We'll keep them.
After getting dressed, Aimee and Jill explored the overlook that I ran up to watch Dean the day before.
But I was fine staying at the beach this time, thankyouverymuch.
Even if it did mean a bit of low back pain.
After a lazy breakfast, we loaded everyone on the boat (infinitely easier without all of our gear), and made our way upriver to the dam.
Dean was at the helm, with Mimi and Otto on lookout.
We made a quick stop at some petroglyphs, but didn't have much time to reflect on the canyon's history, since it's present was quite warm.
We hopped back in the boat, and cruised another twenty minutes or so to the dam.
Mimi was already living her best life, and it only got better when the picnic came out.
Quinn, again, thinking that it's totally normal to be crawling around the mouth of the Grand Canyon a month before his first birthday.
As you can see, the river is pretty wide at the base of the dam, so the water is relatively calm. So we spent the afternoon floating around on a paddle board and kayak Dean had borrowed from some work friends.
This is what I have to look forward to.
We cruised back to camp after lunch and had a reasonably easy time putting our kids down for a nap. The newness and excitement was somewhat balanced out by running around at mach 7 in full sun for the morning.
While Dean took his kids on a floating nap in the boat, Jill took advantage of the kidless afternoon to kayak down the river a bit.
When Dean came back, he told us about a nice shady beach he had found down river a couple of miles. He proposed motoring over for a picnic dinner. And I'll be honest, it was not an easy undertaking to talk myself into getting up from the camp chair, but it was totally worth it.
As you can see, Dean convinced me to go by packing the camp chair in our boat. It was a good lure.
And if this place wasn't already toddler paradise, there was a puppy!
A couple from Flagstaff that Dean met at Lee's Ferry while he was waiting for Aimee and Jill happened to be stopping at that beach to pick up some firewood.
So their puppy chased our puppies for a bit, and it was hard not to think about how lucky we are to be here.
Back at camp, Mimi and Ruby made themselves right at home.
Even before this trip, these two were inseperable. If they weren't so exhausted, it would have been impossible to put them in different tents for the night. But we were able to peel them apart, put the kids to bed, and still have a few minutes around the campfire before we started falling asleep, ourselves.
And at first light, Mimi and Ruby were back in lockstep together.
We spent the morning playing at a little off-river grotto we had seen the day before. It would have been worth the trip for the beauty alone, but it also served to get the kids good and tired for our boat ride and drive home that afternoon.
Quinn: Uh, dad, a little help here?
Me: Sure, just hang on one second so I can get my camera.
Back at camp, we slowly, begrudgingly packed up our gear after a wonderful couple of days.
Unsurprisingly, 7/8ths of us fell asleep on the way home, but thankfully Dean kept his eyes open.
As we pulled into Lee's Ferry and Mimi waved bye to the river, she asked if we could come back tomorrow.
If only Mimi. If only.
Of course, the grownups would be coming back in a couple of months for Jill's 40th birthday, but why ruin the moment?
