Last week was a bit stressful for those of us in Florida.  As the week went by, Hurricane Matthew came closer to our beloved town of St. Augustine.  By Wednesday, officials were saying that the coastal areas were going to be under a mandatory evacuation.  Since I work at the beach, that meant no work...for at least a few days.  So, I left work early and got Juliette from daycare.  We packed up the car (including two dogs that don't travel well) and headed north.  We left Daddy behind (not our choice, but he refused).  I drove all night...which I cannot imagine ever wanting to do again...and made it safely to Grams house in KY.  Here's a little peek at out impromptu trip...

The headlines in The Kentucky Enquirer...a picture of St. Augustine under water. 

Monty finally got off my lap to sleep for a few hours in the passenger seat.  He won't be going on any long car rides for a LOOOOONG time,

After the storm passed and we knew our house was ok and Daddy was fine, we had some fall fun at Neltner's Farm.  We were so excited for a REAL pumpkin patch (no church parking lot for us this year!).  It was a beautiful day...it felt like Fall!  We picked some pumpkins, visited their farm animals, Juliette rode their train, we listened to a live Bluegrass band and took a short walk through their corn maze.  We'll have to go back!

We also got to see Granny, Pappaw, Aunt Jenny, Uncle Ryan, Cousin Olive, Grandma Betty, Uncle Andy & Aunt Maggie and a bunch of the Schroeder's.  We made lemonade out of lemons on this trip!  

Unfortunately, St. Augustine didn't fair as well.  Our little town is now recouping.  Lots of folks lost their homes on the beach and the coastal areas.  The houses around the Club on the beach are in rough shape.  Many had major damage...and quite a few are considered condemned.  But St. Augustine is resilient.  She'll be back in no time!

Here's a short video that pretty much sums up my feelings for this place!

After the Grand Canyon, we had two days left to explore Phoenix & Scottsdale.  We stopped by the Desert Botanical Garden.  We spent a good two hours walking around and seeing the native plants.  It's amazing how many types of cacti there are!  Following that, we had lunch at Flower Child with my good friend Amy.  She's been a great friend of mine since our Flagler College soccer playing days!  It is always wonderful seeing her and catching up!  Of course we had to hit up the local Sprinkles too!  Juliette is a big fan of chocolate right now!

​The next day, we took Juliette to the Children's Museum of Phoenix.  The museum is just darling and Juliette LOVED it.  We had a hard time prying her away!  She got to paint a robot pink...and some other kids helping paint the robot were so kind as to paint Juliette's hair pink too.  We had lunch at Matt's Big Breakfast.  Best bacon I've ever had!  Later in Old Town Scottsdale, Juliette nabbed herself a pair of shiny black cowgirl boots.  She's been obsessed with them ever since.  We finished up the day with a trip to Baked Bear.  Matt had told me that we would enjoy this place...and he was right!  I had an oatmeal cookie ice cream sandwich that was delish!  Juliette had herself a chocolate chip cookie eaten with a spoon.  Weird kid.

Poor Jean-Luc

And she's outtttt...we had a wonderful trip!  Thanks Uncle Matt & Aunt Anne for letting us crash with you and for being great tour guides!  Can't wait to come back!

Our next stop, the Grand Canyon!  My first thought when we saw the canyon was, "This is fake"  It honestly is so amazingly HUGE that my brain was having issues grasping that it was a real place.  We spent the whole day traveling around the South Rim.  Every viewing area brought a new sight.  We brought a picnic lunch that we enjoyed at the Desert View.  I have to admit, Desert View, was my favorite viewing spot.  The tower was closed, but the Canyon was just spectacular there.  The first thing Juliette said when she saw the canyon..."So big."  This kid just loves being outside so we could have really taken her anywhere and she would have been happy!  Next time, we'll take Daddy with us!

After leaving Sedona, we headed to Williams, Arizona.  Williams is an adorable little town with proud ties to Route 66.  We didn't spend too much time in Wiliams, but enough time to grab some dinner and walk around some cute stores.  We also stayed in Williams for two nights in an adorable log cabin we found on airbnb since it was a quick 45 minute drive to the Grand Canyon.  Williams is definitely a great little stop while in Arizona!

This is the cute little cabin we stayed at in Williams...

The view from our little cabin...