For Spring Break we went to St. George so that we could visit Zion's National Park, the 3rd National Park on our list. We had a great vacation. These pictures are not in order of what we did, but they are great highlights!
Every time we go to St. George we have to go swimming in the Sand Hollow pool. This is such a fun pool - with slides, fountains and other fun activities. It was fun to try out my new underwater camera, and it was great that Brandon has worked up the courage to go under the water. Brandon spent most of his time going down the big slide all by himself - a big accomplishment!
Trent unfortunately was sick for most of the trip - so despite his love for water he didn't have a great time - poor kid.
Grant was all over the place - he couldn't get enough of all the fun things to do!
We took the kids to visit Brigham Young's St. George home - it was beautiful and very neat to see the history and to show the kids how people lived back them - hopefully it helped them to appreciate some of our modern day conveniences.
We were also able to visit the temple grounds and visitor center - I love how beautiful this temple is and the history of the sacrifices made to build it - someday I really hope to be able to go inside and do work there, but every time we visit St. George we have our children with us - and we would need a baby sitter.
Sand Hollow Reservoir was a hit with everyone!! It was so nice to have a day to just sit and relax and listen to the waves lapping up to shore. The kids had a great time playing in the water and sand and taking a break from long drives in the car and difficult hikes! Grant was especially happy and surprised when his "girlfriend" Naomi and her family showed up - they had a great time playing together!
Jared was thrilled to fish for bass fish for the first time - and best of all to catch one (on the Grant Spider-man fishing pole ;) )
We visited Snow Canyon and loved the sand, wild flowers, lizards, and the rocks for scrabbling up! Grant fell and got hurt but we improvised a little bandage and he did pretty well for the rest of the day.
Zions was definitely our favorite part of our trip. We went two different days, the first day was hard and we were not so sure we were liking it, but the second day was awesome and we were so glad we gave it a second chance. Our first day we did the River Walk - it was beautiful and easy, just right for the boys and our sick Trent. We were able to see some deer and lots of squirrels which Trent was fascinated with.
The boys had a great time sliding down this big rock. :)
At the end of the walk the boys naturally had to throw as many rocks into the river as they could - it was a great reward for finishing the walk!
The second time into the park we did the Emerald Pools hike. This was more challenging, but also much more rewarding. The boys did great on this difficult hike, until we were less than half a mile from getting back to our car and Brandon had a melt down because he was so tired.
Brandon and Grant had a great time climbing to the top of every rock possible - victory was theirs!
The second pool at the top of the waterfall was beautiful and so much fun to splash around in and enjoy a break and a snack.
Even Trent had fun climbing up the rocks!
The third pool was a lot of fun because there was sand to draw in and we were able to see a mother deer and her fawn.
As we hiked out of the Emerald Pool we enjoyed stunning views!
While we were in Zions we knew we had to do something to help the boys enjoy their time their a little more because they were getting tired of just hiking over and over again. The junior ranger program was a perfect solution and they were so proud of themselves for getting their badges!
Kolob Canyon is beautiful and well worth the detour on our way home.
