Montezuma Castle National Monument~Camp Verde, Arizona

Today's field trip was to Montezuma Castle in Camp Verde. First, the kids all did the Ranger Program activities to earn their badges.Then we walked the very short distance to see the castle. This castle is a five story cliff dwelling built by the Sinagua Indians. The name “Sinagua” comes from the two Spanish words “sin” and “agua”, and means “without water”. The Ancestral Puebloan culture that lived and farmed in the Flagstaff area hundreds of years ago was named the “Sinagua” by archeologists because of the absence of water in that area. When archeologists began studying the culture that had lived here in the Verde Valley they realized that the people here were also members of the Sinagua culture.
Gaze through the windows of the past into one of the best preserved cliff dwellings in North America. This 20 room high-rise apartment, nestled into a towering limestone cliff, tells a 1,000 year-old story of ingenuity and survival in an unforgiving desert landscape. The construction of Montezuma Castle began around 900 years ago and was abandoned about 600 years ago.What an incredible thing to view this piece of history in this way! We then had the pleasure of hogging our nieces all to ourselves for the rest of the day. They are both such dolls and we are really loving our time with them.

Nathan to Mikaylah as she leaves my side and scoots up next to him on the bench: Oh, you are coming to sit next to me?
Mikaylah: Yes, because you are always more funner.

Mikaylah to me: Are you old?
Me: Yeah, kind of old. Why, do I seem old?
Mikaylah: Yes

Guess that is why Nathan is more funner. LOL

Abigail while sitting and eating ice cream with me: So, what is your hypothesis about when the other people will get back from the movies?

Oh, they crack me up. Little ones bring me such joy and these two are no exception to that rule.

Living the apparently old life in Arizona!