Vacation - Day Four

This was the day we had pre-decided to spend in St. George.  We just wanted to hang around town and not drive anywhere too far.  We started with a second visit to that great rock climbing park that we explored on our first day.  This time, David volunteered to stay behind with the baby while I followed the big kids.  We had a great time, and stayed for at least an hour - maybe more like two.

Look how cool this place is!  And look how great the weather was for hiking!

Love this picture!  If Quin was in it, I'd frame it and put it on my wall.

My girls.

Meditating in nature.  Ohmmmmm.

On the way back to the condo, I asked David to stop at Croshaw's pies for me so I could get a pre-birthday treat.  Croshaw's is amazing! My mom always goes there when she goes to St. George, and sometimes brings home a slice of pie for me.  Anyways...I got a bunch of mini-pies in different flavors so that I could sample a variety.  When we got back to the condo, we cut them all up and devoured them. I had a few slices left over, which I ate over the course of the day. David will think I'm silly for writing a whole paragraph about pies, but they really were a wonderful part of the trip for me!

In the early afternoon, we went to a local theater to watch "Inside Out."  What a cute show!  But I have to admit - it hit a little too close to home for me. Seriously, it was like watching the story of Alison's life when we moved here!  I'm not joking.  She's past the trauma now - in fact, she never wants to move back to Idaho, but the first year was rough!  Poor David hardly saw any of the movie.  Between keeping a wiggly, wandering baby under control and constantly filling the kids popcorn buckets, he was pretty distracted.  About 45 minutes into it, he decided to just take the baby and leave.  He took Quin for a drive so that he could nap.  They went to the canyon where David ran the St. George marathon many years ago. I think he really enjoyed the quiet time, and driving through some beautiful country.

After the movie, we went to Swig.  It's a drink/snow cone/ice cream/smoothie place.  Kory Kunz's family owns it.  It's super fun!  The menu is HUGE - I was a bit overwhelmed by all my choices!  I could go there every day for a year and STILL not repeat. We all got a yummy treat, then we went outside to the tables and had a great time relaxing and visiting.  On our way back to the condo, Josh got carsick and vomited.  A LOT!!!!  He filled a LARGE movie theater cup.  Maybe a snow cone after the movie treats was not such a good idea.

What should we order, Mom?

Bron's chillin' with his Tiger's Blood snow cone.

Cute Nicole had lemon-lime and peach.

Alison chose a smoothie.

I don't remember Josh's flavor of snow cone,but I'm gonna go out on a limb and say it was red...

That's a cute baby with curly hair

This is a cute baby without curly hair.

We went swimming again that evening.  It wasn't quite as fun (or as um...sanitary) as the first time.

Then we ate another very late supper and put the boys to bed.  That night, a beautiful thunder storm passed through.  I sat on our deck and read a book while enjoying the winds, rain, and lightening.  It was such a beautiful night!  One of the highlights of my trip!

Bam! Vacation day four is oh-vah!

Vacation - Day Three

Monday morning 6:00 am!  Time to PAR-TAY!! At least that's what Quinton was thinking.  We were up with the sun, as usual.  I don't really notice how loud my kids are until we've got people sleeping underneath us and the condo has a "quiet time" policy until 8:00 am. The good news about having early risers is that we can get on the road early.  We drove to Zions National Park early enough that we were able to park inside the park (most people have to park in town and take a shuttle in).

You can't drive through Zions Canyon.  You have to take a shuttle.  That was fine with us.  The shuttles are pretty cool!  I hadn't been to Zions since I was a child (or young teen).  Bottom line is, I don't remember it.  I was amazed at the beauty!  It truly is breath-taking.  For some reason, though, this was not the best morning for our family. Many of the kids (except for Ali) woke up feeling grumpy.  I wonder if they had a touch of the bug that passed through Nicole on Sunday.

We drove the shuttle clear to the last stop.  There is a short, flat trail that leads to The Narrows.  We decided to walk it - it's only a mile or so.  After spending time roaming free on rock formations, the boys had a very hard time staying on marked trails.  Therefore, I had a very hard time keeping my voice down.  Nicole was complaining that she was tired, Quinton was as slow as tar (and angry as a bear if we dared to pick him up), and everyone was complaining that they were starving to death.  Seriously!  We stopped for snacks and/or drinks TWICE during our ONE MILE WALK!!!  Okay, I have to calm down.  Just writing about it is getting me worked up...Honestly, I know that as the mother, I could have distracted or diffused the kids, but I was as grumpy as they were.

This picture pretty much sums it up.

After three and a half decades, we made it to the beginning of The Narrows.  Older, more experienced hikers (the ones who can make it more than 500 yards without a snack) began hiking up the canyon.  We found some rocks to sit on and enjoy a granola bar (yes - another snack).  The kids wanted to walk in the river, but David didn't want them to.  An argument was about to ensue, but was disrupted by the entrance of killer squirrels.  I'm not kiddin' - these squirrels were like trained snack-extraction teams.  They must REALLY like nature Valley granola bars because there were plenty of other people around, but the squirrels focused their efforts on us.  There must have been a dozen.  The swarmed the baby, who was sitting on the ground.  Ali and I tried to protect him, but ended up just picking him up before he got eaten.  One squirrel climbed up David's back.  I'm glad it was him - he acted much cooler than I would have!  It was so bad that the tourists around us were taking pictures of us.  Nicole loved it.  She was trying to lure squirrels onto her lap.  YIKES!  At least the squirrel attacks lifted the foul mood for a while.  Our walk back to the bus was very pleasant.

