Arches

 We started the morning off with a little adventure in the camp next to us.  A boy had climbed up the rock and couldn't get down, he had to be rescued by the Park Rangers.  One ranger climbed up the back and  put a harness on the boy and then lowered him down to another ranger.  He was sitting about where the tops of the tress are in the the top left of the photo above.  It was fun to watch it all unfold as we got ready for the day. 

 Landscape arch

 Tabitha had a complete meltdown at this point, she kept screaming "I want shade!" over and over again.  She was in the shade of my Mom's umbrella the whole time, but what she really wanted was to play in the sand hill that we saw on the hike in that was in the shade.  Once we got to the sand hill, photo below, it was in the sun but she was perfectly happy at this point.  She later told Brandon that she had "lost her happiness".

North Window.  We ate lunch under this arch and then Tabitha had to go to the bathroom, so she and I raced down the hill.  She won't go when we are by the toilets because she says she doesn't have to, but had a long talk about how we always try!  She is not a fan of the outhouses but when you have to go you go wherever.  We then hiked back up and met everyone under Turret arch, pictured below.  If you look close in the photo on the right you can see the girls and Brandon hiking up the rock.  We sat under this arch for quite sometime and enjoyed the spectacular view.  

This was so cute, Tabitha wanted her picture taken and my Mom was holding a stick so she knew where to look.  The photo below is the picture that Gabrielle took.  Gabrielle was trying to pose Tabitha was Tabitha told her that it was her idea and she would pose how she wanted to!

North and South Windows

We went back to camp and had quiet time and then hiked to Broken arch, the trail head was a just a couple of campsite down from us.  We had fun hiking through this tunnel, climbing on rocks and walking through sand.

A serious shot under the arch.  

Building some "carns" on the trail so people knew where to go.  They had so much fun on the second half of this loop back to camp.  They took turns being the leader/tour guide and when Tabitha was the assistant she kept saying "keep your questions until the end" every time we were talking about something.

Finally a campfire on our last night, Tabitha was so excited!  We roasted hot dogs and marshmallows.  We went to another show in the amphitheater, tonight was about the geology of the park, pretty amazing.

These are a few of the photos that Gabrielle took with her camera, she had fun being the photographer.  Tabitha found this stick that was her "hammer" that she played with our whole trip.  She brought it home to paint, the handle black and the head silver.  I had forgotten the girls jackets so they had to wear a long sleeve shirt that I packed, that is why Tabitha is in her jammie top in some of these photos, it worked.    

Delicate Arch

We drove down to Arches National Park yesterday with my Mom for spring break.  We borrowed a tent trailer from some friends and after an eventful start with a lock smith we were on our way.  The park was so spectacular as we drove to our campsite at Devil's Garden 18 miles in,  I booked it back in October because it fills up fast.  We had fun pointing out shapes and pictures that we could see in the rocks and the amazing formations that have formed over several hundreds of years. We set up camp and then headed into Moab for dinner.  The girls had fun exploring the rocks around our campsite as we set up.  

  This morning after breakfast we drove to the trail head for Delicate Arch   I knew going into it that it was going to be long for the girls, 3 miles round trip, but knew that we had to do it.  The girls did great, we just took our time and there was little complaining.  We were lucky to have a little bit of wind and overcast skies to keep us a little cool and we had plenty of water.  The last little bit before you see the arch you are climbing along narrow rock and it was pretty spectacular to round the corner and see this amazing arch.  It was super windy up there so we didn't stay long but we were sure proud of ourselves, especially the girls for making it.    Brandon hurt his back while setting up the trailer last night and was in a lot of pain, he felt like the walking was good for him but wasn't sure with each step if he was going to make it.  We found a non windy spot and ate our lunch before heading back down. 

After a quiet time this afternoon the girls again had fun climbing on the rocks around our campsite.  We went on a short little hike on the other side of these rocks and played in a sand hill   A storm blew in so we decided instead of a campfire and roasting hot dogs we would head into Moab for dinner and to walk around a few of the shops.   The amphitheater at the campground did a program tonight about coyotes and talked a little about the park, which was fun to listen to.

Temple Sqaure

Gabrielle is on spring break this week so today we drove down to Salt Lake with David and Diana and walked around temple square.  The flowers and grounds were sure pretty in preparation for General Conference this weekend but the tulips were not in bloom yet.  We had fun walking around the visitors centers and enjoying the beautiful weather.   Gabrielle was really cute and wanting me to take a photo of her in front of each flower bed, she is very good at posing and smiling really cute.  I had wanted to take photos of them in their Easter dresses and the matching dresses that Diana made for their dolls.