Moab/Arches National Park

I’ve lived in Utah my entire adult life and I’ve never taken the 4 hour drive south to see one of the things Utah is most known for.  So, when Jonathan’s sister said they would be going to Moab and hiking around arches before the family reunion we decided to tag along – and I’m sure glad we did.  It was more fun that I thought it would be and I loved spending time with family.

We left Friday after Jonathan got home from work and pulled into our ultra swanky Super 8 around 8:00.  We met up with the Ford’s (Jonathan’s sister’s family), unpacked (I have to unpack when I arrive somewhere, even if it’s only for a few days), and tried to put Hannah to bed.  I say tried because it took us 3 1/2 hours before she finally fell asleep.  At 9:45 we put her down (much later than her normal bed time) but were worried her crying would be annoying to our neighbors.  (By night 2 we got over that fear).  We only let her cry for about 5 minutes before I went in and held/bounced her for an hour.  She was almost asleep when I texted Jonathan (who had been sitting in the hall) to come in and turn down the AC so it wouldn’t be so loud next to her pack and play.  Our stupid, LOUD as could be door woke her up and she was ready for another party.  Fast forward to midnight and she’s still wide awake so we put her in the stroller and walked the halls of the motel/town for 30 minutes to find her even more hyper with the new environment.  Around 1:15 we just put her in her bed and she cried off and on for another 10 minutes before falling asleep.  Needless to say the next morning we were very tired.

We got to Arches around 9:00 and set off for our first “hike”.  I’m sure there are much harder hikes to do but we did simple ones that little kids could do with us.  I was very pleased with how family friendly arches was.

  
For the second hike we lost the three year old and his mom but the rest of us went to Landscape Arch and Navajo Arch.

Did I mention that Hannah loved being carted around on Daddy’s back?

But after awhile she started to get tired so we headed back for naps.

       

That night David and Melissa and their little girl that is just 3 months older than Hannah joined us.  We went out for dinner.

 
The next morning we went to church then headed to “Hole in the Rock”.  No, not the place where the pioneers had to take their wagons, but a house that some guy with too much free time built in the side of the mountain.  After that we went to the “movie museum” where there were a bunch of pictures documenting all the movies that have been shot in Moab.

The next day, Monday, was by far the most eventful.  This was the day we decided to do Delicate Arch.  We got a later start than planned (which tends to happen when little kids are involved.)  The Fords decided not to go on this one as they wanted their kids to sleep in and they thought it might be tough for the littlest one.  We pulled into the parking lot at 9:00 and from the time Jonathan turned off the car and got out and looked in the back window Hannah and thrown up all over herself.  We’re still not totally sure what made her sick but it was everywhere.  Luckily we had a full thing of wipes and extra clothes.  We changed her and wiped up the car seat the best we could, left the car windows rolled down to let it air out and continued on with our plans.

I’m so glad we didn’t turn back then.  Delicate Arch was a great little hike and a beautiful sight. We thought we made it….but had to continue on.

The walk back was apparently hot and exhausting for the little girls.

 

We made a quick stop at Balanced Rock then headed to a laundromat do wash Hannah’s clothes and attempt to wash her car seat.

 
I’m not sure why car seats have to be so difficult but it was hot, we were tired and hungry, we had a squirmy baby and after half an hour we could not get the thing off.  There was one little part that we could not figure out for the life of us.  Then, we saw on the label that you’re not supposed to dry it in a dryer and we figured that even if we could get it off, we didn’t have time to let the thing air dry.  So, I washed Hannah’s clothes and Lamby (the stuffed animal that we can’t sleep without that was a causality in the mornings incident) while Jonathan did the best he could to clean the car seat.  I wish I had taken more pictures of the awfulness that was that afternoon because looking back it was a good memory but at the time I was very stressed.  The only picture I took is this one:  I’m sitting on the toilet, feeding Hannah lunch while Jonathan is scrubbing the seat.

After we got everything cleaned we headed to Colorado for the Snow Family Reunion.  We were in charge of FHE the first night so we had planned to stop at a Walmart an hour away from where we were staying to get popsicles.  Well, just as we were pulling into the parking lot, guess who threw up AGAIN!  That’s right.  So we spent an hour longer at Walmart than intended.  We also got baking soda and Febreze while there.  Lamby was covered again and this time we had no access to a laundromat.  Later that night I cleaned Lamby in the bath tub and then dried him with a blow dryer.  Oh, and did I mention it was my birthday?  Happy Birthday to me :)

She didn’t get sick the rest of the trip with is great.  Not sure if it was just a 24 hour thing, or car sickness, or breakfast didn’t sit well but I’m glad we had a full 5 days to leave the windows rolled down and let the mountain breeze air out the car.

 

Stay tuned for the details of the actual family reunion…