Exploring Arches: Part II

Since today is mostly a driving day and I have nothing else to document except for another sick kiddo in the back seat, here are some more photos from our quick stop at Arches National Park yesterday morning! Our plan is to push through and arrive home very late tonight. Everyone is tired of being in the car, and another night in a hotel doesn't sound very fun either.

The last stop before we had to get on the road was "The Sand Dune Arch". 

 

The kids didn't hesitate to kick off their shoes once we made it through the rocky crevices and into the smooth red sand. 

They ran, and jumped, and played to their hearts content!

We only met four other people total while we were there, and one of them was kind enough to snap a few family photos of us! 

We had some older kids snap a few of us as well.

We probably spent a good hour playing beneath and around this arch, hidden away from the heat of the day in between the tall rock that surrounded us.

 

Jumping and climbing all morning long. The boys made me nervous climbing this rock because they were barefoot, and one of them had a busted hand. It looks much taller than pictured!

This guy tried really hard not to get sand in his splint. 

It took a lot of convincing to peel everyone away from there. They had so much fun together digging in the sand and running around. We had a four hour drive ahead of us to get to Salt Lake and drop Camilla off with the Ekins Fam! 

As we loaded up in the van, I got a few hugs from the older kids who said they had so much fun and were going to bring their families here someday too. Everyone was more unified and happy which filled my heart. Nature truly is amazing! We passed multiple tour buses on our way out of the park, and were grateful to have beat the crowds and had those moments together!

Our first stop in Salt Lake was to Daddy's favorite restaurant for lunch! It was a bit chaotic after a four hour drive, but we made it out alive and with full bellies. We then swam for a bit at the hotel before heading to the Ekins for dinner, where we enjoyed home cooked food and a nice visit. We gave our big girl a few big squeezes before leaving her behind for a five day stay in Salt Lake.

Exploring Arches: Part I

This morning we woke the children at the crack of dawn and headed to Arches National Park to catch the sunrise and spend a few hours exploring before the heat of the day. We were all in awe of the beauty that surrounded us as we drove through the park and checked out a few of the different sites along the way! 

Our first stop in the park was "The Windows" at sunrise and it didn't disappoint! They have timed entry to the park during the day and the spots fill up fast and well in advance, so in order to attend, we had to arrive before 7am with our park pass. These kiddos weren't too sad about that though! We pretty much had the whole place to ourselves and the kids loved exploring and climbing through the arches. 

After grabbing some water and a quick snack, we took a short walk to the windows to check them out!

These two walking hand in hand melted my heart!

A place this big can sure make a person feel small in the world! We stood in awe at the beauty surrounding us.

It was all so breathtaking!

As the sun rose higher and higher, illuminating everything around us, the children explored further and further.

When we had seen all that we could see, we headed back to Big Red and loaded up to head to the "Sand Dune Arch".

 

Made it to Moab

After a very long day, we finally made it to Moab, Utah late in the afternoon! The views were incredible as we drove and the littles were excited about the red rock surrounding us on the highway. 

These flowers literally lined the freeway from Kansas to Utah. They were so bright and sunny looking!

Mr. Stannix found us the best hotel with an outdoor swimming pool! The kids were so excited to spend the late afternoon swimming and having fun after being stuck in the van all day.

Lily is such a water baby and loved swimming around with everyone in just her life jacket. She moves pretty fast through the water.

Hyrum graciously leant Oliver his goggles once again, and he enjoyed diving under the water!

Hyrum enjoyed hot tubbing with Daddy, keeping his arm wrapped in two towels for extra protection against splashing. He had strict orders not to get his splint wet while we were away. It did my heart good to see him smiling and enjoying his time though!

 

When everyone was hungry, we ordered some pizza and ate in our hotel room. The littles went to bed and the boys snuck down to the pool for one last swim!

Good night, Moab!

 

Kansas Skies

 After being up most of the night with a feverish and moaning Lily, we slowly woke slightly later (but still quite early) to load up and head onto our next adventure. Lily puked in the kitchen sink just as we were getting ready to load her in the van. Thankfully I had saved a bunch of shopping bags for the road. Camilla took the copilot seat in the front and I squeezed into the back by Lily. 

We drove towards Keokuk and in a matter of about thirty minutes we had crossed from Illinois to Iowa to Missouri. It gave us all a chuckle. The drive across Missouri was beautiful as the fields were blanketed in an early morning fog. We pulled off for a quick breakfast at McDonalds and then trucked on towards Kansas with hopes of making it to Denver, Colorado by the evening. We had a good ten hour day of driving ahead of us. Thankfully the littles were exhausted after two weeks in Nauvoo and happily slept or quietly enjoyed the scenery.

As we drove across Kansas, the skies turned ugly and what looked to be a tornado began forming right above us on the highway. It started raining hard, so we turned on the local radio station to see what was going on. When we learned that baseball sized hail was expected to start falling near us, we seriously considered pulling over and waiting out the storm, but both of us felt that we should carry on.

It was so eerie watching the clouds move and pull together. As the radio sirens went off and announced the mile markers and potential weather, we were glad to know that we had come out ahead of the worst of it, and grateful we listened to the prompting to keep going even though logic told us to stop and take cover. The winds on either side of the freeway were insane looking as the rain pelted our van making visibility difficult, but we never did encounter the baseball sized hail. By the time we made it to our hotel late in the evening, Lily was feeling much better. The kids were all excited about the pool and spent a good few hours swimming before we went in search of dinner. Then we tucked in for the night, ready for another long day tomorrow.