The Grand Canyon!

We left Nov.22nd, and came back Nov. 25th. It was so cold! Brian and I both had good winter jackets but Dyllan did not. So before the trip, I took him to Walmart and after much trying on , found a nice 2 piece winter jacket for $20! The inner jacket is less heavy and reversible. Worked like a charm.
In the above picture you can see ice on our car after the first night. During the day temps got to be around 50. At night, as low as 23.

We stayed at the Quality Inn Suites. Really nice, had a front room with seating area, fridge and microwave, then down a hall,our spacious room.

We were less than 2 miles from the South Rim entrance. So before we went, we visited the local IMAX theater which is a National Geographic Visitor Center .Here we viewed a beautiful film,telling of it's rich history.

(((Please click on any picture for detail! I made them all small so you could see any detail you might want!)))

On Sunday we toured the west side of the rim. Mostly just driving along and stopping at all the points of interest all the way to the end which was Hermits Rest.

~ In the above photo, what looks like granite lines is actually a trail with people walking down or up! That's quite the hike.

Here's Brian on a overlook. As you can see the rail is not exactly "child' friendly, so we took turns holding Dyllan's hands so we could take in the scenery.

We were trying to back out of a spot to go on to the next point of interest when this Van in front of us caught our attention. I took the photos through the sun roof as I did not want to be too obvious. Love the leave a message pad.

Twilight is probably my favorite time of the day. I love how everything becomes a silhouette.

The ravens in the Grand canyon were unlike any I'd ever seen. Not only were they the biggest but the sound they made was quite unusual. The first one we saw sounded like he was going through puberty, with a warbled , "gronk!"

Our first day was hazy and very nippy. These sunset photo's were taken along the rim somewhere around Hopi Point.

I had brought along a new toy for Dyllan for the a ride home, but it proved useful to keep him entertained on rocky places safe from the edge. It was a yellow transformer and it went everywhere with us.

One of most favorite places that we visited the next day was in the Grand Canyon Village. We took a trail along the rim past the Bright Angel Lodge, on to a Fossil area. Now I LOVE hunting for sea shells at the beach, so this was right up my alley to hunted for prehistoric shells!

Here you can see shells, a bone? and even what looks like a fish of some sort.

I wore a beautiful green beret and crochet felted rose made by Kathryn of Camellia Designs

Kept my head warm and looking stylish too!

With supervision and a tight wrist strap, we encouraged Dyllan to take photo's of anything he wanted. To see the Grand Canyon through the eyes of a 4 year old, please go here and enjoy!

I was also thrilled with the abundance of Juniper trees everywhere!

After strolling around the village we headed to the east end of the rim, stopping at various points of interest and ending at the Watchtower. The inside is stunning with richly painted walls and steep winding stairs that took you to the top for a beautiful view.

A man was playing a flute which resonated in the tower and made the trip all the more worthwhile. You can see some of the beautiful art work on the wall around him.

The above photo shows the different levels. I looked down once and felt squeamish, so on this shot I leaned back and held the camera over to take the photo.

We stopped off at Mather Point for our last Sunset shot. It was over crowded and really really cold. I played with Dyllan while Brian took some pics. Then Dyllan conked on the way back to the hotel which was good cause we wanted to eat somewhere besides McDonald's on our last night!

We ate at the steak house above. went straight from the park which turned out to be a good idea as the placed filled up fast! My meal ended up lasting a few days as it was lot and delicious. The home made biscuit came with prickly pear jelly too!

On Tuesday, as we left for the ride home, i saw something in the trees and begged Brian to turn back. Turned out to be a total of four deer, perfectly camouflaged. Here you can just barely see them.

we also stopped off at Planes of Fame Museum.

the place was huge! lots to look at. Turns out they have another museum, even bigger in Chino, Ca. Gonna have to take a look-see someday.

After the museum I browsed a rock/gem shop, because I felt that no trip is complete with out bringing home some stones from state you visit. I picked out some beautiful pieces to add to my rock garden but felt sorry for the older lady as she lived in a trailer home out back and she said a snow storm was moving in later that night.

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So now we are home safe and sound. I went to a walk in clinic on wed. seeking relief from a cough I've had for almost 2 weeks. Turns out to be a viral Bronchitis. The doctor says I'm beyond the contagious part and gave me some gel pills to ease the cough. The side affect of the medicine is that I'm even more tired and they make me feel queasy even when I take them with food. feeling miserable is no picnic and makes it harder to get in to the "creating" swing of things.

~ Hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving! We spent ours with some dear friends.