Alison taking Quinton on an adventure.

There are at least two squirrels in this picture.  The were big!  No wonder poor baby was scared - I'd be frightened too if I was sitting on the ground and rodents half my size were stalking me.

 A weeping rock.  So cool how those are created!

We went on another short walk, but the kids weren't that into it.  They were tired, hot, etc.  So we simply took the shuttle bus back to the van and left.  We spent a total of around four hours in the park.  With five young kids, I'd say that was plenty.

Once, we were in the very front of the second car.  It was great to have huge glass windows to look through.

On the way home, we stopped at a rock and gem shop for souvenirs.  It had some pretty amazing stuff. The kids had a great time perusing.  Actually narrowing down all the amazing rocks, fossils, jewelry, etc. into one single souvenir is not so fun.  I felt like we spent more time in the rock shop than we did in the actual National Park!  Somehow, we finally left.  Then, we had a picnic at a riverside park before heading back to the condo.

That afternoon, we went swimming in our condo's pool.  It is a fun pool with a waterfall.  Everyone was in a super great mood.  David and the kids were making human towers and playing games - the older three soaked in the hot tub with him for a while.  We stayed for a very long time.

Alison is supervising Bron, Nicki, and Dad.

Starting to fall...

Joshua!

By the time we got everyone out of the pool, bathed, and sent David to go get some pizza, it was late.  We were eating pizza at like 9:30 at night.  But it was fun!

And THAT is how you do a Vacation: Day Three

Vacation - Day Two

The first night was a rough one for me.  All the crappy food I had eaten caught up with me.  Plus, the baby is a NOISY sleeper!  He's usually in a different room, so I don't notice how much he moves around and sighs, but when he's right there with me, its's a whole different story.  Every time he stirred, my mommy instincts kicked in and I'd be wide awake, trying to figure out what was wrong.  Luckily for me, the condo had a very comfortable murphy bed.  I slept like a champ, once I figured out that I should sleep there.

Day two of vacation was Sunday.  We woke up, ate breakfast, got everyone ready, and headed to church.  We met my parents at a chapel across the street from the St. George Temple.  It was a very nice testimony meeting.  However, the baby was a MESS!  We forgot to bring his pacifier with us - BIG MISTAKE!  He spent most of his time in the halls.

After Sacrament meeting, Nicole started to complain that she had a headache.  I said, "suck it up" (in a much nicer way) and took the family across the street to look at the temple grounds and visitor's center.  It was neat.  I would like to have spent more time there, but after ten or fifteen minutes, I noticed that Nicole was getting worse.  Being her mom, I know that headaches are rare with her, and often lead to vomiting.   So we cut the temple visit short.  David went back to the condo with the boys and Nicole.  Quin took a nap, the boys basically ran wild and got into trouble, and Nicole started throwing up.  She felt sick for about eight hours, threw up three or four times, then got better.  No one else got sick on the trip (excluding car sickness) so I'm feeling pretty blessed!  Sunday was a good day to have a sick child for a few hours.

Beautiful ultra-white temple.  It was so bright staring into the sun for this picture!  If you can zoom in on this picture, check out Nicole's face.  I love it!

Bronson checking out an exhibit at the visitor's center.

Meanwhile, Alison and I stayed with Grandma and Grandpa Smith.  We saw the home where my  great great great Grandpa Church lived (Hayden Wells - he was a pioneer, and one of the first settlers in St. George).  We couldn't go in, a family lives there, but we saw the historical marker in front.  Pretty amazing!  Then we toured Brigham Young's house in St. George.  Did you know he had a pomegranate tree, a pecan tree,and several almond trees in his yard?  If he had an avocado tree, I might have moved in that very day!  Our tour guide was a missionary from none other than Rexburg, Idaho!

Look - they spelled his name wrong on the historical marker!

Grandma and Grandpa came to our condo for lunch.  David cooked delicious hamburgers.  Then, my folks set off for the long road home.  Grandpa had to work on Monday.  When they left, it was still blazing hot outside and Nicki was just starting to feel better, so we decided that we would just hang out in the condo and watch a Disney movie together.

The movie ended around 5:00.  By then, a cloud cover had moved in, as well as a light breeze.  We loaded up in the van and drove to Snow Canyon.  What a beautiful drive! I think I could live down there in all those red rocks very happily.  Snow Canyon was a perfect place for our little family.  We found some beautiful, wild, exciting new places to explore within a short walk from the road.  We could have stayed much longer than we did, but dinner and bedtime sent us back to the condo.

It would have been miserable if we were there in full sun and heat.  But it was lovely when we went!

This amazing slot canyon was literally a quarter mile off the road.

There three pictures are of the kids exploring Jenny's canyon (the slot canyon I was talking about).  They  imagined they were living there.  Everyone chose their own beds, places to store things, etc.  

