When you don't have kids in school, Spring Break doesn't mean a lot and you purposely plan vacations when everyone else is busy in class. We hadn't really thought much about taking the little kids on vacation for Spring Break until last year Luke when came home from preschool, so excited because Mrs. Fox had told him about Spring Break and he wondered where we were going. Luckily he was small enough that I think he considered a trip to the farm at Thanksgiving Point as good as any other location, but this year we decided it would be fun to venture a little further. We were only able to be gone for a few days so a long weekend in Southern Utah was the perfect getaway. Most of our trips to St. George are for the marathon so it was fun to have time to relax and explore a few other places. We were lucky that Brycen's schedule was free so he was able to go with is - basically the kids think that any time they get to spend with Brycen is the very best.
We Thursday mid morning and took our time traveling - stopping for drinks, lunch, time to wander around the truck stops, etc. Once we got to St. George we headed straight to Thunder Junction - a new city park. I have heard so many people talk about what a fun place it is to play and we were not disappointed. The kids loved all of the dinosaur playground equipment and had the best time on the toys that were specifically designed for all abilities. We were able to ride the train and sit right by the conductor which made it especially fun. It was the perfect place to hang out on a sunny day.
After Thunder Junction, we headed to the hotel to get checked in. The kids immediately put on their swimming suits and wanted to head down to the pool. They had time for a short swim before we had a late dinner and tried to get everyone settled into bed.
Friday morning everyone had a great breakfast at the hotel and then we headed out to Snow Canyon. We were hoping to get out hiking before it got too hot and we were definitely glad that we had started early. For the first part of the morning we split up - Tim and Brycen headed on a longer hike to some wind caves and I took the little ones to go adventuring in the desert.
After dropping off the big boys, Luke, Ruby and I headed out for our own adventure. After finding a fairly easy trail, we headed out on our own hike across the desert. Along the way we saw a snake, a lizard, cactus, lots of lava rock, several homes for little critters, butterflies, caves and a giant cocoon full of baby caterpillars. The kids started off strong but faded quickly after trudging through the hot sand. I found myself turning to my mom's strategy of singing to keep us hiking when we were kids. I taught them funny camp songs and it kept them from whining. At one point they wanted to sing You Are My Sunshine and as we hiked along, singing together, I was just overwhelmed at how lucky I was to be enjoying such an amazing moment with my two favorite little humans.
Once we finished our "hike"
It was time to play in the sand dunes
Even Flat Stanley joined in the fun of making Sand Angels
Eventually we all met up and headed out together for one last climb. Brycen loved the views and the rock formations, and I loved showing more of this amazing world to Luke and Ruby. They had so many questions about how the rocks and the mountains and it reminded me how little I know about geology. I answered the best I could but will definitely have to up my game as they get older.
Always following in big brother's footsteps
After a hot afternoon in the desert, the pool was the perfect place to finish out the afternoon.
We had the best day and completely enjoyed our time together and all that we were able to do and see. After two days of adventures, we were all worn out and ready for an evening to relax. One day left on our trip and we planned to make the most of it.
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