Spring Break: Zion Part II

After a solid breakfast at the hotel we packed up and drove into Zion again for another full day.

The first thing the girls wanted to do was get their Jr. Ranger pins.  They had finished their booklets the day before and were itching to turn them in.

 Taking the Jr. Ranger Oath.

 Showing off their new earned pins!

 Of course, the day wouldn't be complete without Rory napping at some point.

 We decided to hike to the Emerald pools...another great hike for little kids!

There are three pools: lower, middle and upper.  We knocked out all three!

 Just a side note: Piper forgot her tennis shoes for this trip...hence the reason she's hiking in sandals.

Luckily, they held up great and she hiked like a champ!

 After finishing the hike we relaxed at the Zion Lodge where they have enormous tree surrounded by a huge grassy area for the kids to run around in and play.

And that was that.

I absolutely love Zion!  These picture don't do it justice with how beautiful the scenery is...honest, it's amazing!

The next morning we ate a leisurely breakfast and then headed to the local splash pad for one last swim (and carousel ride) before we started the trip back home.

This trip couldn't have gone any better...we all just had so much fun!

I'm anxious to hit up another National Park this summer!

We've got to the entire Mighty Five: Zion, Arches, (we've done these two) Canyonlands, Bryce and Capital Reef.

Spring Break: Zion Part I

 Our Spring Break was last week and we decided do a St. George/Zion trip.

So after being down south the week before, we were craving more, so we hopped in the Burban and headed back down there again!  You just can't beat the weather this time of year...it was absolutely beautiful!

We originally had planned to camp...but with everything booked we nixed that idea and decided to stay in a hotel in St. George for a few nights and drive into Zion.

We arrived on a Sunday afternoon and basically swam in the hotel pool for the rest of the day...with a quick trip to grab dinner and hit up the grocery.

Monday morning we loaded up for a day in Zion...and we weren't the only ones...Spring is a very busy time of year for that park...I knew that going in, but wow, there were a lot of people!

But luckily we found some awesome parking (the early bird catches the worm!!) and went straight to the visitor center and then took a short hike to the museum.

We took the shuttle to the Riverwalk hike, which leads to the Narrows.  Unfortunately the Narrows had to be closed due to flash flood warnings and with it being Spring the water levels were quite high.  Not that we would have done it...the little ones would have had a hard time!  But the Riverwalk hike was perfect for the them...they did super!!  

The squirrels were everywhere!!

And they weren't scared of anything...all they cared about was food and they would go to extreme measures to try to get it!

The girls loved it...and you bet they named every squirrel they saw.

 Of course...Rory napping is pretty much a guarantee!

By the time we drove back into St. George it was dinner time, so we grabbed something to eat and then back to the hotel where the kids would swim in the pool well past their bedtime.

And then they would crash.