Leg Two

 For quite some time, Dan's parents have had a house in St. George that we'd never been to.  We were excited to finally see it.


When we arrived, we were welcomed by the desert, the red rock, and Dan's sisters (Wendy and Rachel) and their families.


Finn fell right into step with Charlie and John.

And Ava found the perfect spot for sketching the landscape.

  

Not far from the house is Pioneer Park, the perfect location for climbing rocks and squeezing through little holes and a slot canyon.  Luke tagged along with Cameron, his teenage cousin and his friend, and was so proud of himself for making his way through all the places that would have given me claustrophobia induced anxiety attacks.

The thing about Luke though, is that while he is brave, he is not yet wise.  And that is a bad combination.  He'll probably grow into the wisdom, but right now, combined with his propensity to slip and trip, he made me a little worried.  

Wendy and I walked with Finn and tried to meet up with the boys as they came out of the slot canyon but we couldn't find an accessible path.  Before I knew it, Luke was standing over me on this ledge.  

He couldn't hear what we were saying and kept stepping closer and closer to the edge in an effort to hear.   I took this one right after I yelled my head off for him to "STOP! RIGHT THERE!" and "BACKUP!"

 Later, our whole family went back and miraculously,  we all survived a second time.

In fact, not only did these guys survive, they looked adorable doing it.

The Snow Canyon sand dunes provided an afternoon of entertainment.

The only sand dunes I've ever been to were at the beach, so this was a new thing for me.

Tuacahn is an outdoor theater with the red rock canyon as the backdrop.  Ava and I were lucky enough to see a high school production of Footloose with Grandma Linda, Wendy, Troy, Aaron, Cameron, and his friend, Kyle.

It was really fun. 

And it's true what they say about the desert cooling off at night!

Finn thankfully continued his non-pack and play habit and slept on the floor with the rest of the kids and did great.  And when he didn't do so great, one of us could just lay down beside him for a little while.

 It was fun to have Easter with family.  I wish I had gotten more pictures of the kids with their relatives.

We made our traditional Resurrection Rolls and the kids searched out their Easter baskets.

After a delicious meal, we decided to get a head start on our way home and break up the trip again, instead of doing the nine hours  straight.

We stayed at the same hotel in Moab.

And then, with more time on our hands than originally planned that Monday, we contemplated stopping at Rifle Falls State Park, which we'd wanted to see for a while.  It was 40 miles out of the way and we really hoped it would be worth it.

Let me just say, 

IT WAS!

We parked our car and head down the path, and then we rounded the bend to see this.

Another unexpected beauty for me.  

We found a table for lunch and while the kids ate, I spied a path near the falls I thought I should check out.

And as if the Falls weren't great enough on their own, I discovered a series of small caves along that next trail, which we all walked and explored after lunch. 

And then as if falls and caves weren't enough, further down the trail, we discovered woods and a stream. 

The kids were in heaven and we could have stayed all day, but we had to get back on the road.

And now we've added another spot to our list of places we have to return.