We headed straight to Zion's National Park on our way down, which was so fun. We hiked up to the Weeping Rock. Henry remembered coming to Zion's with the Schofield's last October, and he kept talking about riding on the bus. We rode it up to the trail head, and then walked across the bridge and up to the incredible "rain" coming from the rocks. Derek and the boys stopped to admire the moss and the lichen along the way, and Johnny was eager to run the whole way. Which was a bit terrifying for me, to be honest. Henry was a bit grumpy on this hike, but when we got back down, we went to the creek and stuck our feet in for a while. That cheered him up quickly!
After that, we rode the bus all the way up through the canyon and then headed to the hotel. We didn't get in until late, and we all collapsed into bed.
Sunday, we took our time getting ready, then headed to the St. George Temple grounds before church. It was a perfect and gorgeous day! The boys loved running around the flowers, and Johnny chased a butterfly for a while. The temple grounds were so peaceful and quiet--one of my favorite places in St. George. We met up with Grandpa and Grandma for Sacrament meeting right after. Poor Johnny was running up to meet them and biffed it on the sidewalk--a really bad one. His nose was bleeding, he scratched his legs and his face. Poor boy. But he was tough, and after a good cry cuddled with Mommy throughout Sacrament meeting.
After church we headed back to the temple for a while. We went in the visitor's center, and learned about how they built the temple. Henry was excited about all the videos in there and about the pictures that show what it looks like inside.
We had lunch at the park, and then back to the hotel to change. We decided to take a chance on Johnny getting a nap in the car (which he did) and head into Zion's. We drove all the way up to the tunnels, and Henry was awake and chatting the whole time. But we entered the tunnel, and I kept talking to him, but he didn't respond. Which isn't completely unusual. But I said "Oh Henry, did the dark tunnel make you fall asleep?" Sure enough, at the next big window, I looked back and saw him fast asleep! Poor little boys! We drove for quite a bit after that, letting them sleep and enjoying the AMAZING views of rock and trees outside our windows.
We picked a place to stop when Johnny woke up and it was the perfect place! We found a little creek running through some beautiful sand. We took off shoes and played in the water, climbed up the rocks, and collected some pretty stones. Henry especially loved climbing up the rocks. We really could have stayed there all day, it was a perfect spot to play in.
But we wanted to take the hike up to the entrance to the narrows, so we hurried in and did that. That walk was all paved trail, so we took the buggy and hurried on ahead of Grandpa and Grandma. It was a nice little walk, but I hope to go back when the boys are bigger and we go hike all the way in to the Narrows. Not in the spring though--the Virgin River was SO full and fast!
After we had a little dinner, we headed back to the hotel and took the boys swimming. We played in the pool and the two hot tubs before crashing again for the night.
Monday Derek and Grandpa had to head to the conference, so Cindy and I took the boys into town. We went to the Children's Museum which was AMAZING. The boys loved it! There favorite room was probably the little grocery store, where they picked out foods and pretended to buy it. But they also loved the room with an airplane and a car to fix, the post office, the room with instruments, and a cool room where they pretended to be DJs and put on music. They were both thrilled to learn that their favorite song "Try Everything" was one of the choices!
We had lunch in the park and played in the splash pad right next door before we headed home for naps. Surprisingly, the boys and I all cozied up on my bed and slept together. It was so nice! I wish we could do that every day. But we had had a very busy day, so everyone was exhausted.
Monday night, for Family Home Evening, we headed into Snow Canyon to hike around on the rocks and play in the Sand Dunes. The boys LOVED the sand. We picked a good spot, pulled out some sand toys, and went to town for a over an hour. There was a spigot nearby, so we filled buckets with water and made mud and castles, enjoyed the soft sand, and the beautiful sunset.
When we gave them baths that night, the tub was covered in red sand. So was our car, to be fair! But we had such a great time.
Tuesday, we took it a bit easier and went up to the Red Cliffs Desert Gardens. The boys, Grandma, and I walked around for quite a while before we had lunch there. But everyone was pretty tired. We went and visited Daddy at the conference during his lunch break (where Grandma found some rocks to buy the boys at a gift shop) and then headed back for nap time.
That night, we went out to Glitter Mountain, a gypsum mine I had read about online. Turns out, it was similar mine to where the pioneers had mined gypsum to crush up for the facade of the Temple! It was so fun. The boys, especially Henry, loved running around filling their buckets up with the shiny rocks. We wished we had brought more tools--and we will next time--but we still gathered some beautiful rocks to bring home.
Wednesday was our day to go home, but not till about 1pm. Grandma and I tried to go to Jacob Hamblin's homestead (now a bit of a museum) but the boys were not into it. But we found an amazing park for lunch! I wished we had known about it sooner. They had a blast running around on the playground, and they had a train! Yes--a train run by volunteers. It was only $1 to have a ride, and Johnny was in heaven.
On our way home to Provo, we stopped and drove up through Kolob Canyon, where Henry received his Jr. Ranger Badge for Zion's National Park. He did such a great job picking up garbage and doing the activities while we were in Zion's those two days. And he was SO proud wearing that badge! Just like his Bryce Canyon Badge.
We had such a great time, but we were ready to head home. Everyone was wiped. But we made some great memories!
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