Took the family on an adventure this weekend. Shortly after I got out of work, Carolyn and I picked the kids up from daycare and set out for Zion National Park. It's a five hour drive, but for some reason it seemed like an eternity. Probably because my two innocent children turned into a pair of shrieking harpies for about half the ride. Harry responded poorly to having his pillow taken away while Lily was busy inventing imaginary boo-boo's for attention.I'm not sure which daycare provider gave them the espressos but neither of them seemed to be the least bit tired until just before we pulled into the hotel parking lot in Springdale, UT. Things went better after that.
To the left is a picture of Harry trying to decide which trail would allow him skirt the edges of death with a 50-100 foot fall. We ultimately decided to hike the Watchman trail, the Riverwalk and the following day we hiked the Kayenta trail to the lower Emerald pools trail.
The watchman trail was a complete disaster. Harry was tired and possibly hungry. He fought us every step of the way and we turned back after going about a third of the way. In typical vacation style, we rewarded this behavior with a car ride through a really cool tunnel. Later that day he was much improved. He hiked two miles (round trip) along the riverwalk trail like a champ. There was one small incident however. At the end of the trail, we sat down on a bench to enjoy some homemade granola bars (complements of my wife). One of the less shy national park squirrels decided we looked like an easy mark. Here's a picture of the critter, hanging out on the sidewalk. Harry seemed to like the squirrel at this point saying things like..."he's so cute, he's a cute squirrel." Unfortunately, not enough granola was making it to the ground so the squirrel decided to get serious...
Squirrels on the ground are cute, squirrels right next to you (investigating the crumbs on your lap) are *really scary*. He took immediate action. Since daddy was holding the camera and trying not to fall off the bench laughing, Harry decided to flee to the more sympathetic parent--who just happened to be carrying his sister. As best as I could tell, this made for a really good photo-op...
Ahh...that's one to tell the grandkids. The following day we were having a conversation on the bus with some fellow hikers and the topic of desert critters came up. The guy next to us said something about snakes and lizards and Harry chimed in,"I like lizards they're cute. Snakes are cute too." When the guy next to us looked at him a little oddly and asked if snakes are scary, Harry emphatically stated that they're cute. When I asked him what was scary..."squirrels, squirrels are really scary." Oh well, I guess he won't be feeding the animals.
He also entertained the bus crowd with his description of his favorite games "walk-and-talk" and "bokka-chock". As best as I can tell, these involve a lot of jumping around and shouting but few consistent rules. The bus crowd was quite entertained--maybe we can rent him out or something.
The drive home was somewhat better than the drive down...Lily had her turn to be the more difficult one, but overall it was tolerable. Harry got to pick where we ate for dinner since we didn't have any ideas. Surprisingly, he made a really good choice (Iggy's Sports Grill).
Today after work, we hung out in the "yarden" and made grill food. Harry and Lily had a grand time running around and enjoying the good weather. Unfortunately, Lily decided ordinary sandbox play was getting a bit dull so she experimented with eating the sand and dumping it on her head. While sand is apparently inedible, the over the head trick was quite enjoyable. We were rewarded with a diaper full of sand and this lovely image...
Squirrels on the ground are cute, squirrels right next to you (investigating the crumbs on your lap) are *really scary*. He took immediate action. Since daddy was holding the camera and trying not to fall off the bench laughing, Harry decided to flee to the more sympathetic parent--who just happened to be carrying his sister. As best as I could tell, this made for a really good photo-op...
Ahh...that's one to tell the grandkids. The following day we were having a conversation on the bus with some fellow hikers and the topic of desert critters came up. The guy next to us said something about snakes and lizards and Harry chimed in,"I like lizards they're cute. Snakes are cute too." When the guy next to us looked at him a little oddly and asked if snakes are scary, Harry emphatically stated that they're cute. When I asked him what was scary..."squirrels, squirrels are really scary." Oh well, I guess he won't be feeding the animals.He also entertained the bus crowd with his description of his favorite games "walk-and-talk" and "bokka-chock". As best as I can tell, these involve a lot of jumping around and shouting but few consistent rules. The bus crowd was quite entertained--maybe we can rent him out or something.
The drive home was somewhat better than the drive down...Lily had her turn to be the more difficult one, but overall it was tolerable. Harry got to pick where we ate for dinner since we didn't have any ideas. Surprisingly, he made a really good choice (Iggy's Sports Grill).
Today after work, we hung out in the "yarden" and made grill food. Harry and Lily had a grand time running around and enjoying the good weather. Unfortunately, Lily decided ordinary sandbox play was getting a bit dull so she experimented with eating the sand and dumping it on her head. While sand is apparently inedible, the over the head trick was quite enjoyable. We were rewarded with a diaper full of sand and this lovely image...
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