RV Trip to Moab and Bryce Canyon - Post 1 of 3

Ever since the kids heard about this thing called an RV, they looked forward, starry-eyed, to the day they would be able to vacation in one.

"It's like a house! But also a car!" says Timothy. Seriously, what could be more exciting? Ahem.

Brian and I, on the other hand, felt a little intimidated about the prospect of figuring out the logistics of being in charge of something that was like a house, but also a car. Little things and big things, like are the roads easy to navigate? How about parking? What do we do with our poop? Are there enough beds for us all? Where would we drive? How much will it cost? And on and on and on and on... 

But the kids really were excited, and since I know that everything is figureoutable, we decided to go for it and take a 5-day trip through southern Utah for some hiking and sleeping on the road.

We loaded the RV with school stuff, food stuff, sleeping stuff, kitchen stuff, hiking stuff, dog stuff, and finally, ourselves, and took off for Moab in the early afternoon. 

Excitement was high.

We drove and drove and drove. Singing along to Dear Evan Hanson, studying physical sciences, switching seats, and stopping to eat dinner... which was odd because we literally stopped, and ate dinner. No fighting about what to eat, no drive thrus, no stress. Well, no stress unless you count cooking the food in a kitchen the size of a postage stamp.

That night we made it to Moab and pulled into the RV park under cover of darkness. But the darkness couldn't hide the scenery. Can you call it scenery when there's nothing but gravel covering a parking lot with RV's packed inside like sardines? I don't know, but what I do know is that I was surprised and quite disappointed. By the time we'd cleaned up, figured out how to fold the bench into one bed and the kitchen table into another, found and distributed all the bedding, hooked up all of the water and electricity and sewage, taken the dog for a walk, smushed around each other to brush our teeth and get our pajamas on in a hallway the size of a bicycle, and had the children and the dog tucked into their sheets, I crawled into our bed at the back of the RV and looked at Brian with a slightly panicked face. "We are paying to do this?" I asked.

It was like camping, but with none of the best parts. "I haven't even seen a star yet!" I complained.

It was bad enough that it surpassed slight annoyance and flopped into a humorous category without much effort, so we fell asleep shaking our heads and laughing (slightly) at the madness of it all.

The next morning we awoke and had to undo all the things we did do the night before. Bedding folded, kitchen table and bench erected, pajamas off, hook ups unhooked, etc, etc, etc, and we headed off in search of a hiking trail that would restore a little bit of our sanity. Soon we hit a traffic jam and then eventually found ourselves in a long line to get into Arches National Park. 

Maybe it was something about that line... maybe it was something about the stuffiness inside the RV... maybe it was something about the lack of sleep or the stress of the night before... maybe it was something about the website I had pulled up saying that no dogs were allowed on any of the hiking trails throughout the park... but the energy inside of me started to rise and it created a buzzy heat that made me want to run. Run away from all of it. I realized in that moment that I had not stepped outside of that RV for 24 full hours. Because we were carrying a house along with us I hadn't needed to and because there was so much need inside of it I hadn't thought to. 

But I thought to now.

I noticed the cars jam packed around us and the road inching slowly along outside of us and looked at Brian with the panic of a crazy woman. "I'm getting out," I said. "I'll take Maisy and meet you at the entrance."

I thought he'd be shocked, or at least a little surprised, but he looked at me right back and said, "I think that's a great idea." 

Apparently I hadn't been hiding my craziness as well as I'd thought.

From the moment my lungs filled with the fresh air of the mountain, I was cured. Fifteen minutes later I climbed back into the RV a new woman, and since the steep learning curve of the RV life had already been scaled, we found the next few days absolutely amazing and have decided that we're going to sell our house, buy an RV, and travel around the country exploring nature and begging for our food. 

Well, that's my plan anyway. Brian said no. So I guess I have to choose between them.

I'll keep you posted on that decision.

Our first hike was to Delicate Arch.

These kids are awesome little hikers.

We had such fun all along the trail.

Here we are coming up to the arch:

And when we finally made it Timothy was sure he needed a little nap.

Here are the boys after a rather disappointing realization that we were not going to let them climb to the top of the arch after all.

