Road trip to St. George, Utah: May 26-29.
We have been talking about going on a trip with the Bradshaws for ages. We decided Memorial Day weekend was the perfect time. When Andrew lost his job, the trip was up in the air. I'm glad this trip could happen. Valerie and I are both planners and we filled our time there. We saw a play at Tuacahn, utilized the 2 pools lots, went to the new "Little Mermaid" movie, hiked in Zions, and went to Thunder Mountain Park. And of course, we brought loads of games (Dice Forge and Splendor) to play in the evenings.
Taking our kids to Tuacahn was a priority. I didn't buy tickets when there was a BOGO sale in February since Andrew was unemployed. When I recently added tickets to my cart to purchase, I was flabbergasted to see the total was over $300 and didn't think that would work in our budget. I had an old gift card and tried using that, but it expired. I decided to give Tuacahn a call. Best decision ever! They extended my $75 gift card for another year! I could hardly believe it. I also decided it wouldn't hurt to ask if there were any upcoming ticket sales or discounts. At first, it seemed like a lost cause. The employee suddenly remembered a $20 promo deal. I thought she meant $20 off my tickets. No, she meant, the cost was $20 per ticket. I was blown away. The total for our 4 tickets was $80 and I used the gift card. My grand total was $5. Unreal.
After 2 canceled shows and attempts to go to Tuacahn (due to smoke/air quality and Covid), it seemed like we were jinxed. We are grateful it worked out this time. Rain was a brief worry a couple hours before the show, but wasn't a problem. The weather was pleasant and I wasn't sticking with sweat to my seat like previous times. The water misters didn't have to be turned on either and the kids put on light coats toward the end. It was perfect.
We saw, "Tarzan" again. Tuacahn didn't begin until 8:45pm, and the Bradshaws opted to stay home. I wasn't sure how our kids would do, but they both stayed awake! We did use food to help create a positive experience and to prevent drowsiness. James' eyes looked glazed over at times. The special effects were amazing! They flooded the stage at the beginning which James continues to bring up. There were fireworks and flying gorillas. There were some gifted singers. There are some cute and different songs in the play than in the movie. "Who Better Than Me" is catchy and I find myself listening to it multiple times a day. I might just have to add it to my playlist. Since our return, I've found the kids playing "Tarzan" together. After the show ended, Izzy said she liked the play and it was really long. She immediately asked if we can see "Frozen" there next year. Both kids said "Tarzan" was one of their favorite parts of the trip. It was neat to be able to take my kids to a place I have fond memories of.
Our Airbnb was fabulous! We stayed in a townhouse and were directly across the street from the 2 pools, hot tub, and fitness center. We made a few trips to the pool and learned that going at 9am meant we had the whole place to ourselves. The pools were packed during the afternoon and evening hours.
There was a bit of a scare when Adrianna started sinking. Lifeguard Andrew came to the rescue. The bad news is we had just arrived at the pool and Andrew's phone was still in his pocket when he jumped in. His old phone is toast (rice didn't help) and he went and got a new phone that night. What an expensive souvenir. The kids were very into the pool game categories. We also played catch and James chased a diving ring all over. Their swim lessons are paying off.
All the kids got to share a bedroom that had 2 sets of bunk beds. You guessed wrong if you're thinking they went right to sleep. Ha! The Airbnb had a great outdoor space for the kids to run around. I caught them out there one morning at 6:30am. There was also a lot of patio furniture and we ate some meals outside which was lovely. The kids asked if we could buy the Airbnb house.
Saturday afternoon we went to the movies and ate our fill of popcorn. All of us enjoyed the new "Little Mermaid." 3-year-olds definitely weren't the target audience. Luckily Izzy didn't seem scared. Ariel's voice was beautiful and I loved what they did with the music. The song, "The Scuttlebutt" has been playing nonstop in our car and house. The kids think it is hilarious. I managed to doze off for a minute in the theater... We got back from Tuacahn late.Our day at Zion's could take up an entire post. We assumed it would be crowded, but we didn't realize we went on the busiest day of the year. Whew. We decided to attend sacrament meeting before hiking instead of after and good thing we did. We never would have made it back in time for church.
