Moab

Stephen and I decided to take a little family vacation to Moab last weekend with the boys. He had a free night stay at the hotel, so we thought why not take the kids; we've never been to Moab, and right now is one of the perfect times to go. The boys were excited to go on vacation and stay in a hotel and go swimming in the pool. It was an almost four hour drive in the rain down there. The boys did great in the car, but they went bonkers as soon as we got to the hotel. I was expecting this since it was their first time, but holy cow! Don't let this picture fool you.

Friday morning we headed to Arches National Park, and it was a perfect day--the sun was shining, blue skies, and low 70s. We did most of the really easy hikes for the sake of the boys and myself. I don't think we hiked any further than a mile at a time.

Our first stop was Balanced Rock. I'm not going to lie, I think the Idaho version of  "Balanced Rock" is way better than this one, but it was still neat regardless. The boys were anxious to get out of the car to explore and climb the rocks.

Our next stop were The Windows and Double Arches. These were pretty cool, but you had to climb pretty high to get underneath them, and of course, Zander had to try. Stephen followed him up while I stayed behind with Lucas; it was too steep for the two of us.

We found some lizards in the bushes!

Our last stop in the park was the Delicate Arch Viewpoint. We didn't want to hike with two toddlers to the arch itself because it's kind of steep with a narrow trail and a drop off, so we saw it from afar.

Once we got back in the car the boys fell asleep, so Stephen and I took a drive down Potash Road across from the park so the boys could nap for a bit. On our way back we stopped to see some dinosaur footprints which the boys loved.

We finally made it back to the hotel for some lunch and a swim. I honestly think going swimming was the highlight of the trip for the boys. It's all they talked about and asked about every 10 minutes until we got in the pool. It was an outdoor pool so I thought it'd be too cold for me, and I wasn't even sure if my "swimsuit" was going to fit me, but it did so I got in. We had a great time, but it made for an exhausting day.

the next day was our drive home, but we stopped at a dinosaur museum to see some more dino tracks and try to tire the boys out so they'd sleep in the car. We got up too early and the museum wasn't open yet, so we took another scenic drive and stopped to let the boys explore until  we could go back to the museum.

 That is sandstone that Lucas is trying to take a bite out of.

Finally we got to see the dinosaurs!

 We let the kids play for a while before eating lunch and heading home. We stopped in the gift shop and let the boys pick out one thing to take home. Lucas got a bucket of little dinosaurs, and Zander chose a triceratops mask. I'm glad we make time every now and then to spoil ourselves and go on vacation. These are what our childhoods are made up of. We sure made some good memories!