The Osterhouse: Out of the House

Be prepared to feel really sorry for me: I miss not traveling. I know, poor me, right? My problem is that while living in England, traveling was so much easier, exciting and much much less expensive. I knew that once we moved back to the States, it would come to a screeching halt and I was right! Back to reality. Still, I couldn't look at a week off school on my calendar and not want to fill it with some type of exploring and sightseeing.

Although Devin and I went to BYU, we barely explored southern Utah. Therefore, we decided to head south to some sunshine and different scenery.

It proved to be an incredibly fun 4 days. With a relatively short drive (4 hours) and good friends willing to let us stay in their family vacation home, it was set for success. The other perk was we were able to meet up with our niece Lauren and her boyfriend Skyler. It is always fun seeing her and my kids really love her so that was an added bonus.

Our first full day we headed to Zion's National Park. We asked at the entrance if anything was wheelchair accessible and he showed us 3 trails that were.....and then gave Jonas (and his carload) a lifetime pass to get in free at any National Park! Sometimes you have to celebrate the little things, right?

We rode the bus up the beautiful red canyon - and just like with any pilot - Jonas made sure he knew the names of each bus driver and is still talking about them today. They are in order of bus rides: Mona, Michelle and Rob.

At the uppermost part of the canyon we got out and hiked the Riverside Walk. It was beautiful as you can see.

We then ate a picnic lunch while trying to keep the squirrels at bay. They even tried to take off with our zipped container of medicine! I wonder what they would have done with an epipen or an overdose of ditropan. Glad I won that tug of war! They did, however, manage to take off with our bag of carrots - I'm fairly certain my kids weren't complaining about that being the bag the squirrel chose.

Next we hiked to the lower Emerald Pool which was also beautiful although a bit less wheelchair friendly.

At this point, we were all ready for a rest so we enjoyed a drive through the mountain tunnel nearby before heading in to Saint George for dinner. As we were driving we saw this deer on top of the mountain. I barely got this picture before he ran off.

After dinner we came out of the restaurant to find this old fire engine. I had no idea that this would be Jonas's favorite part of the trip. I think we spent at least an hour here. Jonas was the biggest fan - so much so that we went back the next night.

Before heading back to the house, we drove around Saint George and saw the temple. Beautiful.

The next morning we headed to Snow Canyon. After a much less exciting picnic (and one where everyone had to eat their carrots), we played in the sand dunes. The sand was so soft and it was the perfect temperature. Everyone loved it.

Clara started crawling down the dune with Jonas, so, naturally, Nell had to follow suit...

until she couldn't keep up. I love this picture!

We then headed to Sandy Hollow where we thought it would be warm enough to swim but a wind picked up so we decided to just let the kids play in the sand for an hour or so before heading home to get changed for dinner. What was I thinking? Did I learn nothing from my own upbringing? Kids do not ever just sit in the sand when there is water nearby!! To look at these following pictures and think that there were 3 perfectly good swimsuits in our car makes me wonder...what was I thinking??

1. It started out well enough

2. By the end, everything was wet!

Regardless, our kids had a great time! Even if we got some strange looks.

The next morning we headed out early so we could go on one last hike before heading home. I had no idea that this would be my favorite part of the trip, but I liked this hike more than any of the hikes even at Zions!!

It was called Red Cliffs and was so beautiful. The trail followed a little river. We could only do part of the hike without seriously risking the safety of Jonas and Nell, but the part we did was spectacular.

After this hike we grabbed some food at Mad Pita and were pleasantly surprised by how good it was. We'll definitely be going back when driving through or visiting St. George.

Riding in the car with children can be tiresome. Thankfully looking back at Nell will frequently put a smile on your face.

This Hot Tamale toe was all her doing and she was quite proud!

We had a great vacation and getting away was just as fun as it was in England.

It was not easy coming home but having Easter to look forward to helped. We had our first neighborhood Easter Egg Hunt.

We also had fun with cousins.

We ended our wonderful week with an Osterhout family Easter dinner at our house.

I, unlike most responsible parents, prefer to get the candy out of the way quickly. I pretty much let my kids go crazy for a few days until it's gone so I don't have to deal with it for longer. Not the best parenting, but I choose my battles, okay? I enjoyed these pictures of my kids enjoying their candy.