Bryce Canyon

A last minute decision on the way back from St. George today led us to Bryce Canyon.  Our kids have never been there and if we've learned anything from our lives in Seattle and Connecticut, it's to seize the day and see it while you can.

It was beautiful!  We weren't wearing appropriate shoes, and didn't have hiking water, so we couldn't do the trail that went down to the bottom of the canyon.  We'll have to do that next time!  It looked awesome!

Bryce Canyon has now been checked off our Utah bucket list.

Snow Canyon

Saturday morning we slept in (yay!) until almost 10 am!  After breakfast and getting ready we took a quick drive to Snow Canyon and visited the sand dunes.  Snow Canyon is one of our favorite places in St. George.

At 11 it was in the high 80's so the sand was a little warm on our toes.  We kept our shoes on until we dug down a little ways for our toes to cool off.

We saw more lizards that Sawyer tried to catch.  One was a big spotted creature.  We were just not skilled enough to snatch it.  Maybe next time.

We carved some sand sculptures in the sand though.  

Here is my grumpy old man face.

After a while we got some lunch and headed back for more swimming at the hotel.  There was a little birthday party for 4 of the cousins.  Josh was definitely missing his naps (which are near impossible in a hotel room) so I took him for a drive.  We made it to Mesquite and then headed back for dinner at the Pizza Factory.

That evening we headed back to Snow Canyon now that the canyon was shrouded in nice comfortable shadow.

Tiny Josh loved the freedom of roaming around without worry.

The sand was cool on our feet and we were able to take off our shoes!

We had fun running up and down the dunes...

and all around.

I made them sit still for a picture, which Josh protested immensely.

It was more fun to run free!

We tested our echos, saw some bats, and watched an amazing moonrise in the canyon.

Snow Canyon in the evening is the time to go.

Friday in Dixie

We started the morning with swimming in the hotel pool.  Josh was interested in running around and just being a toddler in general.  So there was no relaxing by the pool for us.  McKinley got a little heat sick, so she took a break in the room to recover.

After a post swimming shower, I took the boys up to Pioneer Park while Kent suffered from a migraine in the hotel room, and McKinley went shopping with some cousins.

Our goal was to catch lizards.   We saw 3 and caught 0.

Josh loved the hiking freedom and fell down many times because he wanted to do it all himself.  Ah, toddler independence!  Gotta love it!

After dinner, Josh returned with Kent to the hotel for the night while I took the other 3 to Tuacahn to see Mary Poppins.  My early birds were a little tired, but enjoyed the play (and treats).  The boys favorite part was the fireworks :)

Parks and rocks

Today McKinley's class took a walk down to the river parkway trail for some fun and games. I was able to show up per her request for about an hour.  Isn't it nice how resilient kids are?  They started school here in March, but they have adjusted and made friends as if they have been here all year.

She was sporting her field hockey shirt from her Connecticut days though.  Good times there too.  I'm glad there are so many good places in the world.

Then I had to take off and show up to Sawyer's rock project exhibition in his classroom per his request.  He was so proud of his collection.  One of his favorite rocks was pyrite.  I had a hard time explaining the concept of fool's gold to his satisfaction.  Everywhere we go where there are rocks he is curious about the gold content there.

I wonder how long they will keep asking me to show up at all their school activities?
I am enjoying every minute of it for now.

After school we made the drive to St. George for the weekend.

"Ram Mall"

McKinley had her economics project at school today.  They earn Ram bucks at school, then open a shop to sell their services or goods.  She has been so excited for this and when I visited her today she was definitely in her element and loving it! 

Duckling

We went down to the Jordan River Parkway today to do something for Sawyer's homework.  When we got out of the car we heard some loud chirping and tried to spot the nearby bird.  We couldn't see anything though.  Soon it sounded like it was coming from my car.  My heart dropped since I've actually had a bird stuck in my car before and I was afraid that was the case again.  Then McKinley spotted the tiny lone duckling under my car.  Eventually I got a hold of the scared little duckling.  I let the kids all have a turn (except the squeezy toddler) holding the fluffy little ball of cuteness.  Then we found a spot to return it where it was safely away from the parking lot. 

Camping/Father's Day

I told Kent that this year was not my year for camping.   Josh is 20 months old.  It just wasn't going to be happening for me.

Well, Father's day rolled around and I said we could try camping.  Silly girl.

We went up Saturday and came home Sunday.  The kids had a blast "adventuring", playing with walkie-talkies, roasting marshmallows, and getting dirty.

Our 20 month old behaved as expected:  wandered off wherever he wanted, paid no heed to the warnings of the dangerous firepit, and didn't sleep peacefully in a tent with 5 other bodies.

Luckily this time the toddler wanted to sleep with Daddy. So daddy got the dead arm from not being able to move away when the toddler fell asleep, as well as the middle of the night face slaps.  Now he understands why I don't think it's a good year to go camping.