Can you believe, in all the years I lived in Utah with the Delicate Arch prominently displayed on the license plates, I had never once seen it in person? 

My booted foot made it aaalllllllmost the whole way, but when we got this close to the arch, the rock we were walking along was slanted at just the right angle to make it rather unnavigable without a pivoting ankle. And when the wind kicked up and the cliff loomed close I decided maybe it was safer to just see the arch from a distance this time.

Eliza needed some extra cuddles at the top because that wind really was kind of cold, and she really was kind of tired, and we had forgotten to pack her fruit snacks, sooooooo.....

It was a fun hike.

When we got back down to the bottom we found a fun little picnic area in which to cook our dinner. But first we needed firewood, which involved a hatchet, which gather all sorts of excitement from the boys.

Poor little Maisy hadn't been invited to come along on the hike (not our rules, Arches National Park rules), so she stayed behind in the RV in her crate. It's a good thing it was a beautiful, mild day in terms of weather, and it's another good thing that she loves her 'spot'. She was happy to see us come back after the hike and was even happier to be let out to play around our picnic spot. Don't let her cute little grumpy face fool you, she's happy.

Timothy's in a cute phase of 'take a picture of me, Mom!' and I'm happy to comply (almost) every time.

Miles is in a cute phase of needing bribes every time I want to get a picture of him.

And Brian, the grill-master, cooked up some amazing chicken and hot dogs for us all.

That night we drove back to our (still unsightly) RV Park and did all the night time things again. This time it went much smoother because we knew what to expect and, even more helpful, how to do it. We snuggled up and watched Abominable (which was delightful) and fell asleep much happier than we'd been just 24 hours earlier. The outdoors is magical that way.

Heidi’s Visit

Heidi and Livvy came to visit! Adam was attending a conference, but because of Covid the conference was over Zoom. Heidi felt like it would be best for him if he had the whole house to himself for the weekend, so down they came.

Unsurprisingly, we spent most of our time in the pool. It was early March, but after we heated up the deep end no one seemed to remember that it was a little chilly outside.

Kenz didn't really feel like getting wet because she is a teenager was going out later with friends. But she still came out to visit with us while we were swimming.

However, Maisy jumped in! Not, might I add, of her own accord. We had some very persistent children who were desperate to see if she could swim. 

She can.

Eliza and Livvy have somewhat of a complicated relationship. I wasn't able to get a picture of the two of them together, but there were moments when they seemed to enjoy each other. And they did sit in the hot tub at the same time, so...

These two seem to get along just fine, though.

Livvy seemed to be fine with Eliza's lack of interest in her. She was happy to be entertained by the other kids.

And once we were all water logged and ready for some sugar, we fired up the fire pit and roasted some marshmallows.

I know I say this a lot, but having visitors come to my home is one of my favorite things in the world. Thanks for coming, Heidi and Livvy!

Brian's Birthday

 It's not every day your favorite person turns 41. 

Forty-one. It wasn't all that long ago that my parents turned 41... and boy did that seem old. Which leaves me wondering... does the idea of inflation also somehow apply to years lived? It just doesn't seem like one year has quite the same value today as it did when I was a teenager.

Regardless of how fast the years seem to be going or how young 41 seems today as opposed to how old it seemed in days gone by, Brian has packed his 41 years with so much good. 

One of my favorite things about him is his ability to make light of uncomfortable or heavy situations. He is an embodied 'diffuse button' and I'm not sure he even knows quite what it feels like to be stuck in an awkward situation because he just doesn't get stuck. There's always a path out, there's always humor, and he can almost always find it to the relief of all involved.

We were all ready and waiting for him to come home from work and let us love on him. And it just so happened that it was the most beautiful evening. We love being in Vegas through the long springtime. He and the kids played twenty-one, the current favorite basketball game, and played with Maisy.

And played with Maisy.

And played with Maisy.

And played with Maisy.

And played with Maisy.

Soon, the grill was fired up, and the kabobs the kids and I had prepared were sizzling.

Shrimp. Sausage. Pineapple. Onion. The kabobs were deluxe and delicious.

