the long road from phoenix...

We spent the 4th of July in Phoenix with my family. We had a lot of fun swimming, eating, going to the movies, and just hanging out together. Arizona is not keen on fireworks, and we didn't have it in us to go to one of the big shows, so we just lit our black snakes, and threw our poppers on the ground. The kids had a lot of fun playing with aunts and uncles and of course grandma and grandpa. I didn't get enough pictures, I always forget to get out the camera when there is a big crowd.

(The kids did have really cute 4th of July outfits, but Lily was already in jammies, and Zane had changed his shirt after swimming - so I didn't get a picture of them, doh!)

On the way home, we decided to take the Laughlin way and avoid the traffic going over Hoover Dam. We were stopped for quite awhile going TO phoenix that way, so we knew it would be bad going back. So, of course, about 6 miles outside of Laughlin there was an accident that shut the freeway down for over 2 hours. Nice! We sat for over an hour, and watched as some cars ventured off onto a dirt road and disappeared. We were iffy about trying that, so we called my dad, and he googled for us. Since the road was going to be closed for at least another hour, and that road didn't look to be long, we decided to try it.

We got going, and my goodness I was scared. It was a jeep challenge course I kid you not! We said a prayer, and a few minutes later Zane said to me "Mom, the Holy Ghost told me that we should be careful of the big rocks." Thanks! I tried not to cry too hard, and tried my best to hold it together for the kids. They really didn't seem to care. They just watched their movie, and occasionally Lily would say "Bump!" and laugh hysterically. We made it through, with my Dad on the phone the whole way telling us which direction to go. Thank you soo much Dad, you really helped us so much.

Although everything turned out fine, I doubt I will ever do that again. We had some snacks with us and not much water. Really, not a smart idea to take your family out into the desert - unprepared - in 100+ degree heat. Just really not smart.

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(we took the dirt road from 68 at the top of the map to the subdivision at the edge of the map near the A marker)