The Grandest of Canyons

The day before our planned migration, I had the brilliant idea to leave THAT DAY and stop over at the Grand Canyon instead of going directly to St. George. I've never seen it, despite it being the biggest tourist draw in the entire state. Amazingly I convinced The Hubs it would be a good idea. He may have since changed his mind...
I can't decide whether to curse or thank www.hotwire.com for making it possible. Honestly, who reserves hotels without it these days? I got all our rooms at close to half off. :)
I called a good friend to tell her our crazy change in plans, and she offered to watch BOTH the kids so The Hubs and I could run around like headless chickens finishing up last minute details in the morning. (THANK YOU THANK YOU, S. You're a lifesaver and a super hot pregnant lady, btw.) We left town at a little before two in the afternoon. (Did I mention we made the decision to travel a day early on the day we traveled? Yeah. With two kids. I don't recommend it.)
We arrived at our hotel with super cranky kids and reasonably calm parents. After baths for the kiddos, getting them settled in bed wasn't a big deal. That night was a little rough on the 'ol parents, as the bed was SUPER soft, and we're just not used to that level of "luxury". We like our sleep numbers at 100. :D
Anyhoodles, I woke up early and attempted to exercise but nearly died from the elevation. Sea level to rim of Grand Canyon=HUGE difference. So after 30 minutes, I got everyone up, dressed and down to breakfast. All that plus packing the car took THREE hours. We didn't drive into the canyon until 9. (Well, into the park. I doubt I'd be typing if we'd actually driven into the literal canyon.)
It turns out the Grand Canyon isn't so much fun with little kids, but my expectations were super low, so it worked out. Here's a sample of the day:
"Hey! get back from there!" "WHY??!" "Because, you silly boy, you'll fall in!"
and
"Look Mom! A SLIDE!"
"NOOOOOOOOOO! Not a slide. Canyon. CAN-YON."
Almost no hiking took place, which is just as well. (See above reference to elevation changes.)
The Hubs and I have been talking about doing Havasupi for an anniversary trip. After this little experience, I mentioned I'd like to do some Blood Doping before the planned hike. The Hubs is NOT on board with that plan. Needles, you know. Oh, and the part where blood is involved. He's not so into that. Sometime remind me to relate "The Uterus" story. It's a GREAT one, for, you know, embarrassing my hubby.

We continued on to St. George in reasonably good spirits, visited some cousins and Aunts and Uncles and turned in with a little more difficulty than the previous night, but nothing this super mom couldn't handle.

To Be Continued...
I'm done blogging for the night. Despite this being Mother's Day, it super sucked for me so I'm going to bed so it can just be OVER already.