Canoes and Helicopters :)

Get ready for a whole lot of pictures. We've been busy doing a lot of photo-worthy things.

First, when Rob came home for his past week off, we bought a canoe! Buying it was a little bit of a process because Rob found it on Craigslist when he was still in Vegas and because it was such a good deal, knew it would sell quickly. So, our friends, Jared and Deanna, actually bought and picked it up for us, and when Rob came home, we picked it up from their house. (Then, we had them over for a cookout/s'mores night to thank them. They brought their two dogs and all three pups went crazy playing in the grass in the backyard. It was fantastic. Hunter is a serious alpha-dog and had to show them who was boss, but settled in really quickly and seemed to have a lot of fun.)

We took the canoe up to Canyon Lake (the same place we took Hunter just to play in the water). The lake was freezing! I was seriously afraid of tipping into the cold water, but Rob was extra nice and not only didn't intentionally tip the canoe, kept Hunter (who we brought with us in the boat) from jumping out and tipping it as well. I'm surprised Hunter was as calm as he was. There were fish, ducks and Rob's fishing line to distract him. I think he's a pretty good dog :)

Here are a few pictures of the canoe...

In the garage, and ready to go!

The weird spot is where a patch was fixed with fiberglass. (I sound like I know what I'm talking about, maybe, but I don't. So if it isn't actually fiberglass...whoops :)) The important part is, we don't sink!

Oars (I'm seriously hoping that's the right word too) and life preservers that came with the canoe.

In the parking lot, ready to get into the water! (The canoe, not me. But you totally knew that.)

Canoe on the shore of Canyon Lake.

Also! The man who sold us the canoe used a motor on it. Weird. But I guess Rob and his dad wanted a motor like this for a long time. Soooo. Here's a picture of it, Don. I figured you'd want to see this too :)


Now! More excitement! I came up to Vegas with Rob this week and brought Hunter along. We aren't staying for the entire week, but for longer than I expected to. This is a very bachelor house. I've been buying make shift utensils at the dollar store and baking with them. It's a fun little challenge. But that really isn't most exciting. Most exciting is that I got the chance to go on one of the helicopter tours Rob flies yesterday! It was amazing! I flew with five people from Montreal, which was a little strange, because I'm used to just Rob and I in the helicopter/plane. I felt sort of weird asking questions because Rob gave the tour in English and then played the tape of it in French and I didn't want to speak over the tape. But I took pictures like crazy as we flew over Lake Mead and the Hoover Dam and down into the Grand Canyon. We landed in the Canyon and Rob and the other pilots (all the helicopters basically follow one another to the picnic spot) served a picnic lunch with champagne. Fancy! :) Rob had one of his friends, Josh, who is a pilot from Indiana, take a few pictures of us before everyone got back in the helicopter and flew back to Boulder City (where the tour began). (Random side note: I guess Josh and his wife just moved out here. He was in Rob's training class and I think the four of us are going to go out to dinner tomorrow because the guys work the same shift and are out earlier in the day. New friends everywhere!!)

Okay. I think it's probably easier to let the pictures just speak for themselves. Hopefully the crazy amount of these didn't make the page load really slowly. (And if it did, thanks for sticking here!) I'm going to go bake while these load up because I bet it takes a while...

It might be hard to see if you don't enlarge the picture, but Rob is in this helicopter cleaning up from the last flight and getting ready for ours. I took the picture from inside the terminal building.

The pilots all meet their passengers inside the terminal, walk them out to the helicopter and give them an explanation of the aircraft and seat belts and puke bags (all that good stuff) before everyone hops in. Rob is pressing some buttons before take off here. 

Lake Mead from the sky. I couldn't believe how blue the water was!

The bridge that we drive across going from Phoenix to Vegas. (This is the bridge that construction finished on this past fall.)

A closer view of the bridge.

The Grand Canyon, up ahead a little distance still.

The Colorado River flowing through the Grand Canyon. It's super muddy here.

A little closer view of the river.

Standing where we landed for our picnic lunch.

Before we head over to the picnic tables, everyone wants their picture taken. Rob plays photographer on the ground :) And! That's the helicopter we flew in again, this time at the base of the Grand Canyon.

Helicopter in the Grand Canyon again :)

I got a picnic lunch and glass of champagne too!

The picnic cabanas.

Rob and I at the base of the Grand Canyon!

Same concept, just a different angle.

Another of Papillion's helicopters, but with a different paint scheme.

The other helicopter taking off and leaving the Canyon (just before we did).

The view as we flew out of the Grand Canyon.

Last look before we headed into Arizona on a different route home. (I didn't take as many pictures of that because I ran out of memory room and I already have tons of pictures of open Arizona desert from the sky. It all looks...the same.)

I did try to fit both of us into a picture without freaking the other passengers out. It worked okay. I'm kind of falling into it.

Rob at work in the official pilot's uniform! :)

Back on the ground in Boulder City...Rob's sitting in the helicopter he just flew!

And another helicopter shot.

The last thing to do (because there was a gap between this flight and his next) is tie down the aircraft. We headed in for some water after this...it was hot! About 105 yesterday and warmer on the base of the Canyon. I seriously don't know how those guys fly so much in the heat! I came home exhausted and in need of a whole lot of water!

I told you to get ready for pictures :) Turns out I like taking them...a lot.

I also like baking things and (shhhhh!) I am planning on surprising the boys by pulling this out of the oven when they get home. Everyone that lives here (and is currently working/coming home this evening) had a day full of four flights and a lot of wind. I met Rob for lunch and he said there was an unusually high number of pukers today. That can never make for a good day. Hopefully the smell of cinnamon and sugar will brighten things up!

Rob and I are super excited to be leaving Vegas and heading home on Tuesday! We will see many of you in Cleveland (and Lancaster!) very soon. And hopefully, we can plan for a time for you to visit us in Phoenix and head over to Vegas to fly with Rob too :) 

Miss and love you all, Sarah, Rob and Hunter