Spring Break Part 2: MOAB

On Thursday we drove down to Moab and met up with our friends, the Crowthers.  They own 2 beautiful condos at Moab Springs Ranch and we were lucky to be their guests!  Early Friday morning BS and Nate went mountain biking.  BS didn't take his bike down this time so he was riding Jayden's {a 14 yr old} and wore regular clothes and sneakers!  It was odd to see him biking without all of his gear.  He had a great ride checking out the new trail called "The Magnificent Seven."

Only 1 pair of gloves so they shared

While they rode, Dee and I did a little jeeping which is always fun!  We also hiked to Gemini Bridges.  We left the kids back at the condo to sleep-in and hang out.  They love being with the other kids.  On the way back we saw our other friends, the Banks.  They joined us and then we met up with the Sunderlages.  So there were 4 families, and all of the kids are buddies.  We all went to breakfast at the Moab diner.

Then we went on a hike to Corona Arch which looks a lot like Rainbow Bridge.  It is a perfect hike in terms of length, difficulty, and coolness factor when hiking with kiddos.  While we were there Nate and his friend climbed to the top and swung off of it and rappelled down.  Yikes!

Quin was the youngest but she hikes like a Mountain Goat!

PLANKING under Corona Arch

Q, Sage, Kyndra, Tatum, Seth, Brayden, W, Jayden, S, M, Morann, Kembree

Saturday, Crowthers took us on a secret hike to see a secret arch.  It's secret because it's not on the maps.  On the way back we stopped to look at Indian ruins.  So cool.

Morann, M, Kyndra, Sage, Jayden, Tatum

Sage and Q found fuzzy caterpillars

The kid's favorite activity was jeeping with Nate and Dee!  The four 12 year old girls could not get enough of it!  They rode Fins and Things and some other famous trail.  I have to admit that I love it too!

The rest of the time was spent swimming at the pool, exploring real dinosaur tracks, canoeing in the pond, catching tadpoles, swinging on hammocks, playing night games, eating good food, and shopping.  Will has been obsessed with finding gold so we took him to the local gem shop and got him a pan and a pick.  He also found out that indeed he had found a real dinosaur bone!

 

S, Morann, M, Jayden

M, Tatum, Q, Kyndra, Morann

 The weather was forecasted to be cold, rainy, and windy - which it was up here - but down in Moab it wasn't bad at all.  Somehow the rain missed us.  Fantastic trip!

Red Hot

Last Thursday, our family ventured down to beautiful Moab for the Red Hot 55K race. Yes, that's running 34 miles in the rocky, sandy, red mountains of Southern Utah. I'm sure it was a good idea last summer, but it definitely crept up on BS and he found himself starting the race without having trained much. He had some miles on the treadmill, but only 17 miles total prior to the race. He's nuts if you ask me {or anyone else}.

But, while we worried about him, we didn't complain because for us it means a fun weekend get-away with family and friends. Despite some unpleasant weather, we had a really great time!

On Friday we explored and went hiking to see Corona Arch. I'm pretty sure this is one of our family's favorite things to do...be outside and explore. Even Quincy holds her own keeping up and climbing right along with the others. Here she is next to a cairn {a pile of rocks found all along the trail to show us the way}.




The arch was big and beautiful. Uncle Adam and Jess came with us too so that was extra fun. Check out BS doing splits on the railroad track.

That evening we met up with our friends/neighbors, the Bright family. We really enjoyed hanging out with them and Will and Quin were so happy to have buddies to play with.

We stayed at Sam's Uncle's condo which is super nice and comfortable. Thanks Uncle Louis! The 6 kids all slept in the kids room with double bunk beds.

Saturday was race day. It was rainy, cool, and very windy. We love to support and cheer them on! We even went 4-wheeling in our cars up the trail to meet up with them at station 1 and 3. Quite an adventure!!!
Here, they are 17 miles into the race. The kids rang cow bells and ran along with them as they headed back out after a quick stop.

The guys did awesome, finishing in 6:40. BS's goal was under 7 hours so he was happy :)

WAY TO GO guys!

He was not so happy that night and the next day...his whole body hurt. That's where the lack of training caught up with him. But he's a tough guy and doesn't complain much.

Saturday was also Quincy's birthday!!! We celebrated at a local pizza place. I will save her birthday for a seperate post.

After some sleeping-in and a pigging out on Sunday brunch, we headed home.

Another great trip for the books.