September 2019 Part 5: St. George Trip

Nana and Papa (Kirt and Julie) won the bid for a 2 night rental in St. George at a silent auction fundraiser, and they invited Lea's family and us to come along. We picked a weekend towards the end of September so it wouldn't be as scorching hot. We arrived on Friday afternoon. 

After unloading the car, we headed to the pool!

 

And then after the pool...

The next day, we headed to Zion National Park. This was our family's first trip to Zion, and we were pretty excited to be exploring Utah's parks. The boys found some wildlife before we even made it into the park. 

We tried to keep ourselves entertained as we waited for our turn on the shuttle. 

Once we got shuttled up to the Narrows, we found another new friend, a fat squirrel. 

From the bus stop, we had a bit of a hike to where the entrance to the Narrows was. 

We found some more wildlife. 

Finally, we made it into the narrows. The water was freezing, but it was so invigorating! We left Gabe with Nana at the entrance since we figured it would be too tough on both of them. Or maybe just too tough for Gabe and Nana was kind enough to entertain him. 

Kirt brought 4 walking sticks with him--2 for him and Julie and 2 to share. I took him up on the offer, knowing that I need to take good care of my hip. I still get really nervous about slipping or tripping. Nobody else was really interested in them...until we started walking through swift water over unstable rocks. Then, the search was on for some kind of stick to use. These boys enlisted Rachel's help to get a walking stick from this poor tree. 

Those without sticks simply relied on others without sticks. It was a bit of teamwork to make it through. 

It was pretty slow going with the younger kids, and at one point, they wanted to take a much longer rest than the adults wanted to. We had them all stay together and watch out for each other, and then we left Danny, Michael, Skyler, and Rachel to go a little further upstream and around the bend. 

I'll confess, I was a more than a little worried about going around the corner and losing eyesight of them, but it was glorious to see more of the canyon. 

Lea and I went as far as we dared with the kids behind, and then turned back. Kirt really wanted to go farther, so Kirt, Brian, Shayne, Hunter, and Cole kept going, and Lea and I turned around and led Danny, Michael, Skyler, and Rachel back to the shuttle. I wanted to keep going too, but I knew it was better for Brian to have more time with his dad. We're just going to have to go back someday. I'm such a water baby, and hiking in water was the best form of hiking I've ever done!

But not before braving the deeper waters

And carefully leading one enthusiastic girl 

and another less-enthusiastic boy who was cold and ready to be done back through the watery trail. We found Gabe and Nana, who were both pretty happy and seemed to have had a good time while we were in the Narrows. 

Then we hiked the little hike back to the shuttle. 

By the time we made it back to the shuttle, we were all pretty tired, and by the time we made it out of the park and back to our cars, we were all starving and a little grouchy. Gabe fell asleep on the shuttle back, and needed me to carry him all the way back to the car...which was a LONG walk!

We found a place to eat, and it wasn't too long before the guys joined us. 

We celebrated Hunter and Brian's birthdays with an ice cream cake! Then we played games and called it a night. 

The next morning, the boys made friends with a little bird that had hit the window. 

We packed up, and then we visited the St. George Temple

and Visitors' Center.

We all went to Sacrament Meeting together, and then headed home. 

Thank you so much for a wonderful weekend, Kirt and Julie!! We had a blast!!