Happy 4TH of July!

The Fourth of July is one of my favorite holidays! We always go to the parade and watch fireworks as part of our festivities.

Pouting because I wanted a picture

All geared up and waiting for the parade.

Here come the Sherrif's Posse and rodeo royalty

The rodeo queens and others

Amy's cousin Kaden. His dad was on the other horse and the firetruck sirens were spooking it pretty bad.

Our local veterans

There were lots of mini horses throughout the parade.
Another cousin, Justina, on another float.

Candy!!!!!!

Cheering along with the cheerleaders coming our way.

Uncle Sam and Lady Liberty

The Ghost wagons

Smoky the Bear. Goompa took Ty out for a closer look.

The AWESOME Statue of Liberty. It was called "United We Stand; Divided We Fall" and it would actually fold down and then rise back up. It was one of the coolest floats of the day. Notice the size of it compared to the man walking beside it.

A pioneer wagon

The tractors

And all the neat Classis cars

Coyote Creek FD

Vernon FD

Springerville FD

Eagar FD

Here comes the parade!

Waiting before the parade

The sirens made her a little jumpy

my dad (aka: Goompa)

The pretty fireworks at the end of the day

the 3D boxes were one of the kids favorites along with the smiley faces

Waiting for the fireworks

where we were for the fireworks there is a lifesize statue of a horse and antique buggy. Tyler thought it was neat so we got a picture of her on the "horsie"

Civilian fireworks are actually illegal in Arizona so we got the kids a few of the paper confetti poppers. They thought they were just as fun.

Isn't her new "do" pretty?

LOOK!!!

Stuffing her shirt with the confetti. A sign of things to come?

Woo Hoo!

The Catwalk, Glenwood, NM

We decided that one day that we would plan a trip to the Catwalk. The Catwalk is an awesome little place in New Mexico that has been around since the 1890's. It started out as a way to pipe water down to the mills and eventually became a tourist attraction. It is a little work to get all the way to the top but it is a fun and well worth it hike.



On our way, about 25 minutes from home in a little town , Nutrioso, we saw a herd of about 50-75 elk grazing in a pasture off the side of the road.




It was so neat to see all the babies and everything all mixed in together.

The kids were really excited once we finally got there. Brandon was a trooper and hiked the entire 2.2 miles from bottom to top and back down, all by himself! Tyler didn't do too bad herself. There are a few kind of scary place that we had to carry her so she didn't fall in to the river below.

The first bridge.

The catwalk is a long 1.1 mile trail that partly consists of a metal grate-like "catwalk" that is bolted to the side of these huge rocks and hills. Its really cool to look down beneath your feet and see the water flowing.

Looking down after they got over the fear of being so high.

The Forest Service has done a lot of work renovating everything. They have installed a few of these nice little benches along the walk so that you can take a break from time to time.

The second bridge

The kids thought this little rock passage was neat.

Brandon was trekking up ahead of us and a few times went a lot faster than us. Once I couldnt see him anymore and got a little nervous. When I rounded the corner I found him hiding out in this little cove.

Walking with Daddy.

There was a stairway that led down to the water and of course we had to go check it out. It was a good way to cool off, because at that point it was starting to get a little hot.
All cooled off and ready to head back up and keep going.

Woops! Just turn your head and you can see more of Brandon's masterful photography!

Here is the last bridge. The cable bridge. It is a little intimidating because you are suspended really high over the river and lots of huge boulders and you can feel every bounce, step, and movement.

And here it is! 1.1 miles to the end! There is a big waterfall in the rocks to the left but they have it blocked off pretty well so no one goes down in it anymore but if you can find a way to get down there it is really cool. It is kind of like a cave with a waterfall flowing from the ceiling!

The 1.1 mile marker. They have these markers at every 1/4 mile so you can track your progress.

Here is the sign that explains the history of the Catwalk from the beginning to the present. It really is a neat place and the kids are still talking about it!

After our hike, we had packed a picnic lunch and found a table under a big tree.

Tyler spit (lovely) her sandwich into the river and then we discovered that there were a bunch of trout that though PB&J was pretty good! We had a little bit of a sandwich left so we fed the fishies.

They were intently watching for the fish to jump up and attack the bread. Itwas cool to see all the fish swimming around. There was a lot more that we thought there would be!

The best way to end the trip. Playing in the water, one of their favorite things to do during the summer!