BIRD FAMILY REUNION 2008

Grand Can yon, Slide Rock, Lava Tubes and 16 people....what a BLAST! The past 4 days have been SO MUCH fun, exploring the Flagstaff area, building family relationships, and enjoying each other's company. We have gone where no other Bird's have gone before! By far the greatest adventure was Lava Tubes, which are not tubes at all, but actually about a mile of sharp, uneven jutting rocks, boulders and ravines and crevices that everyone thought would be fun to climb through....NOT. We even got Gramma to go part way down! Add to the adventure pure blackness, and 3 flashlights for 14 people, and you have a wild combination for casualties. We will have 'wound' photos later which will prove to the world that the Richard Bird family should never venture into the spelunking business. I slid my burned leg against a sharp rock, slammed my surgical scar on my other leg against another one. Mckenzie was eye level one minute, and talking to me from below my waist the next (she had fallen in a hole!) and Zach took a nose dive face forward into a bunch of boulders, and in trying to save the 3 treasures (rocks) he was clutching mangled his knee and hand and arm. Jerica had a 'minor' fall wherein she got a couple of scrapes. Rich, Thank Heavens, wasn't with us. He had stayed home with grampa. Otherwise our injuries would have gone off the charts! Trish and I clutched each other's hands, then arms, then waists while she persistently gave her husband (Dan) wedgies trying to keep her balance (she had a hold of the waistband of his pants!) Matthew and I only banged our heads against low hanging rocks twice, and all in all, it was a grand adventure!