Courtney's Blog July 15th, Day 10 of the Epic McFarland Journey!

We had a dog named Oreo when I was growing up. Oreo was a brown cocker spaniel with a white stripe down his chest. He was the sweetest dog you've ever met. Just a big cuddle bug. He was a big trouble maker too. He loved to eat. He used to eat anything he got his grubby paws on. My favorite? When he would open the lazy susan, take out the pancake mix, and eat it. We would come home to clumpy pancake gunk on his jowels, all over his paws and on the kitchen floor. Good thing he was cute. Another thing he used to do was bolt like lightning as soon as he was accidentally let off the leash. This was amazing for this heavy dog who barely liked to move. But, being free from the leash released his inner race horse. He used to run and run and you'd run after him. He would run directly down the center of the road so you were in constant fear of being run over. He would eventually stop and look back at you. He would stand still and taunt you as if to say "come and get me". You would get within 1 foot of him, reach our your arm to grab him, and BAM! He's off again. There would be 5 or 6 rounds of this before you caught him. Keep this story in mind....

We headed into Arizona today and gained yet another hour! By 1pm, it was only 10am and we were well on our way to the first stop - the Painted Desert. We are seeing the Grand Canyon tomorrow, so this might change, but this was among the most beautiful sites I have seen in my life. Birth of my children = Tied for 1st, My mom doing this parenting thing all on her own and giving me a life where I never felt deprived, and I never felt she gave up on her own dreams, aspirations and goals = 2, the painted desert = 3. I can't explain the grandeur of it all. Abby just kept repeating "It's Majestic" and "God Bless America". (I'm not sure about the second one, but some of the rocks were red, white and blue so I think it struck a patriotic chord for her!) Gideon was even amazed and was inspired to once again take out his camera. He took his first selfie too! See Gideon's Photos - 712. He also thanked God for painting the park so pretty. The park is 28 miles long and only $10 to drive the whole thing. There were multiple pull offs to get better pictures, petroglyphs, old pueblo remains and enough beautiful sites and stupid tourists to fill me up for the entire trip. We stopped at every opportunity and got out and took pictures, and enjoyed the views. This was rather annoying after awhile because Gideon still can't buckle himself - but it was all well worth it. Gideon brought his toy lizard that I had gotten him. (see later for origins of said lizard). Every stop he would take his toy lizard and put him on the ground and shout inappropriate things in front of the others ...things like "Mommy, my lizard is coming with me!", "Mommy, my lizard sticks in here too!" and "Mommy, does my lizard look happy?" Finally, when I couldn't take it any longer, I had to respond "Be careful where you put your lizard, you don't want it to get an infection". This beautiful majestic setting seemed just the place for a life long lesson. Remember that key advice Gideon!

I was also able to witness the manner in which Gideon takes his photos - see below.

One of the stops we made was to an old pueblo village. This was a short loop hiking trail. Gideon was our "tour guide" and always was up front leading us to the next area. This is when it started. Gideon started Oreo-ing the hell out of us. Gideon would start leisurely walking towards the next stop and then BAM he was off and running like crazy! We would slow jog to catch up to him, and he would stop and giggle. Then we would walk a little further and BAM he's off again. We also saw a REAL LIFE lizard on this part of our journey. Gideon introduced his pet lizard to the real lizard. Surprisingly, the real lizard was not that interested.

See him running in front of us?

Speaking of the lizard, let me tell you where he got the lizard. Gideon has an addiction. It's a full on level 10 addition. It is to some weird videos on youtube. We refer to them as ....egg videos. They are these so strange videos of people opening easter eggs. They sometimes do it to music, and sometimes they narrate it. It is one of the strangest phenomenons I have ever seen. Look how many people have viewed that video...23 MILLION. Of course, Gideon accounts for about 1 million views. Look at how many subscribers!!! 853 thousand!!! At least Gideon is not alone. This addiction is so real that when we let him watch these, he can watch for hours on end. He will beg to watch them a billion times a day and when we say "no", he has a full fledge fit. For this reason, we have banned them. But I'm not totally cruel...I bought two bags of easter eggs with prizes and candy inside to help "fill the void" the egg videos have left. This is where he got his lizard. It's not actually helping though. I still get the "Can I watch Egg Videos" once or twice a day. Typically, he is smart enough to know that I will say no, so he puts his head down and whispers it lightly. Or he will start by gently grabbing my hand, looking up at me lovingly and saying "I love you mommy, can I watch egg videos?" If we don't get this under control, he'll be selling my belongings on the street to buy more access to youtube.

After ooo-ing and awe-ing at the painted desert for 3 hours (to go 28 miles), we finally left. We headed onward towards our next destination, Take It Easy. This is a corner in Winslow, Arizona where the "girl, my lord, in a flat bed ford" was "slowing down to take a look at me". There is a statue and some pretty cool murals. We listened to the song on the way in and out, and as it turns out Gideon is an Eagles fan. Abby got a huge kick out of the couple ...holding eachother...in the second story window. She took some amazing pictures today, and has been an amazing sister to Gideon. Gideon is so lucky to have her. She even looked out for Gideon tonight when he was eating an apple in the backseat. I heard Abby yell "no Gideon, not that part!" I turned around to see G-man trying to eat the core. Good catch, Abby.

We kept moving from there onto Meteor Crater! Unfortunately, as we drove up to the crater, there was a huge thunder and lightning storm..wah wah. We decided to give it a miss because it seemed a little unsafe to drag Abby, Gideon and the lizard into the crater with lightning striking all around. We are such kill-joys, I know. We may go tomorrow instead, we're still deciding. We don't want to lose precious time at the Grand Canyon!

Next, I got to do one of my favorite things: Talk to Caitlin. We caught up, and she made me feel at home even 2,000 miles away. Perfect end to a great day!

For dinner, we decided to try another local joint for dinner. It was delicious mexican food. Gideon loved the french mexican fries. Abby adored the Churro! Then we headed back to the hotel to not do laundry (they didn't have it).

P.S. Update on blankie: Blankie is on his way to the Grand Canyon Hotel! Should be in Abby's hands by tomorrow or Thursday!

Summary:

Made it to a new time zone, again, day 10 without unsweetened ice tea for me, kids are getting restless and hate eachother more often, God is a good painter.

Ended the Day at the Fairfield Inn, Flagstaff, Arizona

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