Zions

Our family hasn't been to Zions in years, and now we have been twice in a matter of months!
We were visiting St. George with the Randalls over Labor Day and Grandpa wanted to go into the park.  He also hadn't been in years.  We, unfortunately, choose the busiest day of the year at Zions.  It was so crowded.  We parked half way through Springdale and rode the shuttle to the entrance (after eating our Subways on some grass in town).
The kids had done their entire Junior Ranger packet in the spring and the only thing they had left was the Ranger talk.  We rushed to get to one at the Museum.  The Ranger talked about animals in the park and that was fun for the kids.  Enoch even volunteered to be a water tiger.

Can't you see how much fun we are having?!

We wanted to take it easy with the kids this trip so we opted to go on the Weeping Rock hike.  Grandma, Grandpa, Jarom and Gavin went on an overlook hike that was a bit more strenuous that we wanted.  We meet them back at the condo that afternoon for dinner and swimming.

We had a great time on our hike!

The best part of the hike was the stream at the bottom.  Greg and I made ourselves comfortable on the sandy banks and let the kids play for as long as they wanted (I think we were there for about an hour).  The water was just the right height for Guard and still enough for Kate and Enoch to have fun. 
They had a great time - water, sand, sun and family.   It was so good to see them outside playing and not looking at a screen!

Guard gets the prize for the biggest stick!

When the kids were tired and thristy, we headed back down the canyon on the shuttles.  They were crowded, but the park had enough going that it wasn't too bad.  We had the stand most of the time, but we got where we were going.

Back at the Visitor Center, the kids turned in their Junior Ranger packets, took the pledge and received their pins (we also got patched at the bookstore).  Wow!  That makes six Junior Ranger pins this summer!

Hmmm...we were all a bit exhausted at this point, but still more fun.  After dinner at Randall's condo, we all went swimming.  I can't believe the kids still had energy!

It was a great day!  And, we all slept well that night!