We decided to take a trip to Utah. A place I grew up visiting as a child. Torrey. It's where my Grandparents used to have a cabin. We would have many trips there and meet as a family on my mother's side. I remember a lot of fun things like the canal just outside the cabin that we would swim in and have fun. Walking down to the local store (ONLY store in town) that had ice cream cones (cheap). It was so much fun. We would run around the ant hill out back, a tire swing, a broken down old barn and riding Dad's dirt bike. So many memories....
So we decided to take a trip to that area and visit. Unfortunately Stephen wasn't able to join us, so I decided to go anyway. I needed a vacation. Many of you would call me crazy and yes parts of the vacation were...but I loved it! Just look how happy she is!
We traveled up on Tuesday and my rockin awesome mom drove with me because I was having back problems. I could hardly walk sometimes. Sitting for long periods of time was NOT recommended so needless to say it was an interesting drive. We stopped halfway through in Kanab. It was nice, great food and fun running around with the kids. They did great to! Lots of movies and snacks kept them entertained.
This is the Room, yes it usually looked this wonderfully messy. It was hilarious because I got a room with two kings (originally Stephen would have one kid, I the other and Lydia in the crib). Instead Eli had his own KING bed. Adriana had her own and I was on my air mattress (better for my back) on the floor and the baby in the crib. Thankfully the hotel room was so big!
This is the "rocky" shore You can see there is NO place to sit or do anything.
And this is the Beach front we found....
Fishing... OR NOT! I should say! We started off in this really NOT so wonderful spot. It was all rock along the shore. Eli started throwing rocks into the water while they were trying to fish...yeah, not so happy about that one but there was nothing else for him to do. Next, Adriana had an accident all over the chair I brought. We were on our way out of there when Lindsay needed a ride and as it turned out I made a wrong turn and we found a BEACH! YES! We were able to stay and "fish" or play really. It was fun and Lydia really had fun. Water baby!
Joi and her WORM!
Even the baby tried touching it.
A trip to the ORCHARD! Yes, it was another fun trip we took. We got to go and pick apricots. Most of them had been picked over. But we found enough to make it worth it. Poor Lindsay got sick. The smell of the rotten fruit on the ground and being pregers doesn't mix.
We ate at a really nice restaurant the last night we were in town. It was a nice meal. A little windy and cold out, the kids had fun playing on this old farm equipment.
This is where we used to go and swim at a water fall, we were planning on going but found out that it had been closed down due to so many near drownings. I guess a whirl pool affect has happened since a large section of the falls has been washed away. You can see now where the water comes out where before it just "trickled" down the rock face...like a slide. It was a let down not to be able to go, but hey, safety is key! We did do a LOT of swimming though. Thanks to our INDOOR pool. It was great. Everyday they went. Thanks to Grandma and Grandpa!
We kept trying to go fishing. We tried the hatchery but it wasn't open to the public and the stream down from it was fenced off (it didn't use to be). The next day we tried again at a place where a little bridge was. Nobody was catching anything. I finally caught one, smaller than my hand and tossed it back. That was the extend of the fishing....
We went to another lake farther away to try fishing again. We went walking around and had fun playing in this creek. It was ice cold though. Right before we left Lindsay decided to "wash" Alex. He had already played in it before so he knew it was cold, as you can tell he did NOT want to get in...she gave him a good bath. He turned red, it was so cute....he didn't think so though. But quickly got over it! That's what happens when your kids love to "swim" in dirt. That's what he had been doing, so funny, layed down and rolled in it.
We stopped at the hieroglyphs just outside of Torrey, UT. In one picture you can see a whole Family depicted and in the other a small goat like animal. It was cool, the kids had fun just running down the bridge that lead to them.
A Perfect place to stop and get a shot! I stopped as often as I could just so they could relax and run around and I could enjoy myself! They loved the rocks and dirt. Anything they could play with.
One of the stops we made, Eli insisted on taking his dinosaurs with him. It was all fine and good until he threw them! I told him if he threw them again I wouldn't go get them (since he was aiming for OFF the mountain!). He threw them of course but they landed on a small ledge right before the drop off. I didn't give them back until we were in the car again...what can I say, do boys listen?
On the way home we stopped at this great ruins, there were these sweet little Native American ladies inside the visitor center who were weaving baskets and we sat and talked for a while, the funny part is when one asked me..."so what tribe are you from?" I didn't know what to say so I said, uh, Scottish German? They looked at me like I was crazy so I explained my children were adopted and they were from a Navajo and other tribes...it was funny to say the least. We then went for a hike down to the ruins and on the way down the kids were so happy and having fun running ahead. It took a while (over a mile) to hike down, I noticed it was all on a down slope. Needless to say the way out was hilarious! Eli was tired and kept trying to hold onto (and pulling backwards) the stroller I was pushing with Lydia in it. Finally I had to tell him to let go or I wouldn't get up the hill! He screamed and cried, holding onto my leg and practically being dragged up the hill. But it all turned out in the end. He slept for the next three hours we drove!! HA!
Children's Hogan.
Our last stop was in Flagstaff for some delicious ICE CREAM...and the last of the cool weather before hitting over the hundreds again. Although this trip had it's trials I loved it all!! Even missing Stephen was a good thing...it always helps you to appreciate what you have.
