Bryce Canyon

Mike had his last week of vacation  for the year, (the year starts over next month) and we got to go Bryce Canyon.  Grandpa Pat joined us for a few days and helped us go on some beautiful hikes.  The first day is traditionally our best for hiking.  Everyone is excited to be out and seeing something new and our little ones' legs aren't too tired yet.  We picked our first hike because of it's name "Fairyland Loop"  with two girls who love Tinkerbell this was a great choice.  Although we looked for fairies everywhere we didn't see any, but we found lots of places that would make great homes for fairies. 

Clara is looking for fairies.

When the girls get really tired, Mike will sometimes put them in the pack in this rescue carry...

Hannah fell asleep.

Pat and Mike kept us entertained by catching lizards.

Pat and Hannah on the trail.

The hike was beautiful although we hiked a little further than we planned because we didn't notice the shuttle didn't pick up at our ending point as we had planned.  The nearest shuttle stop was two miles away.  So our hike ended up being eight miles!  Everyone was super. 

I keep griping to everyone about Luke not being able to walk yet, and it was probably a blessing when it came to hiking.  He was content, most of the time, to be in a pack while we hiked.  In camp it was a different story.  He crawled everywhere, and I think this is one of the dustiest places I've ever camped.  Not sand, not mud, but dust.  He was completely covered within 10 seconds of being in camp. 

Clara and Hannah loved being in camp.  We would do a hike in the morning and get back to camp around 3ish and they would just play and play.  They made pine cone and rock faces, watched ants eat a cicada, climbed trees, and played in the dirt. 

It is amazing!

Cool switchback on the Navajo Loop Trail.  Wall Street was closed, but this canyon was cool.

Silly Hannah.

Posing Clara.

Sticky Luke.

The last day Pat had to head back so we were on our own for hiking.  We bought the kids large lollipops to keep them hiking.  Luke loved his.  I know you can't really tell from this picture, but he was covered in lollipop goo.

Me with the crew.

Mike kept insisting on taking pictures of me on this day.  It was that big birthday for me and he wanted to take "birthday pictures."  I'd been camping for 3 and a half almost four days and wasn't really in the mood for a photo shoot, so he starting getting these kinds of shots.  At least the background is pretty.

It was the perfect way to celebrate!