The Grand Canyon, AZ

On Saturday, May 1 we arrived at the Grand Canyon. After quickly unhooking and setting up the trailer, we raced off to the park to see one of the 7 wonders of the world. Well, it deserves that spot! We were amazed at how huge the canyon is...pictures and words simply do not do it justice! As you can see from the photo above, Braden doesn't have a fear of heights. The whole time we were walking along the edge, Mike and I were telling Braden to come back from the edge and to be careful....it was a long way down. He was having the time of his life!

Greetings from Page Arizona

Hi everyone,

We had an amazing time at the Grand Canyon! Pictures and words just cannot do it justice. I will post photos from the past many days in a week or so...we've had next to no internet access and definitely not enough to upload photos.

When we left Sedona last Saturday morning, Mike and I went to fill our propane tanks before heading to the Grand Canyon. While we were doing that the kids played some tether ball at the campground. The end result of that was a trip to the Grand Canyon Medical Clinic on Sunday morning for Amy. The diagnosis, a compressed growth plate above her pinky finger on her left hand and a fracture on the finger. We are now in Page, AZ awaiting an appointment with an Orthopedic Specialist who will re-x-ray her hand. The report from the doctor at the Grand Canyon is that there has been some spiral displacement on that pinky. We'll keep you posted as to what the specialist thinks the next step should be.

Despite all that, it hasn't really slowed us down...in fact, we are thankful that we had to stop in Page. We may have just driven right by and instead we have been here for two days enjoying Lake Powell and the surrounding area. We'll post photos of all the exciting things we've done here too once we get a better connection.

Blessings....The Kehler Trailer

My thought for the day.....

Today we are headed to the Grand Canyon. We are excited to go there and are preparing to bundle up after having such nice weather. They've had snow there the past few days and highs of only 5 degrees Celsius during the day with 50 mph winds. Brrr

Yesterday I went for a long walk up the mountain from where we are staying and had lots of time to pray and reflect on this time we are having as a family. I have just started reading Randy Alcorn's book entitled Heaven. It is a book that takes a deeper look into what scripture teaches us about our eternal home. As we've been travelling and seeing so many things, we've been having fun and enjoying our time. We've met new and interesting people and have had opportunity to share Jesus's love and hope with some people too. We've had amazing fellowship at many Calvary Chapel churches that we've attended along the way. In a way, this has been like an analogy of our lives here on earth. Even though we are having a great time, we long to return home to Calgary to be with our family, friends and church family. It made me think that this is how we should treat our lives here on Earth...to enjoy them, to make the most of them but to long for our Eternal Home, Heaven...to be with the One who created us. To be in a physical place which will be even more glorious that the places we have and will continue to see on this holiday with our new resurrected physical bodies and to have fellowship with real people who we know. Come Lord Jesus, come! Have a wonderful day....not sure when we'll have internet again but soon as we do, we'll post more to our blog. Love you all.....the Kehler Trailer Gang

Jerome, AZ - Old Western Mining Town

Yesterday we went to Jerome...a half hour day trip drive from Sedona. Jerome is an old mining town built on the side of a mountain...you need to be a billy goat to walk around there! Once we walked around Jerome and looked in some of the amazing galleries and shops, we drove out to the mining ghost town. They had a functioning steam saw mill and this donkey took a particular liking to the kids. Amy thought it was cruel to have the donkey tied up right beside the loud mill with only a few feet of space to move about. I'm pretty sure they let him out to wander about once the tourists are gone for the day.

We thought this was a great photo....ever since Braden got his braces off and had to have some laser surgery on his gums, he has had an aversion to going to the dentist. This dentist promised to be pain free! Inside was the original price list for services. You could get a gold tooth for 75 cents! Take special note of the tooth and drill on the outside of the building :-)
This church was built into the side of the mountain by a daughter in honor of her mom and dad. It is a catholic church and was neat to look at. The view out the front window behind the cross was spectacular. Even more spectacular than the church itself...which was a good reminder that God isn't contained in a building...he's everywhere and His handiwork far surpasses anything that man can do.

Slide Rock State Park, AZ

We spent a couple afternoons at Slide Rock park. You can't truly see from this photo, but there are natural water slides through the rocks that end in these big pools of water. Then, if you're not done having fun sliding, you can climb up on these small cliffs and jump in. The water was very chilly...45 degrees Fahrenheit and it was only about 70 degrees outside...but, being good Canadians, we put on our wet suits and jumped in for some fun anyway!

Except Braden...he thought he could do it without a wet suit...which only lasted for one slide...and then he changed his mind!!

Mike and Braden going out for a great ride on Templeton Trail.

Sedona, Arizona

On Monday, April 19 we arrived in Sedona. It was a beautiful sunny day and we were amazed at the gorgeous scenery here! Mike loves the fabulous mountain biking and our campground has been really enjoyable. The kids have had a lot of fun playing tether ball and ladder golf. I have enjoyed all the peace and quiet in this small campground and listening to Oak Creek as it trickles close by our site.

The boulevards are all made of crushed red rock...even the sidewalks are red here!

We went to Montezuma's Castle National Park. This is a photo of a diorama of the cliff house that has been preserved as seen in the following photo.

Amy and I decided we are thankful that we don't have to climb all those ladders to get home each day.

Willow Lake RV Park

The RV park that we stayed at in Prescott (like Biscuit...not like Scott) was right on the edge of these amazing granite rock formations. We had lots of fun climbing all over the "slick rock" which wasn't slick at all...in fact, it was quite grippy. We saw lots of little geckos and the boys even saw some snakes. God knew Amy and I didn't need to see snakes :-)
Willow Lake is in the background. The kids and I had fun biking along the shores of the lake the morning of Mike's race.
King and Queen of the castle!

This rock was perched precariously and looked like it could roll down the cliff at any moment. The kids had fun "holding" it up!