#PARENTS ON TOUR - GRAND CANYON EDITION

The Grand Canyon. I really don't think I'm going to be able to put into words just how majestic this place was. We had two days to explore it and the nearby town of Williams, but I feel like we could have spent weeks at the canyon and still not seen all there was to see. I have to admit it does look slightly fake at first, just because you can barely take in the sheer size and scale of it. 

The first day we were there we started off at the visitors centre of the South Rim and walked along the canyon rim trail. We didn't go as far as we had anticipated but there was a lot of stopping to take photos and the icy conditions made you a little more cautious, especially as there wasn't a lot between you and the edge of the canyon!  

Day two we did more of the Canyon, but from the other end of the South rim, so that we could see the Desert watchtower. Then we spent the rest of the day in Williams looking round the famous route 66 town. There wasn't a lot to do there as most of it was shut up for the winter so we didn't spend long there. We did eat (for the second time) at an amazing little Italian bistro which had a brewery attached. The food was insanely good. 

And of course no trip would be complete without a bear...

There you have it, the Grand Canyon in one blog post. If you ever get the chance to visit it you really should. It's breathtaking. 
H 

#PARENTS ON TOUR - HOOVER DAM EDITION

Whilst my parents were here we undertook a rather long road trip, about 7 hours to be precise. Our destination was the Grand Canyon in Arizona but on the way there we decided to take a detour via the Hoover Dam. The dam itself is built on the border between Nevada and Arizona so it was an excellent way to ensure Mum and Dad properly visited the two states. 

The Hoover Dam was built in the 1930s and is one of the largest concrete structures ever. As my Dad is a civil engineer by trade, and a rather big fan of concrete  we assumed this would be a good stop off. I was expecting him to be rather excited but to be somewhat underwhelmed myself as funnily enough I've never been that impressed by concrete! I couldn't have been more wrong. 

We arrived at the the dam having driven past Las Vegas and we drove over the top of the dam to park on the Arizona side.We then walked back across the dam so that we could see it from all sides and angles. 

Dad and Andrew decided to take a tour of the power plant, however Mum and I were not so sure about it as there were signs warning you not to go on the tour if you were worried about small spaces. Not wanting to chance it we had ice cream in the sun, whilst the boys went about their geekery!

I love those photos, they make me think of those government adverts where you see people in their work place talking about pensions or how the new working wage is helping them. Sorry, my brain thinks weirdly!

Once we had seen everything it was time to hit the road again for another 4ish hours until we arrived at our final destination; the Grand Canyon. 
H 

SAYONARA 2015

I am rather behind on our blog posts as its already January 6th and I've not even updated you on things we did over Christmas, or said goodbye to 2015. I apologise. For a start we took a trip over New Year which put us all out of sync but then we launched back into the regular rhythms of life and haven't had a chance to catch our breath. But I'm on it, I promise!

Starting with our round up post from 2015. It certainly was a busy year. I feel like we visited a lot of places, had some visitors and generally achieved a lot. It was also a pretty big year for a certain husband of mine too. 

So here's our top ten events of 2015:

1. Having Andrew's family come over to visit us. 
2. Travelling up to Seattle by train and seeing the beauty of the West coast.
3. Watching a couple of American Football games, particularly the Seattle Seahawks. 
4. Our friend Tim's visit and seeing Yosemite and other great places with him. 
5. A certain someone turning 30!
6. The amazing Alaskan cruise. 
7. Meeting Mr James Corden himself. 
8. Going home to see all the family, especially Mr Elisha after turning 1!
9. Seeing the band Muse perform, and watching Andrew's face as the drones flew round. 
10. The stay at the beautiful cabin in Lake Tahoe (more to come on that later). 


As you can see its been a pretty busy 2015 and unsurprisingly 2016 is shaping up to be just as crazy. We have a visit or two lined up with family members and then in the middle of the year we are going to be celebrating my brother getting married which means a trip back to England! Yay! There's also the scary event of me turning 30, but we won't mention that again. Ever. 

We are so grateful to God for all the things that happened in 2015, even some of the tougher things which have allowed us to grow, especially as a couple. We look forward to facing 2016. As ever, updates will be on the blog so you can feel somewhat involved. 

Happy new year everyone!
A&H xx

THE DAY WE PLAYED TOURISTS...

London. It's an iconic place that tourists flood into on a daily basis. Andrew and I hadn't been to London in over two years which is a real shame because we love it. So we decided that if we had the chance we would love to go back and visit, if we could. the family was game with our plan so off we trotted for the day ready to be tourists.

We did all the touristy things from Buckingham Palace to the Horse Guards to Big Ben to eating lunch by the London Eye. It was a great day and the train journeys went really smoothly considering how insane the underground can be in London. Prepare yourself for a deluge of photos that sum up our day!

 As you can see Andrew and I were having far too much fun being tourists and clearly needed to stop being so cheesy but it was so nice to be back in the capital. Throughout the whole day Elisha was amazing too despite all the crowds of people and travelling. It was so lovely to share it with him and the family too. 
H 

THE TIME I SAW A POLAR BEAR...

You may have noticed that my zoo update didn't contain anything about polar bears. That's because we took so many pictures of the whole day, including the polar bear that it would have been too long. So instead you get one whole post about it!

First off its probably fair to say that I was far too excited about the whole thing.  I tried to play it cool but really I was as excited as some of the screaming children who were there. When you arrived there was a cute little display that had giant story books telling you the story of two of the polar bears. They were rescued as cubs and brought to the zoo so there was an amazing sculpture of the two of them. Now don't be deceived I was not as calm as I appear in this photo!

Once we'd walked round the corner the pure excitement could not be contained. He was there! A real life polar bear and he was amazing! 

He was so hilarious. We sat there for ages just watching him sleep and stretch out. He went forging for carrots and started munching on them. I was just loving it. He seemed so adorable and to be honest would fit in so well with Macintosh as they are both as lazy as each other! So of course if I ever find an orphaned cub its coming home with me!

After being there for a while just endlessly watching Andrew did convince me to see some other animals and then return. I reluctantly agreed but upon me return he was swimming!!

He just casually walked into the water, stretched himself out and then set about trying to scratch an itch using the rocks underwater. It was so funny. Hard to photograph due to the glass, which was more than a little smeared due to small children. Yuck! But you could see him so clearly. 

He then decided to swim straight past me!

Andrew managed to snap a picture of me once he'd finished swimming past me. I look semi normal as a result. Whilst he was swimming past Andrew said my face looked hilarious as I was literally like a child on Christmas morning!

Mr Polar Bear then decided to just casually sit in the water for a bit so he was cooled off before he waded straight out in search of more food. Amazingly he didn't shake himself off when he got out of the water. I don't know why but I always imagined he was shake like a dog. Apparently not, its best just to let everything drip off you. 

So there we go, me and the polar bear. I'm already looking at ways to see one in the wild. Antartica anyone?! 

H