The next morning we headed out with the intention of stopping Zion for the next night. The kids did incredible in the car. It was fantastic. God is good because they barely made a sound as we drove. I think they were excited about getting there so they were on their best behavior.
Praise God for that because Justin and I got to spend some nice time talking while driving. As we pulled in to the Zion area, which we'd never been to, we were just in awe of God's beauty. It was gorgeous. We rolled down the windows, drove 20 mph and enjoyed the absolute beauty of it all.
We had booked a hotel just outside the West side of the park, Sprindale, UT. But, you could still see everything and the scenery was just incredible. I wanted to pack up and move there. I considered being a professional hippie just to make that happen. It just drew me in. The hotel was also backed up to an RV park which backed up to the creek that runs through Zion. It was perfect. The kids went swimming, we got some dinner and got some good rest for the night.
The next morning we headed out to look for this incredible swimming hole some friends of ours had found on their trip to Zion. It was a true adventure. We scaled down this embankment and sure enough we found this natural swimming hole from the creek. The water was chilly but we just had to swim in it. The swimming hole was full of tadpoles, some with legs who hadn't lost their tale, others with no legs. They kids went crazy trying to catch them.
The boys then got really brave and Justin and I coaxed them to jump off a 20ft rock into the pool. It took some time, but Trace was the first to take the plunge. Well, after that, Cole just had to do it too. Then Brody jumped for his life with no hesitation. It was awesome. Of course they were bribed with these awesome slingshots they saw in a gift shop, but they totally earned them.
We got cleaned up and headed out for our next stop which was a few hours shy of Ephraim, which was our final destination. We should have just stayed another night at the hotel in Zion, because our next stop was a small dinky town with nothing to do. We made the best of it thought. We got some pizza and went swimming as well as hanging out in the Jacuzzi.
We got a good nights sleep and headed out in the morning for Ephraim Utah to join our family for the reunion. We were the first ones there and unfortunately they gave us the wrong rooms. But, we didn't know that until everyone else got there and we had to move ALL our stuff to a new room. It was worth it though. The rooms we were supposed to have were way better than the one we were originally in. So it worked out and we moved quickly.
We really had a blast. The activities were great, the food was great, the weather was great, the little town was great, and we just had the BEST time.
Just a snapshot of the things we got to do while we were there: rockets, candy rockets, swimming, riding bikes, Jacuzzi, game room, a small creek on the campus, church at this little Christian church nearby, playing outside, movie night, crafts, rocket launching contest, and LOTS of Music, playing, singing, dancing...so much fun.
Our children had a blast, we had a blast and I'm so glad we decided to go. It was great to see everyone and we can't wait to do it again in a few years.
We drove back to Zion when it was all said and done at the reunion and enjoyed playing in the creek, swimming in the pool, swinging on the rope swing.
Our drive back to Phoenix was great. The kids were so good the entire time. God really provided a wonderful vacation for us. It was nice to just be together just us a lot of the time. We needed that.
I've got lots of pictures, I'll try to not go crazy. The BEST part of our trip was discovering a restaurant called Cafe Rio. They have one here in Mesa, but we NEED one in the West Valley. It was absolutely DELICIOUS!!
Zion
Reunion
2 comments:
Boy! that swimming hole looks like fun! I want to go there!! And I love the pic of the tiny heads on the huge bodies!!
Looks like so much fun! Cafe Rio is my favorite restaurant, hands down. Good news! They just opened a new one in North Central Phoenix. Close to where I live. Its on like 22nd st and Camelback. So, still kinda far for you, but much much closer than Mesa!
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