MOAB

We went to MOAB!

We had never been before and were itching to go camping in a nice warm place so we packed up and drove to Moab! It is really a lot closer than I thought and it was a perfect weekend of camping and hiking with my 2 favorite guys. :-)

We left right after school/work on Friday and got there with enough light to get things set up and a fire going. We made hot dogs and smores the first night and sat around the camp fire. Parker said, "Ok, now we need to tell campfire stories." So I asked him if he would tell us one and he told us the story of the 3 little pigs. So cute! The next morning I woke up to Tanner cooking a delicious breakfast on his camp stove!

We needed the energy to get us through a big day of adventures!

Our camping spot was perfectly located- right next to the little playground so Parker could play and make new friends while we cleaned up or made food. He met some cute little girls and became friends with them pretty quickly. They spent most of their time together hunting Caterpillars. :-)

Here's Parker modeling his hiking outfit in our cool tent!

Tanner made us all some Tang to take on our hike.

And we're off!!!!

We stopped a few times to check things out- like lizards and such.

Parker did a phenomenal job hiking! This first hike was a little over 3 miles and pretty steep at times. He did great!

We were thrilled when we saw Delicate Arch! It is truly a sight to see!

Here are some shots from Tanner's camera:

We joked about my Mom coming on this hike with us. She would be ok up until the very end. It is a STEEP drop off up there next to the arch. I mean, one girl dropped her water bottle and it was gone. There was no stopping it after it fell. It gave me some anxiety thinking about slipping but we did ok and the thrill was exciting!

On the way down Parker started asking me what killed the dinosaurs. He asked me if people killed them and so I tried my best to explain to him the theory of what extinguished the dinosaurs. I had to really think back to Land Before Time. ;-) I told him the story over and over until he really started getting it. At one point I said, "And then a big dust cloud covered the earth which blocked the sunshine and then what happened?" and he said, "Jesus came!" It was so funny. Not the answer I was looking for (Ice Age) but cute none the less.

After we hiked to Delicate Arch we drove around Arches a little bit and found a nice place to picnic.

After lunch we hopped back in the car and drove to some dinosaur tracks! Parker fell asleep in the car so we took our time and let him catch some Zzzz's.

The dinosaur tracks were cool! But not THAT cool.

It was fun exploring, though.

After the dinosaur tracks we had time for one more excursion. I wanted to see some caves or a waterfall but we'd never been to Moab and didn't know the first thing about where to go to see that stuff. So we just drove up the river a little bit and pulled off on a trail and just started walking on it to see where it would go!

There were little fishies swimming in the stream...

It was a beautiful little hike. It was so green and lush next to the river.

Parker asked if he could take a picture of us... :-)

After a long day of adventures we headed back to our campsite and got all cleaned up, made some dinner, and watched a movie on Tanner's lap top. We all slept soooo good. Well, except that Tanner's air mattress went flat.... Sorry hun.

I know this picture is blurry but I had to get a picture of Parker's cute little sleepy eyes the next morning.

Welcome to our humble abode.

After we got all packed up and before we left Moab we got a bite to eat at Zax, a restaurant highly recommended to us by a few different people. It was soooooo good!

On our way home we pulled off the side of the road to check out this huge grotto we spotted from the free way!

Pictures don't do it justice. It was cool!

We sure had a blast camping together! The hiking was amazing and it was wonderful spending uninterrupted time with just the 3 of us. I can't wait to go camping again! :-)