Ah, Zekey Bears. What a little sweetie. He was thrilled to learn we would be vacationing in Moab, in a HOTEL with a POOL (his favorite) on his special seventh birthday on earth.
His special weekend started with his adorable First Grade Portuguese program, he had a speaking part and did
soooooo great.
He took total responsibility for getting himself ready for this program. He was adamant that he did not want to wear his Sunday clothes, because this is school. He did his own hair, and I thought he looked very handsome.
Then, off to Moab!
Our hotel was just great, at the end of town. The pool was fun, there was a hot tub- which the kids love to bounce back and forth from. We swam as much as we could fit in-between hiking!
Many people head to Moab over Spring Break, so it was fun to run in to several people from our neighborhood- staying in our own hotel even.
We stopped at Dead Horse Point. I don't remember it being so beautiful up there! Or so high up with drop-offs! Yikes! I wouldn't let anyone get within 20 feet of the edge. I was a wreck, but it was a gorgeous early evening.
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| See, here everyone is waaaaaaay to close to the edge for my comfort. Eeeeeeeek!!! |
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| Cartwheels on the edge of the world |
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| Everyone within a mile here could hear me yelling, "DO NOT hang over the wall!!!" |
The next day we drove into the park- this annual pass is really coming in handy. We were able to by-pass the long lines and just get right in.
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| The glorious balancing rock. |
The night before Zeke's birthday I ran to a nearby grocery store down the street to grab a cake. I came back to the room to find everyone soundly sleeping. I went to work getting the room ready, hanging streamers for him when he would wake up in the morning on his special day!
He was thrilled and it all met his expectations.
After the fun gift opening, we headed back into the park!
It was fun to hike the delicate arch- in my memory, it is just up over the hill a little ways. I shouldn't have said this to the kids, because it is quite the trek! That first big slab of rock is steep and a doozy! Poor Zeke sat down at one point, very upset, "I said I didn't want to do a hard hike on my birthday!" He and Paisley were both tired and upset. Jon and the big boys went on ahead and I had to do some convincing that it will be worth it, and some things are very hard, but lets look at the
good! It was a beautiful day, not too warm- perfect hiking weather for me! We kept inching our way up until finally we worked our way around the rock to behold the glorious Delicate Arch! It really is breathtaking. The kids were not expecting it to be so enormous and were excited to recognize it from so many photos and the famous license plate.
"Hey, we've seen this before!" Paisely and Zeke were glad they reached the top and agreed it was worth it. I loved just sitting and taking it in. So beautiful!
The big boys made their way down into the big bowl down below and Jon followed after them. I took the littles back how we came and we all met up. We made several other stops in the park that day, but that Delicate Arch is really amazing!
We ended the day with more swimming, dinner at the most delicious crowded Mexican restaurant right outside our hotel, and of course, the
cake!
On our way home we stopped at Goblin Valley. What a place! I'd never been, and I'm so glad we stopped. It was well worth it, we spent hours exploring. I kept imagining how beautiful it must be there at night to walk through on a full moon.
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| We felt like the walls of rock looked like big apartment buildings. |
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| It's the most bizarre formation out in the middle of nowhere! |
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| The kids found a cave and took my phone in to get a picture. They wanted to explore it but it made me nervous. |
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We had to pass through Green River and we thought the town felt a little eerie! Then we looked to the side where an old hotel stood and noticed this in the window.
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| Slappy??? |
What a great time to be together, create new memories, inside jokes, and experience new things. Especially to dedicate the fun all to Zeke! He is such a great kid. He is so smart, confident, and just has a fun personality. I love how he'll still jump in my arms and let me snuggle and smooch him. He's the perfect caboose!
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| Zeke out on a fun date with Dad |
Our hotel was just great, at the end of town. The pool was fun, there was a hot tub- which the kids love to bounce back and forth from. We swam as much as we could fit in-between hiking!
Many people head to Moab over Spring Break, so it was fun to run in to several people from our neighborhood- staying in our own hotel even.
We stopped at Dead Horse Point. I don't remember it being so beautiful up there! Or so high up with drop-offs! Yikes! I wouldn't let anyone get within 20 feet of the edge. I was a wreck, but it was a gorgeous early evening.
The next day we drove into the park- this annual pass is really coming in handy. We were able to by-pass the long lines and just get right in.
The night before Zeke's birthday I ran to a nearby grocery store down the street to grab a cake. I came back to the room to find everyone soundly sleeping. I went to work getting the room ready, hanging streamers for him when he would wake up in the morning on his special day!
He was thrilled and it all met his expectations.
It was fun to hike the delicate arch- in my memory, it is just up over the hill a little ways. I shouldn't have said this to the kids, because it is quite the trek! That first big slab of rock is steep and a doozy! Poor Zeke sat down at one point, very upset, "I said I didn't want to do a hard hike on my birthday!" He and Paisley were both tired and upset. Jon and the big boys went on ahead and I had to do some convincing that it will be worth it, and some things are very hard, but lets look at the good! It was a beautiful day, not too warm- perfect hiking weather for me! We kept inching our way up until finally we worked our way around the rock to behold the glorious Delicate Arch! It really is breathtaking. The kids were not expecting it to be so enormous and were excited to recognize it from so many photos and the famous license plate. "Hey, we've seen this before!" Paisely and Zeke were glad they reached the top and agreed it was worth it. I loved just sitting and taking it in. So beautiful!
The big boys made their way down into the big bowl down below and Jon followed after them. I took the littles back how we came and we all met up. We made several other stops in the park that day, but that Delicate Arch is really amazing!
We ended the day with more swimming, dinner at the most delicious crowded Mexican restaurant right outside our hotel, and of course, the cake!
On our way home we stopped at Goblin Valley. What a place! I'd never been, and I'm so glad we stopped. It was well worth it, we spent hours exploring. I kept imagining how beautiful it must be there at night to walk through on a full moon.
We had to pass through Green River and we thought the town felt a little eerie! Then we looked to the side where an old hotel stood and noticed this in the window.
