St. George Getaway

Lucky us, we got to tagalong with Rob to St. George a couple weekends ago and escape the inversion of doom! It was so wonderful to be able to see the blue sky again after weeks of being stuck in the disgusting haze.  Rob flew down on Monday for work and I drove down with all 4 boys by myself on Thursday…the day of the dreadful freezing rain.  I waited til it had thawed and all the accidents had been towed away so it was smooth sailing for us.   When we arrived we went straight down to go swimming because that is the highlight of the trip for a swimming Squeaks. We even got Noah a swim diaper and let him splash around while sitting on my lap.  Then we collapsed into bed to prepare for our big day ahead… a trip into Zions!I had never been brave enough to take the boys into Zions by myself but with enough googling I psyched myself into it and off we went.  I kept telling the boys we were off to hike “The Impossible Hike”!  Somehow referring to it that way calmed my nerves because if the whole thing was a flop it was because it was supposed to be impossible anyways.  It made for fun convo on the way there too because we’d see jagged peaks halfway in the clouds and I’d ask “Do you see the IMPOSSIBLE hike!?”

Above is Caleb with HIS stick.  He found it outside of the Zions visitor center and was adamant that we take it with us on our hike.  I told him I was willing to take a picture of his Precious so he could always remember it but that it was not coming in my car and that it belonged to the visitors center.  He played with it outside for 10 minutes while we watched the movie of how Zions was formed since he couldn’t bring it inside.  It was indeed a special special stick.Zeke took this picture of Caleb and I thoroughly enjoy it because a) Caleb’s face pretty much explains how we were feeling a lot of the time stuck in the car and b) because you rarely see any car pics of vacation but that’s where we were for A LOT of this trip.  I got a little confused about which road to take in Zions and we ended up driving off on this side highway that had THE coolest winding up the the mountain, feel like your flying, driving through two mega long “wish tunnels” where you can turn off your lights and be in COMPLETE darkness and all scream for the fun of it and see tunnel windows peaking out the side of the rock and come out the other side and end up in CarsLand and then Dinosaur World. *Big breath after way toooo long of a run on sentence*  This is what road trips become when you’re trying to entertain 7, 6 and 4 year old boys.  The highway side trip was a total accident but it was way worth it because of how awesome the scenery and tunnel were.We went on the trail called Riverside walk that luckily was paved which meant I could stroll a sleeping Noah and stir crazy boys with pent-up energy could RUN! which Caleb most assuredly did. Especially since it meant that he was the winner and could have a treat. We were at the river approximately 5 minutes before Isaac as per his status quo immediately put both feet with shoes on in the river.  This is annoying in the summer but will drive a mother CRAZY in the winter.  Knowing this would happen despite my insistent warnings, I brought extra socks and shoes and we forged on with the hike.  Notice Caleb has found yet another glorious stick.My boys always give me the hardest time when I tell them we’re going to go on a hike. “No! We want to go swimming…to the dollar store…to Lazer Mania!..” they insist, but I haul them unwillingly into nature and every time guaranteed they have the time of their lives.  Hopefully they will remember next time.  I may need to refer them to this post. Look! We found a tiny bit of actual green growing!You can’t really tell from the pic but this was the cutest babbling brook.

Despite the fact that I probably own 10 different hats for Noah, I never have one on hand when I need one. Hence the makeshift blanket hat.  Urban turban. Also notice Caleb’s colored safety pins he put on his coat. Such a fashionista.Brotherly bonding along the scenic trail.  Fruitloops from the hotel breakfast is our version of trailmix.Oozing with personality .Frozen waterfall? Cool!  No, really. The trail was closed due to falling ice… and they weren’t kidding.  We got to the sign and Caleb pronounce/sang “Wah, wah,wah,waaaaah!”  There you have it! We hiked the impossible hike! Quite successfully too I might add.  Unless of course you count the fact that Noah screamed for 15 minutes on the way home because he was starving!!!  He was not impressed by my offering of a slice of white bread.