The Narrows, etc.

We took a trip to Utah in June this year, over Father's Day weekend.  I was thrilled it worked out for me and two of my sisters to hike the Narrows in Zion National Park with my dad while we were there.  We got a couple rooms at the Super 8 in Hurricane and stayed the night before so we could get a morning start.  The hike was spectacular!  The water (which you're in most of the time) was about knee deep and cold, but with the air temp in the 90s and the shade of the cliffs, it was perfect. I shouldn't have chosen yoga pants to hike in though, as they almost immediately got heavy and annoying. There are times when a girl should just get over the varicose and spider veins on her legs and wear short shorts, you know?

Dad and me (with rolled-up pants):

The rest of the group.  The sister in the middle found out she was pregnant with her first baby shortly after we returned.  Good thing she wasn't vomiting and extremely fatigued yet: 

Stopped for a snack in the shade:

We took so many pictures that I started encouraging ones with goofy faces to add variety:

We stopped at a cemetery in Rockville near Zion where my remarkable ancestor Jane Johnston Black is buried.  We also went to the Territorial Statehouse in Fillmore, Utah and saw her portrait:

  

Our drive from California to Utah with the kids was the best we've ever had.  Sister was entertained enough by electronics and her brothers that I didn't have to sit in the back with her.  I was feeling kind of smug and thought, "Look!  We can take vacations now!"  But the drive back proved me wrong.  Sister threw up all over herself about 2 hours in, I think from being motion sick.  We stopped at a bathroom in the Salt Flats and cleaned up the best we could. 

After lunch, 2nd Brother wouldn't stop making goofy noises and bugging Sister when we were trying to do a quiet hour.  We stopped the car and made him sit alone in the back, but he continued to be obnoxious and unbuckled his seat belt, so we stopped yet again, and he had a time out in the dirt while the rest of us sat in the car and Sister woke up from her too-short nap.  Blerg!  Dealing with him was one of the most frustrating parenting experiences I've ever had.      

To end on a happier note, here are the kids with their two great-grandmas and with Grandma and Grandpa:

Modern friendship

This is what 8-9 year old boys do as friends in 2014:

At least they are playing video games while physically in the same room with each other. A couple of months ago, 1st Brother played Minecraft with a friend online..and the friend lives ACROSS THE STREET ("We can each have our own big screen" was the explanation). That and it would have been hard to walk 40 steps to the other person's house, I guess.