Arches, Canyons, and Goblins

 Canyonlands National Park

We decided to go on a road trip for Memorial Day weekend, so after the air show, we skedaddled our way out of town down to Moab.  Wow.  I just blew up the above picture and realized in a rare occurrence, we are all smiling and looking at the camera!  For six people, this is a feat and a half.

Another thing we discovered on this trip is how lovely it is to travel without diapers now that our last one is potty trained and no more bulky porta-crib either with Megan now sleeping in a bed.  It is truly a joyous thing to be moving onto this next stage in life.  Several times we noticed how our clan was more manageable and enjoyable on this trip without a baby in tow and the girls getting older and better-behaved in public places.  (you notice I didn't say always well-behaved)

We fell in love with Arches, and hiked throughout the national park most of the day.  The three older girls even received Junior Ranger badges after completing various tasks and answering the ranger's probing questions.  

 John and the older girls were more adventurous than Megan and I, climbing up to high perches and making my mommy meter/freakout mode go into overdrive. 

While they climbed, Megan and I enjoyed some quality togetherness time.

Er, I enjoyed.  She begged to join her siblings.  

 The double arches were really cool, to say the least.  

 Sadly, we didn't get to hike up to the actual delicate arch.  It is a rather strenuous hike we didn't think our two and four-year-old could muster up, so we settled for the drive up, park, and take a picture with a really long zoom spot. 

 We got to see this really cool football-long arch that is slowly loosing pieces. 

 

 ...and yet another arch, this time in Canyonlands, where the girls also completed another Junior Ranger program.

 We took our bikes down and enjoyed several bike rides, including this trail that took us to the local park featuring a smorgasboard of musical toys.  

 And lastly, we traveled over to Goblin Valley, which we learned is REALLY out in the middle of nowhere, but VERY cool and well worth the time, even if we did miss the little brown turn-off sign without realizing it until 20 miles later.  

 All in all, a fun trip indeed.