Zions

 We went on a quick camping trip to Zions National Park with our friends the Buddies. It was our first camping trip of the season. Life has been crazy lately and it was good to take a few days off and enjoy our little family. We hiked up to the narrows and played in the water. We had only one little tantrum from our resident "lazy legs" (New Fish) on the walk to the Narrows.  She did much better on the hikes that involved strenusou climbing.  She only like a challenge apparently.

Lazy Legs

 There was some water dancing.

 Red Fish is definitely our sensory seeking child and it was impossible to keep her out of the mud.  She wanted to dive right through it and rub it all over her body.  She does the same thing at the beach.

Four tired kids

 I was really surprised by how well the kids did hiking.  We hiked the Emerald Pools and the kids hiked over three miles.  They were climbing over rocks and and running down the trails. It made me appreciate having kids who are getting a little older.  There are going to be so many fun things that we can do with a small family.  We are going to be able to ski a lot next winter and camping, hiking and travel are so much easier now than they were a couple of years ago. We are moving into a fun stage.  I just need to let my grip on their infancy go a little and enjoy the great stage we are entering.

Emerald Pools

The camping food preparation went very badly this trip.  Nothing seemed to turn out quite right but the roasted marshmellows are the favorite anyway. Aside from a couple of freezing cold mornings the trip was fantastic.  I'm looking forward to summer.

Our friends introduced us to the junior ranger program and the girls collected their first badge.  The girls loved filling the booklet out and the ranger who swore them in made a big production. I had no idea New Fish would take it quite so seriously. We just got back from our second "ranger patrol" consisting of picking up trash around the neighborhood and explaining to neighbors why they should never deface petroglyphs. I am slightly less enthusiastic than New Fish about being on neighborhood trash duty.  New Fish is also planning a meeting of the rangers at our house in the near future. I have been assigned the task of baking the brownies. The plastic badge has gone straight to her head.