St. George Trip

A couple of weeks ago the girls had their fall break from school.  We decided to take that opportunity to soak in some sun in St. George.  It was quick trip, only three days, but it was so worth it!!

We stay in the same hotel pretty much every time we're there.  The main draw is their pool side rooms...it makes such a difference with a family to have access to your room poolside.  We'll pay extra for that luxury!

The kids swam every second they could!

 Haley had to take drastic measures to be able to look at her phone in the blinding sun.  Haha!

 We also spent some time at Snow Canyon State Park...one of our favorite places in Utah!

We've been going to this state park since Haley and Morgan were babies...and I have fond memories of going there as a kid too.  So, it's always so nostalgic...it seriously is one of my favorite places!

Snow Canyon State Park

After our failed trip to Capital Reef, the kids were so bummed.  We told them we would make it up to them...they would get their camping trip, we promised!!

 So this last weekend, we hit the road again.  Except this time we went to Snow Canyon State Park in St. George.  We only had a reservation for Sunday night. Saturday night was completely booked, however, they have walk-in sites available if you get there early enough.  Soooooo, again, we took a gamble.  We left early Saturday morning and just crossed our fingers that they had a walk-in site available for Saturday night. 

 We made it to Snow Canyon by lunch time, and low and behold they had a campsite available!!!

In fact, they had several!!  We even got to chose the one we wanted, haleluja!!

We picked one that we've camped in before...it's pretty much our favorite spot.  It's kinda secluded off the road, and it's right up against the rock.  The kids can climb all over (not too high though...the ranger got after my kids for going to far up the rock...whoops) and they created all sorts of little trails and hide-outs.

 Haley and Morgan slept in their own tent tucked away.

They named their spot the Coyote Den.

 Sunday we went on a hike in the park to see the lava tubes.  The tubes are basically huge caves created from lava flowing underground from volcanoes dating back 27,000 years ago.  Some of the tubes collapsed but some are still in tact and people can walk through them.  

Having our picnic lunch outside one of the caves.

 The lookout point from the lava flow hike.

 We also hit up the sand dunes in the park that evening before dinner.

This is always a favorite with the kids...you can't visit Snow Canyon without hitting up the dunes!

Monday morning we went on a very short hike (more like a little walk) to see the pioneer names written on the canyon wall.  Pioneers would write their names with axle grease as they passed through the area.  Some  dated back to 1881!

And just for kicks I had Haley and Morgan pose in the same rock hole they peeked through years ago.

 They're so little!!!

 Hiking up to see all the pioneer names.

After the hike we headed back to camp, made a quick lunch and then we packed up to head home.

I'm so glad we planned this little weekend getaway.  It was perfect and just what we all needed.

And we all got our much needed s'mores fix!!

Fall Break 2014: Part II

I love Snow Canyon State Park...I really do.  Unfortunately, a lot of other people do to, so it can be tricky getting a camp site there.  But we lucked out on Sunday and got a prime spot!  I think I like it so much because it's very nostalgic for me.  Growing up, my family camped there often and I remember running around and climbing the rocks with my brothers.  So it's fun to see my girls doing the same thing in the same spots.

Sunday turned out to be a pretty warm day, so we decided to forfeit any hiking and take the girls to town and play in the little "river walk" and fountain.  Let me tell you, it felt so good to take off our shoes and soak our sandy, dirty feet!!  The kids of course got completely wet which looked pretty good too.

 We decided not to put the rain fly on the tent...it was a bit more chilly, but laying there at night looking at all the stars was so worth it!  It was beautiful!

 Eating breakfast by the fire.

 
The next morning before we headed home we hit up the sand dunes in the park.  The kids could stay here for hours!

 So the picture above is of Haley from 2011 in the dunes...she would have been 7.  I have always loved that picture!!  I was so proud of myself for capturing it so well!

So then I had a brilliant idea!  I'll capture that moment again three years later!  I had this vision of a series of pictures from the dunes of Haley getting older and older doing the same jump...how cute would that be?!

So, I had Haley try to reenact the shot:

This, my friends, was as good as it got.  

Well, the idea was a good one.

After the dunes we grabbed some lunch and headed home, tired and dirty.

Successful trip...check!

Happy Thursday!