...And So It Begins...

Kids squealing outside
Mower roaring far away
It must be summer

I'm pleased to say that Rachel, Emma and Caleb have passed with flying colors and will advance to the next grade. Ooooh yeah!

Micro Death Hollow Sneak Route

After Capitol Reef, we drove over Boulder Mountain and we went to a place that Brad wanted to explore. How does Micro Death Hollow sound to you? In spite of the name (to tell you the truth, it was probably because of it) we proceeded down.



Actually we didn't get very far because of the threatening weather. I would love to go all the way down to Micro Death Hollow someday, as long as I don't die a micro death.
We rushed back to the car and got out of the rain. Brad thought we should still try and camp because it never really rained for a long time. So, we drove to Escalante Petrified Forest State Park. Brad had made reservations for a camp site over the phone. It sounded like a good spot- running water and showers and a lake view. Well let's just say that if you like your scenery too look like an example of slash and burn agriculture, this is the spot for you. The camp site that was reserved for us still had the tire marks from the bulldozer and there were upturned bushes off to the side. The only flat spot on the site for a tent was on a patch of dead cactus. We were not happy. We drove into town and visited the BLM visitor center and Caleb made a friend.
We decided to find a KOA campground and test our luck. It wasn't too bad an experience. It only rained lightly when we set up the tent, we were away from all the RVs and the facilities were really clean. Plus were weren't freezing like our last camping trip. It was fun.
In the morning, we broke camp and headed to Bryce Canyon. We went on a couple of short hikes around the rim. We didn't go on any big hikes because of the weather but we got some great pictures with moody lighting.

Again, climbing trees is an activity endorsed by Mom, running on roofs, is not.

I caught Rachel in a natural pose, she saw me and really started posing.

I am not so good at posing.

We had a yummy lunch at Bryce Canyon Lodge and then we headed back home. Just as an interesting bit of trivia, Brad's Grandma Miller worked at the lodge in the 1930s. She was a really cool person.

The traffic was awful once we hit Utah Valley so got off I-15 and drove home on the west side of Utah Lake. Try it sometime.

I wonder what our next adventure will be?

A Memorial Weekend

For our Memorial Day getaway, Brad, his dad and brother Derek decided that we were going to the Capitol Reef area together. Rachel was a little concerned because we were there just a month ago for Spring Break. But not to worry, we were promised that it wasn't going to just a Spring Break redux.

We arrived in Torrey in the evening after fighting the horrendous traffic. I was a little worried that we weren't going to do much when we got there because the skies were overcast and and the forecast was for rain. In the morning, we woke to rain, quite a bit of rain. For those who are familiar with the landscape of Southern Utah, you know that whenever there is rain, there is a danger of flash floods and a lot of options are suddenly closed. Laura and I were imagining spending the afternoon in Torrey doing who knows what.

After spending some time in the Visitor's Center, it was determined that a hike by Pleasant Creek was still something that would be safe to do. I forgot to pack rain gear so thanks to Susan for lending me hers.

It rained intermittently on the hike but overall, the hike by the creek lived up to its name. Some of us liked to cross the stream many times,

others were more reserved about it.
It started to rain a little harder and about half of us turned around and went back to the car. We waited another hour or so for Brad, Rachel, Emma, Hunter and Derek to come back. Apparently, we turned back right before it got really cool. Rats! I wish I would have thought to take a picture of our cars after the drive, they were covered in red mud. Oh, we are so tough.

After dinner at a local burger joint, we drove back into Capitol Reef and caught the sunset,which was the only time the sun was out, at the Gooseneck Overlook (not to be confused with Goosenecks State Park, which we went to last month).

Here's Caleb by a tree that we have a picture of him sitting by when he was 8 months old. I would show you the baby picture of Caleb, but as I said in a previous post, I don't have a scanner.
Max and Ellie loved that idea. They wanted to pose and pretend they were babies in front of the tree as well. Caleb was pretending to be an old man.
At dusk, we hiked to chimney rock.

It was dark when everyone went back to the cars so we drove back to the hotel and prepared ourselves for the next day. Derek and Laura left early in the morning because they needed to be back to church the next day. Wood walked out with them and had breakfast with them before they left. I mention this because he stayed there to have breakfast with our family as well. Derek was there at 7:30 and we had breakfast at 9:30. What a guy!

After the long and leisurely breakfast, we hiked the Fremont River Walk.

After the hike, we bade goodbye to Wood and Susan because they were headed home. We thought we would try our hand at camping and hope that it would be a better experience than last time. Brad had reserved a camp site at Escalante Petrified Forest State Park. Oh, will the adventures never cease?

An Author in Our Midst

I have a niece named Ellery. She is six years old and she really likes my kids. One time when her family were visiting, she asked Rachel to make up a story for her. Sometime last semester in her creative writing class, she was asked to make a children's book. She spent a lot of time on it and worked on it until it was just like she wanted it. It's been on display and in some kind of fair and Rachel just barely got her book back. So Ellery Bean, this is for you. (Someday I'll get a scanner *sigh*)