Fall Break

And the real positive side of starting school so early this year was the addition of a fall break.  We are lucky enough to have family in St George, and with Amanda still on crutches it seemed like a great fit.  The last few times we had visited we hadn't made into Zions, so that was a priority.  As was enjoying a little of conference weekend with Patty, making cinnamon rolls, and playing in the pool. (None of which I managed to capture on camera.)

And don't forget Grandma's Lego collection.  Spencer talked about this trip for weeks before we left because he was so excited to play with these.  

We went into Zions via the shuttle bus and spent most of a full day hiking around and exploring.  This was the entrance hike to the narrows. 

 It was beautiful and a nice hike for Amanda as it was paved.  The kids loved playing by the water. 

The emerald pools hike was really gorgeous as well.  Everyone but Amanda hiked to the first pool and then Maren was my hiking pal and made it all the way to the top with me.  It was really fun to see how one pool would empty into the one below over the ledges.  And the views were incredible.  

Luke joined us for the third day and totally spoiled us with a kid friendly canyoneering experience.  It was incredible, and a little more exciting than we anticipated.  

 Maren showed all the kids the way to do it, going over that first ledge is a bit nerve racking.  Spencer surprised us all and pretty much just went for it.  Jacob took a little more coaxing and a partner, but by the end was going solo mostly.

This wall was huge, 80 feet drop!   And the kids handled it like pros.

 And then we found the water...it added a whole new element as it was about 60 degrees down in the canyon and if the kids got wet they would not have been happy.  Luckily between Dave and Luke they had enough know how and compassion to be creative and help keep everyone as dry as possible.  

 Check out that zip line!  Some of us stayed dryer than others as the ziplines could only hold so much weight.  I can only speak for myself when I say the water was very "refreshing".

 Amanda had stayed home that day, slept in and mostly enjoyed herself, until she started to worry.  And with no cell phone reception we had no way to get a hold of her.  It was only a mile long canyon, with an hour drive. so we though a three hour time frame was reasonable to tell her to expect.  But alas it took us 6-7 hours.  She was one worried girl. 

Sadly our trip had to come to an end, but on our way out of town we visited Kolob Canyon.  It was beautiful as there is more trees in the bottom of the canyon and they were in their peak color season.  We did a short overlook hike and called it good.  It was really gorgeous.  I think this is my favorite part of Zions.

If only vacation lasted all year long...