Spring Break in St George

This last week we headed down to St. George to enjoy some warmer weather, hiking, and other fun activities.  First stop was the All Abilities Playground.  It is ginormous and quite fun!  The kids played around for a few hours while Helen and I walked the looping, surrounding sidewalk to get some movement in after the 6 hour drive. The park was really packed with people so mamma bear kept a close eye on her cubs. I'm a bit paranoid with 4 girls (insert eye roll).

On Sunday we went to church and then stopped by the temple to check out the renovations occurring.  We really liked the new pewter top they've switch out from the gold top.  The stark white rock against that pewter top is stunningly beautiful!

Afterward we headed into Snow Canyon to do a bit of hiking.  We stopped at Jenny's canyon first and then hiked Hidden Pinyon and part of Petrified Dunes.  Ebony forgot her walkie-talkie at one pit stop so we ended up turning around and finishing up the hike the way we came.

On Tuesday we headed over to Red Cliffs Conservation area and boy was it packed!  A nice man let us park in his camping spot so we could go hiking.  The trail was so congested with people that it wasn't very fun super fun.

There was water running in the canyon this time around so we ended up only going about 1 mile up the canyon before having to turn back.  We did get to do the fun rope walk along the cliff tho!  I carried McKinley in the pack while traversing the ledge and it was kind of funny to hear all the different comments that inspired. That area was a bottleneck for big groups of people and we ended up having to wait around 20 minutes just to get a turn to head back to the trailhead. I love nature but I don't feel like nature and crowds mix!

Ebony was a bit nervous about going back along the cliff's edge.  Helen was able to help her across and she did amazingly well, stayed calm and everything.

 

 

Since the hike was a bust we headed back into town to go to a pretty cool water park I had discovered when searching for fun things to do with kids in St. George.  The entrance fee was only $5!  I was impressed!  They had a lazy river, an 80 ft water slide (which was really fun!), lots of playground stuff, kiddie pools, and a lap swim pool.  The only thing they lacked was a Jacuzzi!

 

Tuesday we headed back into Snow Canyon to attempt Petrified Dunes again.  We ended up getting to do a rather nice long loop with Hidden Pinyon, Petrified Dunes, Butterfly, Lava Flow, and finishing up with Hidden Pinyon again. The kids did really well hiking that day.  McKinley is a little mountain goat when she is walking.  She never got tired of walking and never asked when we'd be done! I was impressed with the 4 year old.  The only reason she went into the pack was cause she was cold, the wind was just too much for her, or I got impatient and wanted/needed to walk a little faster so we could be done with the hike at a certain time.

Hidden Pinyon trail has numbered trail markers that, if you have the pamphlet with you, help you identify desert plants.  We were very studious for the first 10 markers...then we got tired of stopping.

Wednesday we packed up and headed home...bummed the trip couldn't be a bit longer. Thanks Helen for being my partner in crime this trip!

Mickey Turns 4!

Yay for the birthday girl! We love this girl! She looks less than thrilled to be celebrating. Truth be told, she was disappointed. She had asked for a pink cake with strawberries and rainbow frosting with rainbows and shaped like a heart. I forgot the heart part! Oops! But I got everything else! And it was a cream cheese/whipped cream frosting to boot! Delicious. She actually was sweet and didn't complain, it wasn't until after the fact that she informed me that I forgot to shape it like a heart. Sigh* I'll try harder for number 5, I guess! LOL

Happy #4 Sweet McKinley!