Our 4th of July trip to Sedona (a little late)

View from the house

We had a super fun 4th of July and were able to escape the Phoenix heat for a few days. It was still in the high 90's in the Sedona area during the day but what a difference 10 degrees makes! We also enjoyed the cooler nights and loved waking up to 70 degree weather instead of 90! We rented a house with Jon and Bre. The kids had fun spending the night together and we enjoyed the fancy kitchen and the view. The home was set up on a tall mesa so we could see for miles from the front porch.

The front of the house we stayed in. It doesn't look too
impressive from the outside but the home was actually really
nice and had some cool lighting features.

The night of the fourth we BBQ'd and went to watch a big fireworks show they set off at a casino not too far away. It was a really awesome show. 

Waiting for the fireworks to start

We were parked really close to where they were setting the fireworks off which was kind of cool but really noisy. It didn't seem to phase the kids too much. We ended up pulling out their carseats so they could see better. Plus buckling in the Wisdom and Emma kept them in one place! I love this shot of Jon & Travis with the kids -- they were awestruck watching the fireworks!

Our 2nd day we headed to Slide Rock State Park just north of Sedona. It was really cool! I swear the Cars movie sets were designed from the views in Sedona. Beautiful red rock formations were everywhere. I don't think the photos do it justice. It was also SO green here! We have missed seeing the color green!

The water was freezing cold so that took some getting used to. It must come right off the top of a snowy mountain somewhere because I honestly don't think I've ever swam in water that cold. Luckily it was really warm out that day so just getting out of the water warmed you up pretty quickly. I'm not sure if you can tell but the kids expressions describe how cold it was!

The cold water didn't seem to phase Passion.

 So the cool thing about Slide Rock is that there are all these natural rock slides (hence the name). There were calmer sections of the stream where the kids could wade and play. Then there were also sections that had "slides." It was really a lot of fun. Here I am on my first adventure down a slide. It was SO cold!

Travis thinks it's cold!

Can you spot Passion?

Besides the slides this is the main area we hung out in since
the littler ones could play in the calmer water.

We packed in a picnic for lunch. The kids had fun finding places to sit and eat. They also did a lot of rock collecting. They are their grandpa's grandchildren!

Wisdom warming up in the sun.

The girls as we were leaving the park

We spent our 3rd day at the Grand Canyon. It was really beautiful. The kids liked it for a while and then I think they got a little bored. It helped that we spotted some wildlife but I think the excitement around the Grand Canyon is really appreciated by the adults. We still had fun hiking around and taking lots of pictures. The day was a little hazy and cooler but we weren't complaining! It even sprinkled some rain on us a couple of times.

 We wrapped up our little vacation spending the day in downtown Sedona. There were several shops and fun places to visit. And the views were gorgeous!

They had these musical stations in a few spots along the walk.

Wisdom laughs everytime he sees this picture and says, "I'm the girl and Emma is the cowboy!"

We had so much fun visiting Sedona and the Grand Canyon. We are so glad Jon, Bre, Emma & Olivia were able to go with us. I don't know if we would have taken the trip on our own. But now that we've been there maybe we'll go on our own again next year!