Spring Break 2014 - part 1

We stayed in St. George from April 13-20th for spring break. It was the longest family trip we've ever taken and we packed in as much fun as we could! The first half we spent with my family and the second half with Dan's family.

Alisa and Matt's kids had spring break the same week as Alta, so we met them in St. George for some serious cousin fun. My parents drove down as well. We all stayed in different places but spent all our waking hours together!

Monday: We met my parents and the Fogts at my parents' condo. The Fogt's car was having problems so the kids played at the condo and then we walked to a park while their car was in the shop.

When the car problems were resolved, we went to the St. George narrows and all squeezed through 8 inches of claustrophobia (just kidding, it was too short to really be scary):

We met up at the Browers' house to eat pizza, swim in the hot tub, and watch Frozen:

Tuesday: Woke up early and headed to Zion National Park. I hadn't been since I was 18, and Dan had never been.

Riding the shuttle. Somehow Alisa got stuck in the back with the rest of the kids (all 7 of them) by herself. I think people thought we were crazy with all these kids running around.

We planned on only being there for a few hours but stayed the whole day. We stuck with the easy hikes for the kids, but still hiked around 5 miles. I was very impressed with my girls, especially Alta. They were champs!

First we hiked to Emerald Pools. We were able to use the stroller for most of it, but near the end we ditched it and Dan carried Olive in her car seat AND Ellie in the ergo.

We headed back to Zion Lodge for a lunch break, where Elizabeth had a *little* accident which resulted in a make-shift outfit from the gift shop.

Grandma gets a turn with Olive on the shuttle:

We ended the day with a hike to the mouth of the Narrows where the kids played in the freezing water:

Ellie and Everett:

There were squirrels all over the trail and Ellie, if you didn't know, has an obsession with squirrels. She has had an imaginary pet squirrel for years. So on the hike back, as she was getting tired and I tried to distract her, we counted squirrels and she told me all about what squirrels do all day, including how they go to squirrel school where they learn to bite people.

We took the long shuttle ride back to the car and headed home completely exhausted.

Wednesday: We decided to check out the St. George children's museum,

play outside in the fountains,

and visit an old-fashioned candy store.

That afternoon Dan and Matt took the older kids back to the St. George narrows while Alisa and I let the younger kids take a rest. Everett and Ellie loved reading with Grandpa:

We all met up to go swimming at the community pool at the Browers' and then went out to dinner and ended the night with frozen custard at Nielsen's.

The Fogts were leaving early the next morning so we had to say good-bye that night. We had so much fun and don't get to see our California cousins nearly enough! I'm hoping this becomes a tradition.