We are amazed at how much there is to see in the Flagstaff area. Here we are nearly a week into the trip, and we haven’t even been to downtown Flagstaff yet.

On Tuesday, we visited Wupatki, another national park in the area. It’s a spectacle of 1000 year old pueblo ruins, among other sights.

The kids learned all about the Wupatki indians who lived in the area soon after the eruption of the Sunset Crater volcano. We observed a blowhole–the earth kind, not the whale kind–and felt cool air blowing up from underneath the earth. As the boys and I walked away, I looked back and caught a glimpse of Jeremy laying on it with his shirt pulled up to feel the cool air on his belly.

Oh, Jeremy. He has been quite a trip this week. I could blog for days with quotes from the mouth of this soon-to-be four year old. Since Jim has been toting Ruthie on our hikes, Jeremy has been my little buddy. We hold hands everywhere we hike, at times holding on for dear life (more on that later). Today, he said to me, “I like hiking because I have you all day.”

The Junior Ranger program is proving to be a gem on this trip. Derek, Peter, and Jeremy each earned their second badge at Wupatki as Ruthie looked on.

First, the test.

Then the pledge to respect and preserve national parks, and to encourage their family and friends to do the same. The effort that is required to become a junior ranger makes the badge exceptionally valuable.