When we arrived at Zions, we discovered there wasn't any parking left. After driving around for too long, we finally parked .6 miles from the nearest shuttle stop. We trekked to the shuttle and rode to the visitor's center. There, we had to wait in another line for a shuttle to our hike. I am not being dramatic when I say we waited in this line for an hour and a half. At least it was shaded? The news did a segment on what a zoo it was. It was unbelievable.
Adding to the drama, when it was finally our turn to get on the bus, Adrianna had to go to the restroom. Michael took Adrianna potty and they missed the shuttle. Valerie and Elijah came with us. We didn't have cell service and didn't know how we would be able to find Adrianna and Michael. We pressed on. At this point, it was 1:30 which is not an ideal hiking time. It was scorching and the hike was unshaded. We tried to regroup, filled our waters, and made our way to the trail with thousands of others. One of our shuttle drivers mentioned that in the past, a day as busy as when we were there Angel's Landing could get up to 1000 hikers an hour. They now require permits for Angel's Landing and only let in 800 hikers a day. It was too dangerous with that many people. We did not hike Angels Landing. We chose Emerald Pools which doesn't require permits. There were more people than you can imagine.
Our hike did not get off to a good start. James was extremely whiney. We hit .6 miles and Izzy urgently had to use the bathroom. Remember that we just took her at the beginning of the trailhead. She couldn't make it back to the facilities in time and had to find somewhere private to go in the beating sun. Andrew is a saint and picked up the waste with napkins. We had a zip lock and got to carry that smelly treasure for the duration of our hike. Let me point out that my sense of smell is extra vivid while pregnant. I got whiffs of that potent scent throughout our journey. At one point, Izzy asked why it smelled like poop. Hmmm..
Her hair was so big and frizzy. I was super proud of this girl for walking the full 2 miles of the hike. She was tuckered out on the walk to the car and rode in the backpack carrier.
At one point, it was like do we even continue hiking? What a day. We moved forward and decided we would turn around at 1 mile which was the supposed length. The ending was gorgeous and shady! We only went to the first emerald pool and did not continue on over 2 miles to get to the other pools. Maybe someday, but not anytime soon.
My hero. Pooper scooper. Couldn't ask for a better partner. In tough moments, I would find Andrew singing songs with the kids, skipping, and making up hand games. On one shuttle ride, Andrew told James stories about previous hikes with his brothers. A stranger commented on how sweet it was and the ride flew by for James.
On our hike back, we found Adrianna and Michael on the trail. After the bathroom, they had to get back in that massive shuttle line and wait another hour. After completing the hike, we still had 2 shuttle rides (with lines) ahead of us and a .6 mi walk to our cars. We did it! We walked over 13,000 steps that day! We left for Zion's at 10:30am and returned home at 6:15 had dinner, and went to bed. We're also surprisingly still friends with the Bradshaws after this challenging day. What a memory. I did not leave Zion's unscathed and have proof... A sunburn on my shoulders.
Monday morning we relaxed in the pool before checkout. Then we headed to Thunder Mountain Park. Like everywhere else, it was crowded. We waited over 45 minutes in line for our kids to ride on the train. The kids also splashed in the splash pad. We all had nearly reached our limits and decided to end our weekend by getting ice cream.
Lesson learned... It seems like everyone goes St. George on holiday weekends. We saw someone from our ward at Costco, ran into Chris' sister, Kelsie, and her family at the pool, knew of 2 families at Zions the same day as us, and I saw someone I knew at church. Restaurants had long waits, there were lines at parks, and there was even traffic in Nephi, UT. We did have a blast, but next Memorial Day we might just be boring and stay home and host a bbq. Can you blame us?
Road trip to Caldwell, Idaho: April 21-23.
Olivia is home from her mission to Peru! We went to Idaho to hear her homecoming talk. The Kimballs always spoil us when we come to visit. They had a packed house! After staying with them, I always learn something from Tavia. I came home with some new delicious recipes. Malia joined us on the quick trip which was great. It was so fun to see Olivia along with the rest of the Kimballs and the Maynes. Our kids had the best time having constant playmates and going to an awesome park. James now wants to play football.. Is it bad I hope he forgets that? Izzy was so exhausted she slept the entire drive home. Andrew and I taught others how to play one of our new games-- Space Base.
We have some other upcoming trips this summer. Bring them on!
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