cowboy hat forever. He finally got one! This one is more like Indiana Jones or a Ranger or something so it’s perfect. I can really picture him running a farm someday… or being a park ranger …. or running an outdoor adventure camp.

He fit right in sauntering down the lane in Wild West Junction

We met the Mayor of Williams who is responsible for saving the railroad and for helping make Radiator Springs Williams what it is today:

His best piece of advice for the kiddos? Always be mannerly, your whole life, no matter how you’re treated or what happens.

Some laughs, ice cream and a ride down Rt 66 to see all the neon (which I didn’t capture!) ended our last night with our special visitors:

Thanks Gramma Peepa for coming so far to visit and for all the love. It truly is hard to be so far from loved ones… even harder to say “see you when we see you” (again)…but what an amazing adventure we are on! We’re so grateful!