I'm looking forward to getting together with my scrapbook/altered art group on Sunday for six hours of food, fun and crafting.

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Have a good weekend!

~Michelle

***All images are property of Michelle Cummings, Please do not copy for personal use. Thanks You***

See you in a few days!

Brian, Dyllan and I are all packed up and ready to go to the Grand Canyon! We've never been, and I look forward to sharing our adventure with you when we return!

Besides the stunning scenery, I'm looking forward to the weather there too. REAL winter temps, not like it is here in So. CA with 80 degree days.

See you in a few!

Fiska Friendzy! - About Me ATC swap!

~ This last Saturday, I, along with a 100 plus Fiskateers from California and neighboring states , embarked on a fun filled day full of games, give aways and crafting fun!
Most of us did a ATC swap. An ATC is a Artist Trading Card that measures 2.5" x 3.5". A mini masterpiece. I started off making 125 because I wanted some left over for random anytime trading. I had batches of them drying all over the studio, but I kinda forgot a few here and there when I was adding my elements and the final count arrived at 96. Not bad.
(((Please feel free to click on ANY pic for detail!)))

~ I wanted to give Cheryl, one of the lead Fiskateers organizing the event something special, so I made her nest charm in the "true" Fiskars colors- green and orange. Only the eggs came out more copper looking than orange. She loved it anyways! And I plan to list a special series in my shop soon just for fellow fiskateers.

~ The leads did a amazing job decorating the "Royal Salon"

~ Here are just 'some' of the fabulous prizes they gave away!

~ Here I am with my friends Kimber and Laura Bray

~ The nearby fires kept us from exploring the ship. The smoke engulfed the Queen Mary so bad, we could not see across the water canal to shore. It rained ashes so bad, we did what we could to stay inside. I'm, glad I brought eye drops with me!

~ Our special guest for a class, was none other than Candice Carpenter! Yea!

Here we are with her,and she's so cute! Please visit her blog for a give away of the kit she taught us!

~ Here I am fellow fiskateer Genevieve and new member to my Scrapbook group!

~ We arrived at the Queen Mary at 9am. Played games, did crafts, listened to amazing stories, had lunch and made new friends!

~ Then we all shuttled on over to the Long Beach Aquarium for more fun. Kimber had never been to the aquarium, so it was a treat for her as well as for me because I love that place!

~ The jelly fishes and sea turtles are my favorites by far...

~Look at the beautiful coral!

~ These colorful fish are not only beautiful but very interesting! The male fish change gender when they are stressed out!

~You can see the sheer size on this place by the life sized whale and calf suspended from the ceiling! The outside was equally amazing too, but the falling ash was bothersome.

~Here's Kimber by the main indoor tank.

~and Me!

~After the Aquarium, 53 of us 'Hungry' Fiskateers took up a good portion of Bubba Gump for some serious eatin' and fun! My table mates included Candice Carpenter, and a few other fun friends plus one who is on the design team for Glimmer Mist!

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And guess what???? I won something! Through out dinner the servers did random trivia from the movies, "Forrest Gump" You can see it towards the end of this post!

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~After dinner we all went to Scrapbook Sisters in Long beach to crop until Midnight!

I mostly talked with some people I had not seen in ages and then worked alittle on my wire wrapped creations.

~ Here's my apron I decorated for the event. I added orange tulle to the bottom and decorated the top with Prima paper flowers.

~Upon closeup, you can see the detail and all the buttons I collected!

~ I also made a mini tiara using the same prima flowers, copper wire and green glass beads.

I was quite the sensation with the tutu apron and tiara!

~ Here are some of the ATC's I collected.

~Here are some more!

~ Here is one of the ATC's I traded.

~ I cut the atc's from cracker and cereal boxes and gesso'd the printed side. Then I painted a blue line down the center, and two green lines on the sides. After it was dry, I went over with pink or red glitter paint (not glue). Then I glued my photo copied picture in place, added the words and went over it all with decoupage and fancy vellum like tissue. I added the crown last, a punch newbie by Martha Stewart.

~ Look at the goodies they gave away in our goodie bags!

I won the clear stamp set and mini stamp press at bubba gump. So excited as they went with the new paper line we recieved!

~ Here is what was in my class kit taught by Candice.

And this is the start of the mini book I made from her class.

~ The following is what we received in our goodie bags!

~ Check out these yummy tools and new squeeze punches!

~ So overall it was amazing and wonderful day. So nice to meet the ladies that I talk with on the fiskateer site and do swaps with often. It's a wonderful community of friends that all share a love of crafting!

I'm happy to say that I'm a Ambassador of Crafting, Fiskateer #915!