Trip to Zion National Park

Earlier this month we took a trip to Zion National Park. We were headed down to Las Vegas for the weekend anyway to see Joel's cousin Liz give her farewell missionary talk, so we left a day early and had some family time together. We had so much fun! Joel had Friday off, so as soon as I was done with work we packed a lunch and drove down. We stopped at a gas station at Cove Fort for lunch (that's a shout-out to my bro-in-law, Dan!) and the whole place was CHARRED from the fires last summer. We should have taken it as a bad omen, because unfortunately Joel had a great idea for the kids to race among the construction barrels and loose gravel and Lincoln got a HUGE chunk ripped right out of his knee when he fell. Needless to say, that little blunder disqualified Lincoln from the competition.
We arrived at Zion in the afternoon and readied ourselves for some sweet hiking.Our first was up to the three Emerald Pools. It was fun and I was able to keep up only because Joel had Clara in the backpack and the boys are still kids.

This was my favorite of our hikes. We enjoyed breezy weather, cool destinations and the kids were all in the best spirits.
Interestingly we saw a polygamist family on the trail - one man, three wives and about twenty kids, all in pioneer get-up. One of the wives, when she saw our gang, remarked, "You guys are almost as ambitious as we are!" My question about them is: Who decides what they can and can't wear? The girls all wore hoodie sweatshirt jackets over their long dresses and open-toe sandals. Why is it that they can buy sandals but not sneakers?
Hey, we got some family pictures taken, thanks to several volunteer photographers on the trail! And, look, we even saw real deer!

For dinner we found a Thai restaurant (Joel's and my gastronomic weakness) that was pricey but the curry was awesome!
Back at the hotel we played in the pool for about two hours: Joel and I would stand in the pool while Lincoln, Asher and Clara would jump into our arms over and over and over again. Then we enjoyed the luxury of a heart-shaped tub in our room! Somehow the romance of it all was lost on Joel and I, and I think it was mainly due to the three kids that bathed in there with us.
Saturday morning we ate at the hotel's surprisingly good continental breakfast and then headed back to the park for more hiking! Our first hike for the day was Canyon Overlook, which was easy and fun and really beautiful. Normally Asher could care less about whether the camera is pointed at him or not, but on this trip over and over he would turn around and call out for me to take his picture.
It was the perfect time of year to go: the weather was so mild and we didn't have to fight swarms of people in the parking lots or on the trails. It was really relaxing and enjoyable.We had plans to hike Pa'rus Trail, but our kids were pooped and after Lincoln had a breakdown of sorts, we regrouped and hiked to Weeping Rock, instead. After that we passed our park pass onto my little sister and her husband, who had also just driven down for the weekend, and we headed to Vegas to spend time with Joel's family. What a fun trip! I love doing things with our kids. It is so satisfying to me!

But, I was also pooped! It took a couple of days after we got home before I felt recovered from the lack of sleep and extra exertion. Viva la Zion!

I can't wait for our next family trip!