Moab/Arches 2014

We spent the last half of the girls' Spring Break last week camping in Moab...four days to be exact.  I had never been there and I can now see why so many people flock there during this time of year...it's beautiful!  I was a little nervous about the crowds and the fact that we couldn't reserve a camp a spot.  But luckily we had some friends camping there earlier in the week and they were leaving as we were arriving, so we just snagged their camp spot...it worked out wonderfully!  We stayed in Sand Flats Recreation, home of Slick Rock and tons of other off-roading trails...in fact, there was a 4x4 trail right above our campsite!  A little scary thought if one of those cars lost control and tumbled down on our tent!  I guess they wouldn't put a campsite there if that was a real possibility.

Loop A where we camped.

That's our blue tent in the lower left corner.  I took this picture from the 4x4 trail above our camp.

The girls had so much fun exploring and playing all  over the rocks around our camp.

 Since we left on Piper's Birthday we sung to her that night and ate Hostess Cupcakes (We'll have a real cake this week).  And she opened a present...sand toys.

The first full day we drove into Arches National Park and checked out the Visitor Center.

Then we hiked the North and South Windows hike and ate our lunch under one of the arches.

Absolutely amazing!

 After lunch we headed over to do the Double Arch hike.  However, on our way Rory tripped and landed hard on her forehead.  Is it just me, or does every single trip we take have to include some kind of injury?  She ended up cutting it pretty good...in fact I was pretty certain it needed a stitch or so.  I think I freak out a little more because it's on her face and I worry about scarring.  We cut our day short and after much debating back and forth if we should have her seen by a doctor we decided in the end to just get a butterfly bandage and just pray it doesn't scar so she won't hate me forever when she's older.

I was riddled with guilt for the rest of the trip...still am for that matter.

The sand toys were a big hit!

Our second night we all walked up the hill to watch the sunset.

 Our last full day we hiked to Landscape Arch.

Did I mention the weather was in the upper 70's and even low 80's?!

Just wonderful!

Landscape Arch

 We also hiked to Wolf Ranch and saw the Petroglyphs.

 The girls earned their Jr. Ranger pins for Arches National Park.

They loved it!

I love this picture of Haley and me (is she getting big or what?!) and how Piper is peeking from the rocks in the background.

What our tent looked like at the end of the four days.  We go to bed every night in a perfect little row, and then by morning everyone is going every which way.

 What our car looked like on the way home.

Let there be peace.

 Now I feel I need to add a bit more reality to this post...you know, to keep it real.  I don't want to give anyone the impression that things are always roses around here because it's definitely not.  This camp trip, although fun, it's HARD for us adults.  But these trips...it's all about the kids anyway, right?!

Reality:
-Our kids fought a lot on this trip...mainly about who gets what sand toys.  And you would think they could share the endless amounts of rock surface that surrounded out campsite, but no, they fought over who got what "territory".

-Dirt...so much dirt.  When camping with kids, you have to embrace the dirt.

-The noise.  I'm not exaggerating when I say we were the loudest campsite.  I'm sure our children (Morgan) could be heard from a 3 mile radius.

-Sleep, or lack of.  Surprisingly our children slept very well and they were not a problem but Ryan and I are coming to the realization that we are getting older and tent camping is hard on our backs.  I didn't think I was going to make three nights, but I did...miraculously!

-Piper is not a good hiker...flat out, she just doesn't do well at all!  She whines and cries the entire time and I usually end up piggy backing her.

I'm sure I could go on, but you get it...life isn't perfect.  But hopefully these kids will remember this trip with fond memories.  And now that I know we can survive a multi-day camp trip I'm excited to do again!  Dirt and all.