Havasupai

I think the theme of this summer could very well be "The summer of dream vacations" or the "Summer to see God's beautiful creations."  Either title would be appropriate.  After 14 years of being married and 37 years of being and AZ resident - give or take a few years away for school- We finally made our vacation dreams come true, except for Machu Piccu, of course.   Our first vacation of the summer and the title of this post was to Havasupai.  We had heard from everyone how great it was, how beautiful it was...  Then we heard about the flood a few years ago that changed the landscape a bit and rerouted the water and some of the falls.  People who went before and after would say, "Oh, its just different."  Well since we had nothing to compare it to, we couldn't be disapppointed.
After a lot of discussion, we finally decided to allow Hannah to join our trip.  She could very well be the toughest 7 year old I know, except for her fear of Joe's ghost stories.
So, the trip was set, half the original group dropped out leaving a smaller, but super fun group of family to go with, namely - Jeremy, me, Jake, Abby, Hannah, Ty, Dyan, Jack, Matt, Joe, Cassie, Koe, Devon and CJ.  The falls were about as amazing a sight as I've ever seen.  The water was absolutely crystal blue and green.  The hikes were rugged, especially coming out in the heat of the day with little kids,  The weather was nice and warm making the water that much more refreshing (well, cold at times).  I overcame my fear of heights and climbed the face of a cliff to jump in the water.
So here are a few of the hilarious and super awesome highlights of the trip.

• The ride up with Joe scaring the kids with his "Blood River" story, making everyone in the car jump about a mile
• The hike down where Joe scared Hannah with his Legend of the Hualapai Wolfman.  The Hualapai Wolfman was a little Indian boy whose family was killed by the white man.  He was then raised by wolves until they were killed by wolves when he was grown.  He now haunts all white people, especially the whitest of them all - blond hair, blue-eyed people.  Hannah found the other whitest person on the trip, Dyan, and clung tight to her the rest of the hike.  Joe, that story could indeed become legendary.
• Koe and CJ making "new friends", with the tripped out Tiffany that invited them to be devil worshippers with her and telling them they were "making her hot"  We're still quoting that story all the time.
• Hiking down to Mooney Falls.  One of the most spectacular sights ever!  The falls were so powerful you didn't have to go in very far to get soaked.  It was well worth the fear of dying to get down there.  It was extremely steep and you got down there by hanging on to chains, stakes and climbing ladders straight down.
• Climbing the cliff at Havasu Falls and jumping in.  10 years ago, I would never have dreamed of doing something that daring.
• Going to Navajo falls and jumping off the top of the waterfall.  Frightening, but exhilarating at the same time.  I'm so proud of my girls for doing it, more than once even!
• Then going up river a ways to the lesser visited area.  I don't remember what it was called, but the water was green and clear with the bottom of the water lined with green vines.  We rode the current tubes and enjoyed some time with the locals.
• Eating breakfast burritos in the village.  Quite possibly the best $8 I've ever spent.  The village was not at all what I expected, much larger with homes all over the place and even an LDS church.  
• Koe distracting the girls on the hike out.  We greeted every passerby with "g'day mate" for a while then we pretended to be cowboys with "howdy"  Then it turned into a competition to see who could get passerby's to greet them with the same greeting they gave them.  She also told us stories of "surprise poops" and when she peed her pants in front of a cute boy.  She had us all rolling and the kids distracted during the worst part of the hike.  Thanks Koe!!!

So here are some pictures of the trip.  I don't think they do it justice how amazingly gorgeous it was, but here goes anyway...

These are taken at Mooney Falls.  I don't have a picture in the collage of the terrifying climb down, but let's just say it was awful!

These pictures were taken at Navajo Falls.  I don't have a picture of Abby jumping (she went after the camera battery died), but she was horrified and was a champ to jump.  She took a long time to get the courage, but she succeeded.  Jake, Jack and Ty were fearless and jumped a ton.

These pictures were taken at Havasu Falls.  This is where we spent the most time.  The kids did tricks off the small fall and this is where I first got the courage to climb the cliff and jump.

And just a few more pictures, including a picture I was able to find of the Climb in and out to Mooney Falls. 

1.Hannah and Abby 2. Jack, Abby and Jake 3.  Jeremy at Havasu Falls 4.  Mooney Falls climb  5.  Chillin' at Havasu Falls - Karrie, Matt and Dyan  6.  Jake jumping at Havasu Falls

p.s.  for the record, I hate that I'm so computer illiterate.  These collages took me hours to figure out and I'm about to throw my computer out the window.  Hopefully I get better and the collages come faster, or I may never blog again!