Brian has an energy about him that is impossible to describe. You have to feel it. When he walks into the house I can be anywhere inside it and the ripples of his energy will find me long before I see him. He is fun, and intense, and the smartest person I know. He is observant and perceptive and loves nothing more than to help and serve his family. He is kind and compassionate and is leaving me in the dust when it comes to developing humility. He is grounded and efficient and good at reading people and situations quickly and accurately. He is curious and beautiful and I love him with my whole heart. 

Happy Birthday, Brian!

Vacation to St. George

St. George

Next up, Brian and I took Miles and Timothy to St. George. But on our way, we knew we needed a pit stop for dinner. So we pulled off in Mesquite in search of something fun. We drove by a steakhouse but ultimately decided it wasn't quite right for our crowd, we drove by a Mexican place, but Miles didn't feel like Mexican, and we quickly discovered that there weren't a whole lot of options in Mesquite. Brian drove around while I searched on my phone, and finally... there it was... the idea of all ideas in my head that I knew would feel like the ultimate party, that would have both boys spinning in excitement.

So I googled: Buffet in Mesquite.

It did not matter that it was potentially the dumpiest buffet in all of southern Vegas, because it was all you can eat. And to a kid (well, to my kids (or to other kids who have similar voracious appetites)) that is a most magical thing. You can see the excitement spelled out all over Miles's face.

At the end of the meal Brian asked if everyone was done eating. Miles said that, yes, he was stuffed, and Timothy said, "Yep. I am stuffed, too. Stuffed with happiness!" It was probably the biggest hit of the whole vacation. 

Our second stop was maybe the second biggest hit of the whole vacation. The hotel room.

It did not matter that it was potentially the dumpiest hotel in all of St. George (it was the last room available that weekend in St. George (golf tournament we didn't know about until it was too late)), because it had a springy bed, and mirrors in fun places.

And when we filled it with board games and laughter we couldn't care less about the scratchy sheets.

The next morning we went out in search of the coolest restaurant we could find. 

But because everyone else in St. George seemed to have the same idea, we ended up in a stuffy cozy little corner in a stuffy cozy little restaurant. I didn't really know I could feel claustrophobic in an eating establishment, but when you can't see one square inch of wall space because the whole place is filled with cutesy hand towels and little wall plaques, and when you're not quite sure if you can scoot your chair out without warning the people at the table next to you, you start to develop these things. 

The kids were famished and a bit whiny about how long it was taking, so we passed the time with several games of 'how many ______ do you think are in ________?' And, closing our eyes, filled in the blanks with thing like, how many ounces do you think are in this bottle of ketchup? or how many individual letters do you think are on a single side of the sugar packet? or how many purple eggs do you think are on the table? When we exhausted all of the things, we tried to stack up sugar packets as high as we could and waited and waited and waited...

What I didn't know was that, after we had been seated, we had been promptly forgotten. And after about 30 minutes with no activity (not even silverware placed in front of us or a drink of water), I finally went up to the front counter and gently reminded them of our presence. The kids were grumpy enough by that point that they didn't even notice that the teenager bringing us our silverware held the prongs of the forks and the bowls of the spoons tightly in his naked hands. As he handed the handles to us, Brian and I caught each others eyes and slowly shrugged, signaling that we would pretend that there wasn't a global pandemic going on and that it wasn't just a little bit gross of a practice even if there weren't one.

We did eventually order and receive our food. And life felt happier then.

After breakfast we wandered over to Pioneer Park where we climbed the giant, red rocks and held ourselves together while the wind tried to whip us off the mountain. 

The outdoors is truly the biggest playground, and so much fun.

All the climbing made possible by my boot.

When we'd had our fill of the red rocks, we decided to hit an indoor water park which was a big hit as well. But as we neared the parking lot we realized that, while we had brought our swimming suits, we had neglected to think about towels. And a quick call to the rec center confirmed our suspicions that, because of covid, they were not giving any out. So we called around to all the nearby stores and finally found some hand towels at the $.99 store. You can imagine their quality. But they served their purpose nicely and only smelled a little bit like lighter fluid and only shed on us when we were wet.

After the rec center, we drove back to Boulder City where we pulled up into a parking lot to watch a drive-thru movie of Abominable. Which was, actually, quite delightful. 

It was another fun vacation in the books!