Day 4

WARNING! This post will contain more pictures than you will want to view!
I can't believe this is only Day 4. Today especially feels like 2 or 3 days wrapped into one.
Here is a run down of our day before I bombard you with pictures.
Eli wakes up at 5am and throws-up on me. Nice.
Everyone gets up at 7am and gets dressed.
Downstairs for breakfast by 8:30
Make it to the Grand Canyon airport by 10am. Flight leaves at 10:45, so I have plenty of time to take too many pictures before we have even done anything.
Helicopter company checks us in, weighs us, has us watch a safety video, fits us for personal flotation devices and gives us seat numbers.
Employees are super nice and take group pictures for us in front of our helicopter. We view them after the flight and they were awesome. Of course we had to buy them!
Flight was beyond words. We couldn't have seen anything near what we saw had we done it by car. Olivia was wowed. Eli fell asleep and Nathan was bored and about to puke.
The helicopter itself had no ventilation (seems like it would be a no brainer to have some circulation?), so it was very hot. Like his mother, Nathan has a strong gag reflex, and being too hot doesn't help. The heat in combination with the turbulence about did him in. But we survived.
After the flight, a quick stop at the grocery store for more food supplies, we got on the road to Albuquerque. Our first major town was Flagstaff. We had seen the smoke plume for quite some time (wildfire), but didn't expect to see giant, exploding flames from the road. We stopped for awhile to take it all in and capture some photos. It was overwhelming to say the least. In the 30 minutes we were there, we watched the entire fire line barrel towards us.
Between Flagstaff and Albuquerque we must have stopped at least 12 times for potty breaks. This was the reason I didn't want to potty train Eli before our trip. But honestly, it was still easier than diapers on the side of the road. Poor Aunt Sharon took almost every single potty duty today. My turn tomorrow.
Made it to Albuquerque by 8:30 to eat at a restaurant we had read about. Monica's El Portal Restaurant got good reviews online. They stopped seating tables at 8:45, so we made it just in time. Great chili (red was the best), super nice people and very family friendly. Aunt Sharon and I really needed a drink (the last 90 miles were difficult with the kids) and the food was super good.
Tomorrow is up in the air. Going to check out old town again in the morning in search of some chili and maybe some knick knacks.
Ok...time for pictures.

Ok. Because I am tired, hate Mountain time and just want to be done with this post, the pictures are in backwards order...but you get the point. Captions below each one.

New Mexico Sky

New Mexico Welcome Center

Beautiful New Mexico

More beautiful New Mexico

Arizona Sky

Fire at Flagstaff

Olivia taking it all in!

Sharon loving every mintue

Nathan feeling ill and not loving it so much

The view

The Colorado river

Our first view of the Grand Canyon

The kids excited

Me excited

Aunt Sharon excited

Eli thinks he is excited!

All geared up and ready to go!

Starting to lift off and very excited!

Pre-flight posers!

Olivia leading the way!

Lets go! We are ready!

Getting fitted with our PFD (personal flotation device)

Eli studies our aircraft

Just arriving. Taking it all in...