Double Digits

It really doesn't seem like 10 years since this kid made us parents! Caleb turned 10 last week, which is obviously a big deal. Almost as big of a deal as his first poopoo in the potty. Yep. We documented it (thank goodness)!

Since turning 10 is really a big deal, we decided that in our family, when you turn 10, you get to go on a trip with the parent of your gender. So Dad did some secret behind-the-scenes planning and planned the perfect Caleb trip.

Before leaving for the roadtrip

Destination: Flagstaff, AZ

Detours: Sedona, Oak Creek Canyon, and the Grand Canyon


Sedona really is a beautiful place! Caleb was totally impressed by the red rocks and kept asking how the rocks got so red. I guess I should have done a little more research because I had to make something up. Isn't that what dads do?

The drive through Oak Creek Canyon was intense. Caleb kept saying, "It's hard to believe we're really in Arizona!" Such an amazingly beautiful drive. Wish we would have taken pictures.





We stopped and ate lunch in Flagstaff before heading up to the Grand Canyon. Caleb and I both admitted afterwards that neither of us felt like driving 1 1/2 more hours to the Grand Canyon at that point. We kind of just wanted to be slugs and hang out in our hotel room watching cable TV. (I know... high rollers here)



But both of us were SO glad we made the trek up there! Even after living in AZ for basically my whole life, I'd never been to the Grand Canyon. Both of us had totally different visions in our minds of how it would be than reality. We had no idea the rim is lush forest! Caleb had to take a picture to document this finding.
It was a really great day to see the canyon, because it was kind of stormy, so the view of the canyon kept changing as different patches of clouds and storm cells moved over. We were comletely blown away at its size! Pictures cannot do it justice. But we tried to photograph every view of it anyway! Prepare to be bored.

It was a good thing Natalie wasn't there. She would have freaked at this point.

The next day we went to this old observatory in Flagstaff. It was... fine. We'll just say we're not as into outer space as we could be.

Kind of cool though.

The main event of the whole trip did not receive any photographic documentation. Caleb now loves rock climbing, so we went to a rock climbing gym in Flagstaff and spent the afternoon with Caleb scaling the walls like a Daddy Long-Leg. He had the time of his life!

On the way home we made a stop at Grandma Jones' and went to Nielsen's Frozen Custard for a birthday treat. Caleb loved every second of it. And so did I! It was really fun to hang out with Caleb and be able to focus 100% of my attention on him

Caleb's actual birthday began like this:

Then birthday breakfast and some presents...

Then that evening, we had our good friends, the Chapmans, over for birthday cake and ice-cream

Trick candles.

He got a little help from his friends to finally get them all out.

Happy Birthday Caleb!

Welcome to the double digits!