Sometimes we do this

We had a trip to southern california planned for a long time. Visiting my Aunt (Hi Bethanie!) and her great kids, going to Disneyland, playing at the beach, the works! But when the time came to go we had just decided that we were going to save our pennies for something very large and exciting, so we girded up our loins and canceled our trip. 

*sigh of sadness* It was going to cost us nearly $1,000 to go. 

Then we found a great deal on a hotel near Zion National Park, and the projected costs for the entire trip being only $200, we decided to go. Thank you, Groupon. You are my friend.

Aren't you proud of us for being so frugal? :/

We spent less, which is better than more, right?

We did the right thing, right? Girded up our loins and went on vacation anyway. 

(when will we learn?)

We really needed a vacation, ok?

I'll stop justifying now. 

We picked up a cousin on our way out of town and arrived in Springdale, UT around 5pm, just as the sun was setting on the red/gold cliffs. 

 We were beyond thrilled with the hotel. It was way nicer than we had realized, and our room happened to be right next to the kids area.

 We stayed at the Cliffrose Lodge and Gardens, and it was lovely. The botanical gardens were still stunning in late november, so I'm dying to go back in july and see them in full bloom.

I don't think we could justify the cost of staying there at full price, so that might never happen - so I threw in some flowering garden imagination.

 So many terraced lawns, and Emmy found a tree to climb. Kinda.

We drove over to the Park entrance to see if the visitor's center was still open, which it wasn't, so we just played outside at the hotel until dark. Caleb's parents arrived shortly after, which only added to the loveliness.

The next morning dawned crisp and clear, so we headed into the park right after breakfast.

 First stop was the visitor's center, where we got the kid's their Junior Ranger books.

This program is a home schooler's dream - which means it's awesome for anyone. We spent much of our first hike looking for bugs, animal tracks, scat, spider webs, different layers of rock, litter, and turkeys.
Seriously, next time you're in any National Park with kids, check out their junior ranger program. It makes the park come alive.

 I was feeling rather alive myself.

 The first hike we did was Emerald Pools, which is a great one to do with kids because there's a few spots where you can go further or turn onto a different loop, meaning you can choose the length of the hike.

This backpack is Claire's favorite place to be. She doesn't last long once she's in it. 

The signs at all the trailheads give you an estimated amount of time that the hike should take you to complete. I like to chuckle at the sign, and figure on our hike taking at least twice as long. There's so many things to see! And that's why we hike, right? 

 The colors were otherworldly. It's snowing here at home, so to spend a few days down south where's it's still Autumn was so nice.

Did you know that it's kind of awkward for me to have to blog photos of myself? It's true. And when we do stuff like this, Caleb usually has the camera. So who ends up in the photos? Yours truly. It can't be helped, he likes me.

 Jonah was loving having another little man along.

 Emmy was loving having things to climb.

 Claire was loving Papa.

 She was also very intent on helping Emmy achieve Junior Ranger status.

 Oh my goodness; the lighting, the colors, the temperature, the company - it was great. Just great.

 At the bottom of these rock steps a natural visitor was waiting for us.

Us: Hello, Mr. Buck! Please may we pass?
Him: No. I was here first and you're kinda freaking me out.
Us: You're kinda freaking us out too, even though you are really beautiful.
Him: How about I make this strange growling noise at you instead of moving off the trail.
Us: How about we find a nice overhanging rock to hide the kids under in case you decide to charge us.
Him: How about I eventually decide to head off into the trees.
Us: Thank you! Have a nice day! Great place you've got here!

We lived.

We also eventually made it back to the trailhead. Not exactly the trailhead we started from though... Not to worry! Caleb trotted back to the van and came and got us. Those kids were super trooper hikers - we did three miles of up and downs, and they only whined a little bit hardly struggled at all.

And that was just the first morning!