If you could hike to Kolob...

Thursday of Spring break we visited Pioneer Park in St. George. The kids loved climbing all over the cliffs, and Aubree loved getting to climb herself. RD took care of her, so she got to do a lot more climbing, which she loved :) i just get a bit nervous, she's my baby!

They found several lizards, but never got to catch one. RD did have a hand on one, but was also holding Bree, so he ended up with a wiggling tail, which was probably even cooler to the kids, though RD felt bad about the lizard.
Amidst all the climbing, scampering, and exploring, Aubree discovered the fine, smooth red sand, and proceeded to fully invest in enjoying it. I guess our sandbox at home could use an some sifting. We had to drag her out of it, and her hat is still rust-colored.

Cameron found a bunch of great caves and lookout spots, and the girls tried fitting into the smaller ones. I loved that it was a huge area to just explore, and when we were done, there was no long walk back to the car.

After a lunch break, we went to the Sand Hollow pool, which was warm (88 'F) and had a fun slide, spray features, and lily pads on a monkey-bar course, which the kids loved. The kids loved it, even Aubree didn't want to go, but she was in great need of a nap before we went to see some friends for the evening, which was a lot of fun. It was a first for us to have hungry Howie's pizza, and we were digging the flavored crusts. And I got to hold their newborn girl. It's so fun to know awesome people.

Friday we had planned on going to Bryce, but after the week, we weren't up for a day trip with 5 or 6 hours of driving, and my parents wanted to go to Kolob Canyon. RD loved talking about hieing (?) to Kolob. It was a cool, a fun short hike, great views, and we even got in a geocache that was apporpriately named If you could Hide to Kolob! We also discovered a new bribe for hiking; gum. Water usually makes a hike fun enough; throwing stuff in water never seems to grow old, but using gum as a motivator totally worked for this crew. They debated the merits of different flavors I had, and kept Bree occupied, though there was the time she dropped her ABC gum down RD's shirt. at least it wasn't his hair, right?!

There was one part of the trail that was raised up on platforms, and with the surrounding trees and mountains, gave me a bit of a flashback to the muskeg hikes in Sitka, with their raised trails between logs. but, they are still totally different.

My parents left, and we went back to the condo. We were so beat from the whole week, we just crashed for the rest of the day. Cleaning, stripping beds, packing,etc took the whole next morning, and we were back on the road home. We had some stops along the way to Salt Lake, including a last minute lane change at the American Fork exit as I abruptly remembered we had wanted to get a family pic at the Mt.Timpanogos temple, where RD and I were married forever! Our camera had 3% battery left, which I had been trying to ration once I discovered I'd forgotten the charger. The wind was whipping, and the kids started doing laps around the lawn once they got out of the car. We rounded them up, set the timer and got in a few shots, then the battery died and the rain started. I'm so glad we had enough power for a couple shots, this is a special place for us.

We got home Sunday, facing the unpacking and cleaning up, with school and work the next day. Easter was the next weekend, soccer starting that week for the other kids, and it's been busy ever since we got back. We always forget to plan one day of relaxation before we get back into the swing of everything again, but I wouldn't want to have missed a moment!