Navajo Country

todd and camilla at the zoo in window rock
roxy and the crawfish
Meg and a view of my future cabin property
Courtney I wish you could have taken pictures my camera doesnt do it justice

At whitehouse in canyon de chelly
whitehouse-cool huh
the canyon de chelly

At window rock and the navajo code talkers monument

We went to visit Todd's parents on their mission. they have been on the Navajo Rez. in Arizona of the past year. It was a long 7 hr trip through the middle of nowhere!! they are now living in St. Michaels which is right next to Window Rock. We arrived in the evening on Thursday. The kids were so excited to be there, we ate tacos (cooper ate 4) and then met some couple missionaries and a navajo member. the kids eventually went to bed and then my horrible night began. Roxy has a cold and a bad cough, so when I went to go change her from Gayle and Lorraines to hers, I found her sitting in her own vomit-she had coughed so hard she gagged herself. after getting her cleaned up and changing their sheets we were off to bed-or so I thought. the baby was in the room with us and she was making so much noise in her sleep I couldn't sleep. Roxy was in on the couch and she just kept coughing and coughing. Then I heard her getting up and just walking around. I could hear her going into other peoples rooms then coming out and shutting the doors. I finally fell asleep a few hours later only to be waken up by Roxy again I put her in our bed but she just layed there and talked everytime the baby made a noise, I soon kicked her out. Later at about 5:30 she came in wanting me to put in the straw to a juice box she had found in the kitchen. I told her no and so she went into grandma and grandpas room to ask them. I finally fell back asleep and slept until 7.

On Friday we went to the flee market in Chinle which was about an hour away. There I tried fry bread, navajo hamburgers and blue corn mush. All good. We then went to the canyon. It was amazing!! there is a small river that runs through it and people live down in it and have sheep and I would give anything to live in a place like that. We went to the lookout site that view the "whitehouse" it is an old indian ruin built in the canyon wall. I wanted to hike down and view it closer but I wasn't wearing proper shoes, and the kids-you know how it is. I would love to go back and spend a day just exploring!! We then went into the Hopi Rez. and went up on the First Mesa. Its the top of a mesa(i think) and the indians hundreds of years ago built their houses up there to avoid attacks. They still live up there. Its only about 50 yrds (i think- Im horrible at estimating distances) across and they build their houses on the VERY EDGE. their outhouses even go OVER the edge. It is straight down! They wont let you take pictures sorry.

The next day we went up in the mountain to the most perfect cabin property ever. I would kill for it. There is a little stream that runs through it and we caught a crawfish. todd hesitantly picked it up and tried to get the kids to hold it. of course the only one to do it was Roxy. On the way back we saw a horny toady in the road and todd (hesitantly once again) picked it up and Roxy (surprise surprise) was the only one to try to hold it.

We had a great time, cooper kept wondering where all the Indians were ( no feathers and loincloths) and roxy pinched and scratched everyone the whole time. we went in a hogan which a guy and his mom live in with no electricity and running water. The Rez is very humbling and makes me appreciate my riches. The ride home was torturous, even I kept asking "are we almost there yet" Cooper kept asking for chips and Meg kept saying "no" (she was the master of the cooler) finally she yelled at him "mom said no, dad said no and I said No, so NO" meg always has the final word. Great trip sorry this write up is so boring.