We went down south for the kid’s fall break and visited a few spots we had yet to visit. It was a quick trip, we had time to do one hike at each spot, but it was enough. After all, the kids aren’t big hikers and visitor’s centers are closed.
First up was Bryce Canyon:
After spending the night in Kanab we drove out to the North Rim of the Grand Canyon.
Our final spot was the Coral Pink Sand Dunes. This was a favorite of the kids. Even Zack was crawling up and down the dunes.
Lots of pictures! It’s been warm and dry and a great fall. Except I’m also very busy, so I’m going to let the pictures speak for themselves.
When my kids were younger, we went hiking more. Sometimes I’m amazed at how far we went with how young our kids are.
For example, we did this hike five years ago when our kids were a baby, three and five. This time we did it when they were fiver years older, and add another baby. And it was challenging now, and I’m not sure how we did it back then. I think I was in better shape and we carried two of them for at least part of the way, and this time we tried to get all three up without help. Because you can’t easily carry people who aren’t toddlers and babies.
Anyway, the children (especially the oldest) start to complain a lot about hiking. I decided I didn’t want my kids to hate hiking, so we cut back a lot. We did shorter hikes with bigger rewards and not as frequently.
But also, the children are old enough to hike now, and it’s my favorite things, so sometimes we do attempt longer hikes. Even if they almost quit five minutes before we got to the waterfall. I usually promise treats afterwards and try be patient and we make it.
It was a rainy day, but not cold. Perfect weather. Except it started to pour right before we made it to the waterfall, it was pouring when we got there, and then stopped after we were headed back. So I did not grab great pictures, but here’s a few.
Western Box Elder County is a desert on the edge of a desolate salt lake. It’s not necessarily the first place you would think of for exotic, beautiful landscapes. The most exotic, alien feeling place I’ve ever been is an hour drive past any city down a long dirt road. The Spiral Jetty is backed by a pink-hued salty lake. It’s worth the drive.
We went out there with cousins and also stopped by some other landmarks on the way: the ATK Rocket Garden, Chinese Arch, Golden Spike, and the Indian Hot Springs.
The kids are back in school. (Henry technically starts next week.) I’m back in school (although I took classes over the summer). Finally. Everyone seems happy with their classes. It’s a little bit more calm and boring at the house for most of the time.
Also, here are some pictures of a few outdoor adventures. We went on an early morning hike and had fun exploring.
Well, school starts soon and our summer is ending. After an early spring break from school, it feels weird returning to school. I don’t know if I’m ready for it.
We spent the weekend having a bit of fun. We went up to the zoo in Logan, and ate out at Pizza Pie Cafe (this was the #1 thing the kids wanted to do).
I also wanted to find a place to go wading locally. It took a few places, but we finally found a new trail that ran by a stream and canal.
And we’ve spent the last week before school taking care of the baby who caught roseola somewhere, and is getting another tooth.
Happy Birthday! This little dude finished his first year. He loves climbing, scrambled eggs, going around with Mom in the baby carrier, and dancing. We had a low-key birthday party with Grandma and Grandpa and a tiny cake just for him.
And here’s some sunflower pictures from the garden. 
We took a vacation to Wyoming to visit family and camped a few nights at Yellowstone. Besides it is hard to travel with a baby, we had a great time.
There was a lack of research beforehand, so we mostly just did all the crowded stuff. Yellowstone is huge and next time I would like to do things we haven’t done before, and also things that are less crowded. Our favorite thing was something that was off the beaten path and now swamped with people, the Sheepeater Cliff campground.
July is gone. It went by fast. The kids played baseball and t-ball, did a couple weeks of swim lessons. I successfully defended my thesis proposal and worked on my summer class. Joe kept working and picking up all the slack.
We’ve hiked our local tiny waterfall, visited a new park with an exercise course (we like those), gone swimming, and also helped my sister out with rebuilding the roof of her house.
I love camping with my family. We have done a couple of campouts and planned on doing more…but then didn’t. And I realized if I wanted a campout the best way to do it was to just plan it out myself. So I did. We camped at Box Elder Campground that is a beautiful campground 10 minutes from my house. We also went to Crystal Hot Spring and Mantua Reservoir which are two of my favorite places to go close to my house. And we did a talent show and Olympics. It was great fun.
Liz Braithwaite 