Moab

The kids didn't have school on Friday, so we thought we would surprise them with a spontaneous trip.  Scott's brother and family often go down to Moab and we knew it would be nice weather--and it is close enough, so we figured that was a good place to go.  We arrived Friday around 1 and checked into our cabins.  I really liked the place.  It was only 72$ I think a night--it was a small cabin with a queen, a full, and bunks, so we fit all of us nicely.  There was nothing else in the cabin except a small fridge and a tv and a small chest.  No table, but there was one outside, and a little grill outside.  It was nice though and there was a shared bathroom close by that was really nice--warm, clean and big.  The site had a lot of different cabins, and places to park your rv or tent.  Plus it had a huge area for kids to play--playground, giant chess and checker board, horseshoes, etc, etc.  The kids loved it.  It was between Arches and Moab, so a great location.
We then went right to arches and went right to Park Avenue.  It was probably our favorite thing.  We hiked 3/4 of the way in, then came back.  The kids loved looking for cairns and playing in the little puddles of water in the holes of the rocks.  We then drove to balanced rock and hiked around it.  Pretty fun.
We drove to the Windows section and hiked in to see the North and South Windows plus the Turret Arch.  Didn't do the loop, just headed back down.  Then we hiked to the Double Arches and the kids loved echoing all the way there.  It was so nice that we went when it wasn't crowded at all.  In most places we passed maybe 4-10 people.  We drove to Delicate Arch, but only did the hike to the viewpoint.  The kids were exhausted by this time and couldn't handle another long hike.  We definitely want to hike this a different time, because the view point, although nice, was just not enough!  If we would have had another day, we would have done this one.  At least we have something to look forward to when we go down again sometime. 
We got done around 6:00 and the sun was about to set, so we stopped at the big sand hill right outside of Arches for half an hour.  The kids loved it, as did Scott and they wouldn't have loved even more time there.  But, we were getting hungry, so we headed to Moab and found a little diner.  Amazingly, the kids ate EVERYTHING (a very rare occurrence in our family!).  We had worn them out.  We went back to our site and the kids watched a movie ("Gus" an old Don Knotts movie).  Scott and I promptly fell asleep (what? in bed by 8 o'clock?). 
The next morning (after a nice sleep in) we went straight to Canyonlands.  It was pretty hazy, and we had missed the site of Mesa Arch in the sunrise, so we left that for last, once the haze lifted.  Instead, we went to the Upheaval Dome.  We hiked to both overlooks and it was a nice big hike for the kids.  They did amazing.  They really liked that hike as well.  We drove to the Green River Overlook and took in the amazing view.  There were a lot of amazing views on our drive--over and over again, beauty was surrounding us.  We then stopped at Mesa Arch and made that our last hike.  It was a bit scary for me...  Too close to the edge.  That was also the busiest place we were--lots more tourists.  I am so glad we got to see most of our trip without anyone else around.  I hate crowds, especially when on vacation.
We had done so much hiking and we were ready to take a break.  My fit bit said we had climbed about 50 flights of stairs and walked about 6 miles each day!
We drove down toward Potash and saw the Indian writings on the walls--wow, cool.  We didn't feel comfortable walking up to the dinosaur print though.  Maybe when the kids are older. 
The kids were dying to go to gift shops (argh!), so we went into Moab and walked into a few stores, mostly annoying the people who worked there.  The kids (of course) each came away with something to "remember" Moab (or in Elise's case, a sucker).  Then we ate at Zak's.  We chose the pizza buffet, and unfortunately, it was ... ok...  I was hoping for that honey chicken, but I guess they don't make it for the buffet.  (Scott doesn't like sweet meat, so I couldn't order it for all of us)  We then enjoyed hot showers and another movie ("Inspector Gadget") before bedtime.  Sunday morning, we packed back up and headed home.  We made it to Wellington in time for sacrament meeting and back home for the rest of church.  It was a fun, spontaneous trip.