Wenderful and the Pie Man: Away

Late Winter. Time to get away for a bit. And thanks to Washington's birth, we were given a three day weekend to do it in. We headed south to Moab in hopes of finding warmer weather. And, nope, it wasn't really warmer. But different. Different was all I needed.

On Saturday afternoon we took the kids on a hike up Negro Bill Canyon. Or Grandstaff Trail. Or Morning Glory Bridge. Whatever you want to call it. We knew it was a long(er) hike, so didn't hold our breath that we would make it very far, but guess what? WE MADE IT! All 7 of us hiked all 4.5 miles! I was so super impressed with all of my kids. There was minimal complaining and it was a perfect afternoon. When we started out it was raining, so we were thrilled when it dried up on us after about 15 minutes.

I love that photo so, so much.

Daisy won our "Hiker of the Day" award. Seriously. I pumped her up with positivity and she kept those little feet a trekking! I was so super proud of her! She knew she was a rockstar too, she'd tell us that she was a good hiker. :)

You can see Morning Glory Bridge in the background there. Now, I may have lied a little bit up above. I said we ALL made it ALL the way, but that's not entirely true. Most of the crew stopped here.

Everett and Maren had the best endurance, I guess, and made it all the way to the Bridge with me:

Not too shabby for this family! This raises the bar for all future hikes! Ha ha! You've been warned, kids!

An aside: We must come back to this one when it is warm and green! It was beautiful, but I imagine beauty magnifies when it is green! Plus, on a warm day, crossing the stream 10 times (x2) would be lovely. In February, we were just worried about cold, wet feet.

I love hiking with my kids. I feel like it is such a great way to really talk with them. All I have to do is walk beside them and they tell me about all kinds of stuff. I'm not telling them to get their chores done, or to get off screens. I'm just talking real things with them. And, it was such a great opportunity to talk positively with them. "You guys are rockstar hikers!" "Doesn't it feel good to do something hard?" "I know your legs hurt - mine hurt too. That's our legs getting stronger!" (Everett especially loved that one). All of us felt like champion hikers and that we had accomplished something when we were done. This was, hands down, the best part of the trip for me.

On Sunday we attended a local ward and in the afternoon, went exploring. We went to Matheson's Wetland Preserve:

Daisy was the "map keeper", a responsibility she was quite serious about. We also played at Rotary Park (in the rain). My kids really enjoyed this park. And then, we found bathrooms that were actually open (no one has to pee in February, apparently) at Lion's Park and the kids tried their hand at rock climbing. Maren and Lainey are my best climbers, but found it tricky to get down once they were up!

On Monday, we explored Canyonlands on our way back home. We live in one amazing state.

Mesa Arch: