Summer vacation 2012–St. George, Utah

Our first stop on our trek up to Idaho was St. George.  We had a really great time, and it was so nice to see Grandma Dean for a few days.  We were also so excited to go to Zion National Park again and spent the day there enjoying the beauty.  Here are some pictures I took on our drive into the park.  It always takes my breath away, especially since what we consider normal scenery now is all desert.  The pictures really don’t do it justice – the contrast between the deep blue sky, the red cliffs, and the green trees is just breathtaking. 

Derk, Kyrie, and Asher loved climbing around as many rocks as they could.  Cambria was really grossed out by the thought of getting dirty, so she didn’t do as much exploring.  She’s so funny because she has NO problem getting good and dirty when she’s baking with me or doing crafts, but she’s very picky otherwise.

While we were walking along the trail we saw this squirrel on a rock.  We didn’t notice it until we were pretty close to it – much closer than you’d normally be able to get to a squirrel before it ran off.  After I took this picture, the squirrel began chasing Cambria!  At first we thought it was just running away, but it actually chased after her, following her everywhere as she was running away from it.  Once I stepped in to scare it away a few seconds later, it finally did run off and left her alone.  I couldn’t believe it did that!  It was one of those “I really shouldn’t be laughing at the expense of my child” moments.  Poor Bri, though- it really did scare her!  I’m just glad I was able to chase it away so easily and didn’t have to get a stick or a rock or something! 

We had lots of fun exploring!

We had such a great time the first day that we decided to spend a second day there as well!!

After a long hike the second day, we were very happy to finally reach the Emerald Pools and cool off a bit.  Kyrie and Asher loved playing in the water, but Bri was very content to just dip her feet in with me.  She was so funny this day because she had an absolute FIT about being dirty.  She tripped and ended up getting the red sand on her pants, and she was so upset by it that she sat down in the middle of the trail and just cried and cried about how she looked “disgusting” because she was dirty.  I tried showing her how everyone is dirty, and we talked about how getting dirty is one of the fun parts about exploring!  But she didn’t believe me.    I told her that once we got to the Emerald Pools she could wash her hands off in the water, and that helped her to calm down and continue hiking.  From that point on she was great!  She’s so girly, though.  Most of the time I love it, but at times like that it does make things tricky! 

It was so nice and relaxing to sit on the warm rock, just Bri and I, and dip our feet in the pool and just talk to each other while we watched everyone enjoying nature.  Then Bri had the idea to get a stick and draw in the sand, and Kyrie thought that was a great idea and joined in as well.

 

This is hard to read, but it says “<3 Cambria” on the top and “<3 Mom” on the bottom. 

 

Kyrie’s says “Kyrie S. Zion rocks!”

A few more pictures of the gorgeous scenery!

We had a wonderful time in St. George.  Next stop – Salt Lake City!