Slide Rock State Park: Tuesday, March 30th

Dave had taken this whole week off work and we let the kids have their traditional Spring Break so it was wonderful not having to worry about any kind of work for an entire week.

We were happy to be able to catch up with the Bogers' again today. They were staying closer to Phoenix but Slide Rock State Park was a mid-point between us and them. Today looked the best day of the week weather-wise so we’d both happened to plan to visit the slide rock before the temperatures dropped. The kids were so happy to meet the triplets again; they really are the nicest kids, so sweet and kind.

Unfortunately, the ‘slide’ was under far more water than it normally is, thanks to melting snow run-off. It would have been impossible to sit on the bottom and allow the water to push you down – your head would’ve been under! Despite the lack of ‘slide’, the older kids were undeterred (crazy, crazy!). Jake, along with Becka, Kimmie and Gary all went fully under, talk about brain-freeze, the water temperature was frigid, seriously my finger went numb after about 5 seconds of contact with the water! We were glad the sun was shining and they were able to dry out pretty quickly. Nate found a little spot of rocks by the water’s edge that kept him occupied, the girls commandeered Kimmie into some kind of camping/house game
(did I mention that she is unbelievably patient?!), Jake and Gary went off exploring, which left Becka and the adults chatting – it was awesome, beautiful scenery, great company. We had a very enjoyable few hours with them, maybe the next time our paths will cross is in Pennsylvania – we’re holding you to it Bogers Family!

I had been on tender-hooks all day, knowing what was coming later, if only Dave knew why I was itching to get back to the campground! As we passed the KOA en route to the grocery, I checked for a red car: nothing. Karen called while we were in Williams to let me know that plans were running a little late, so I relaxed!

We sat down for a cup of tea when we got home and right around 4pm, there was a knock at the camper door, Dave frowned, I grabbed the camera and let BEN and LIZ in! How cool, a culmination of 7 months in the planning for Dave’s 40th. His face was such a picture of shock, he had tears in his eyes, we knew he was going to be thrilled, we weren’t wrong! Thank you B&L, you are amazing, 6,000 miles to travel is quite a commitment to your friendship. They’d just spent a couple of days in Las Vegas before driving to meet us. They didn’t even know until they got to the airport in Manchester if their flight would even bring them to the States because of the BA strikes, thankfully the strike only delayed them a few hours and they enjoyed being served by pilots, instead of crew!

Dave kept saying for the rest of the night, I can’t believe they’re here, it’s unreal, he was made up for sure and he said he’ll never trust us again, we’re apparently way too sneaky – love it!

I took the kids to the pool for an hour while they caught up and grilled some food for dinner. It was a fantastic evening. We had a fire which we haven’t had for ages, either because the weather's been too bad, or the land’s been too dry. Many places don’t allow fires at all because of the burn threat. The kids were really excited to have s’mores for dinner and Dave and Ben sat by the fire chatting a long time after the kids went to bed. This is happiness.