Those are the petrified sand dunes.  Maybe about a mile long, they are kid paradise!

David scrambled to stay with the older kids as they took off.

That's Alison, and my camera is zoomed in all the way to see her.  She is pretty far away, loving the dunes.

I stayed behind with Quinton.  He had his own pace.  And he fell.  A lot.  But he had as much fun as the rest of us.

How's that for a beautiful Sunday drive!?!?

Vacation Day Two:  Exit Stage Left...

Vacation - Day one

We had a wonderful family vacation this year!  As usual, I am going to tell about it in way too much detail for the average person.  However, I hope my kids love looking back and remembering the details years from now.

We left for vacation on Saturday, July 4th!  What a way to celebrate Independence Day!  Not really - driving for hours instead of watching parades, swimming, and attending firework shows isn't very festive.  Oh well.  David didn't have to work on the Friday before the holiday, so he spent it getting the yard, house, van, etc. ready.  We were completely prepared to go bright-and-early in the morning.  I think we were on the road around 7:30 in the morning.  Isn't the anticipation and excitement for heading out on a road trip electric?!?! I LOVE it!

We drove for a couple of hours, listening to a book on tape.  Around Fillmore, we were getting hungry and tired of sitting.  We decided to look for a grocery store to buy a couple of snacks.  However, when we pulled into town, we discovered that Main Street was blocked off due to a parade.  It was just starting.  PERFECT!  We quickly parked, got out a couple of camping chairs, and watched the parade.  Ali and I walked a block or two, until we found a market where we bought snacks.  It was blazin' hot, but super fun!  I was thrilled that our kids didn't have to miss out on a 4th of July parade after all.

Quin was pretty cute in Daddy's hat.

Bron and Ali watching the parade.

Nicki, Bron, and Josh waiting for candy.

After the parade, we drove a bit further, then pulled off at Cove Fort.  Neither David nor I had ever been.  We really weren't expecting much, so we were very pleasantly surprised.  We watched a video about the history of the fort, then we had a personal tour by a very nice missionary.  We learned a lot - seriously!  I now know the history behind the terms "pop goes the weasel" and "sleep tight."  I LOVED the fort!  I wish I could live there!  If I ever become rich, I'm going to pattern my home after it - courtyard, barn, garden and all!  Quinton wasn't really interested in the tour.  He went exploring on his own. David was kind enough to follow him around so that I could listen with the older kids.

Cove Fort.

You can't really tell, but we're up on the look-out.  We're pretty far up!

The blacksmith shop.

Quinton exploring on his own.  He LOVED playing in the dirt.

A little bit past Cove Fort, we stopped in Beaver and ate at Wendy's. From there, it's only a short while until you hit Cedar City and the scenery stars to change.  Our excitement built with every new mile.  The red rocks are so beautiful!  I loved listening to our children "Ooh!"  and "Ahh!" and point out all the beauty to teach other!

We arrived in St. George around 4:00 pm.  My parents generously let us stay in their time-share condo for a criminally low price.  It was a beautiful three bedroom condo.  It was HUGE!  Almost as big as our house!  (top floor anyway)  The boys shared a room with two twin beds.  The girls shared another room with a queen.  Our room, with a king sized bed, was so huge that it fit Quin's crib with plenty of room to spare!   We had a lovely deck with our own grill, beautiful kitchen, two nice bathrooms (the kids' bathroom was bigger than their bedrooms at home!) and even a laundry room!  Each bedroom also had a TV in it.  That was by FAR the most amazing thing in our kids eyes!  They hunkered down and watched TV for a half hour while David and I got settled in and waited for my parents.

These pictures are from a website.  It's not exactly the layout of our particular condo, but you get a feel for it.

Grandma and Grandpa Smith had been in Cedar City to watch a couple of Shakespeare's plays the night before.  They went to Zion's National Park in the morning, and drive to St. George to meet us in the evening.  They stayed in a nearby hotel - which is kind of silly since we were staying in their condo!  They showed us all around town - where to eat, where to play, where to shop.  They go to St. George fairly often and we don't, so it was very helpful.  We ate at Panda Express, which was pretty tasty  - especially after a long drive with parade candy.

Grandma and Grandpa took us to this great place on the mountain north of town.  It's a park, but also just a huge rock formation.  The kids were able to run, climb, and explore.  It was so much fun!  We ran around for a while, then rounded everyone up and went back to the condo.

What a pretty silhouette!  That looks like Alison, Nicole, Grandpa, and Bronson. I don't know where Josh is, but I'm sure he's near-death (as he usually was on this trip - he has no sense of safety)!

Nicole

Bronson

The boys all went to sleep, the girls watched the Disney Channel in their room, and David went grocery shopping for the week.  That left me all alone with nothing to do!  SWEET RELIEF!!  That almost never happens to me!  I sat on the couch in silence and read a fun escapism novel while eating salt water taffy.  I heard fireworks going off, but I couldn't see them from the deck and I really didn't miss them.  David saw them while he was in town, so at least one of us celebrated the 4th.

And now Vacation Day One is literally "in the books."