Bearizona

When we arrived in Arizona I kept seeing this sign for a place called Bearizona! I immediately wanted to go because I have always wanted to go to a place where you could drive through and see animals close up. It's like a zoo but better :). Clay was so agreeable to anything we wanted to do..just wanted us to all be Happy and enjoy the very long drive.
So we fit this place in on the day we saw the Grand Canyon. This place did not disappoint! We were told the animals would come up to your window and check out your vehicle. But, because we had the dogs in the van the Animal Keepers said they Bears would probably stay away.
We saw wolves, sheep, bison, bears. So COOL!!! One of the wolves slowly got up from his nap, stretched and came over to our van. Straight to our cargo thing on the back and was trying to tear into it so we had to get out of there. :)
After the drive through part there was a nice sized part to walk through. Really pretty and well kept. We saw bear cubs, a fox, baby bison, petting zoo and many more things. The kids had a perfect place to run around and get more energy out!

Arizona

What did we see in Arizona??? Hmmmm...Just the GRAND CANYON. Clay says he needs to create a new Bucket List because he is marking a lot of things off lately. We had to pack a lot in all in a day. We woke up and got going quickly on this day because we wanted to go to see the Grand Canyon and Bearizona! We had planned on taking a train around the Grand Canyon but it was an all day trip and we just didn't have the time. So we drove to a look out point and checked it out at a Great look out point. Amazing isn't a good enough word to describe it. It was absolutely gorgeous. If I wasn't so stressed about one of the kids or dogs falling off the edge I could have stayed there all day long. We kind of took turns at some points where one of us could hold the dogs and kids and the other could check out the canyon a little better. Clay and I would love to come back here and do the horseback tour. How cool would that be!

New Mexico Zoo cont.

Road Trippin to CA

Well..we did it!! We packed up our dogs, our 3 kids and all of our stuff! We took our minivan and drove cross country. I have to tell you it was a bit stressful, but the best trip of our lives. I didn't know our country was as beautiful as it is. We saw so much and enjoyed stopping and relaxing at various places. I will have to break up our trip into shorter blogs so I can try and share pictures of each place.
The first part of the trip was a bit boring because it kind of just looked like Alabama, which is nice (we love it) but just land that we have already seen. The kids watched a lot of movies and played with their toys. The Grandparents stocked them with toys. Nana got them backpacks and made them blankets. I am so appreciative too. I didn't realize how fast it would hit them that they did not have their toys. So having some things we could pull out of their bags and cheer them up really helped.
We stopped at least 5 times at Cracker Barrel..I think the last state with Cracker Barrel was Arizona! We didn't know they were that far west! And ofcourse we found McDonald's everywhere that the kids could get out and stretch and play. I can't tell you how proud I am of my babies. They were Amazing for such a long trip, without their schedules and toys. Don't get me wrong everyone got fussy here and there but that is just Normal :).
Well..the blogs will continue with pictures of some of the places we saw!

Beach Trip

We had a wonderful trip to the Beach a few weeks ago. It actually feels like it has been a lot longer than it has been because we have been so busy. This was our first vacation as a family of 5 and our first time to stay in Destin. The water was so clear, the weather was fabulous, we loved our condo, just could not have asked for more.
There was a lazy river and quite a few different pools toddler friendly! Heaven for me because it kept the kids really busy.
We ate at quite a few fun restaurants, ice cream out, and I got to go to the Outlets! :)
There is just not enough room to post all the fun Beach pictures. But..I will try.

Moving

As most of you know by now we are Moving! Clay took a position in Los Gatos, CA so that is where we are headed. We have just gone through 2 very very busy weeks. We were blessed to have the movers pack us up so I thought things would be a lot easier. But, boy was I wrong. A lot of the little things that normally would not take that long took FOREVER with 3 helpers at the house. It took 3 full days for the movers to pack us up and load the truck. It's hard living out of box's and without normal kitchen supplies.
The final morning we went to do the last touch's. When I walked in and saw the things left to do I about had an emotional breakdown. So much cleaning, misc. packing and stuff to do. And..I had 3 kids with No toys or entertainment. I did not think it would get accomplished. I had 2 Angels show up yesterday morning. Aunt Joyce and Uncle Landis walked in and I was on the floor with Cenley. When I heard Aunt Joyce say "relief was here" I seriously felt the biggest sigh of relief. Aunt Joyce helped with kiddos, Uncle Landis helped Clay and got us lunch! We had the best time and accomplished a Lot!! Thank you so much to you guys..you just don't know how much we appreciate the help!!!!
A lot of the little things we will be hiring help for and it just feels good to know our house was left with "help" in site. :) We also have a wonderful realtor.

So more to come on our Road trip to Cali with all of the kids and our 2 dogs! Trip of a Lifetime!

The McCoy Family Adventure

Well...A Lot has been going on with our family lately. It's hard to put it all into words actually. A few words to describe what is going on: Chaotic, Crazy, Exciting, Scary, Fun. Clay has found a job that seems to meet all of the needs of his "Dream Job." The problem is it's across the U.S. in California. We found out less than a month ago and have already put our house up for sale. We have one week left before we go and what are we doing? Well..we are on Vacation of course! :P
So, when we get back to reality there will be movers at our house packing it up and moving all of our belongings to storage in CA. We will be staying in corporate housing until we find a place. Clay and I decided rather than fly our family of 5 and 2 dogs to California we will take a week road trip and see the country. The kids are great in the car so that shouldn't be too bad. WE will just make lots of McDonalds and Chicfila stops..(wherever there are playgrounds). We plan to see the Grand Canyon, Los Vegas, and some places in New Mexico. So this next few years of our lives will definitely be different, possibly lonely at times and scary. But, we will have each other and make the most of what is to come! We really would appreciate lots of prayer for this next venture in our lives!!