Trailer Campout # 8 Zion National Park

Chase was our official family companion for almost all of our campouts this summer and we had to get one last one in before he left on his mission.  Derek looked all summer long for opens in Zion National Park campground and finally found some.  We didn't realize that you also needed to sign up for shuttle bus passes.  Luckily, Derek figured this out right before we left and was able to get some the day before.  Zion is a gorgeous campground.  I love it there, my only complaint is that it is just so crowded.  It almost feels like Disneyland riding on that bus with all the people while the bus driver points things out as you drive past.  

Unfortunately, while we were staying there they would not let us have fires.  However fortunately, right before this trip Derek had put in a tv.  So, we spent the evening watching movies in the trailer instead of sitting around the camp fire.

The first day there we hiked the Emerald trail loop which was gorgeous.  The kids are all such better hikers when Chase is with us.  They will do it all with a positive attitude.  And when he is not with us, they grumble and complain about hiking.  

After the hike we rewarded them all with snacks from the snack shack near the Zion Lodge.  Then, we spent the heat of the day inside the trailer playing games.

Also Nathan and Benazir came up and spent the afternoon with us.  They rode the bus to the end and hiked to the start of the narrows. 

 The kids loved chasing their cousin Manas around the campsite and playing Bocce ball with Uncle Nathan.  Manas loved running the pick up the balls when everyone was done.  Since Zion is so close to Babi and Papou they came up and joined us for dinner.  Derek bought a new flat top grill for campouts and made everyone Smash Burgers.  (That dang grill scratched the crud out of the inside of our trailer on the way home).  

Everyone really wanted to hike the Narrows.  That is what they were all so excited about; however, there was this huge cyanobacteria warning in the water.  Particularly a risk with young kids and pets.  However, I researched it and it seems like it was really only a problem if you drank large quantities, so we decided to brave it.  Just for a short while on our last day there.  The kids loved it! 

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 Didn't want to stop and all of them thought it was the coolest hike they have ever done.  So, I guess it was worth the risk and no one ended up getting sick.  It was definitely gorgeous in that canyon.

 Chase has totally gotten used to the adoration that London shows for him.

School Starts Up Again

 With this crazy COVID year, I honestly seriously considered home schooling my kids.  Particularly if they planned to have to kids learn via online learning at home because that did not go well for our family at the tail end of last school year.  However, a few weeks before school started the district announced that kids could go to school every day at school getting out just one hour earlier than typical each day.  They have to wear masks (except at lunch and recess), but the kids said they had no problem doing that if it meant the go to do school at school.  And so far it has gone really well without ever being sent back home for high COVID numbers.  And the kids are highly adaptable.  They don't seem to mind wearing masks at all.  Sometimes I catch them wearing them when they don't even need to.  Olivia is in 4th grade in Mrs. Rockwood's class and loving it.  

The hardest thing is just keeping her challenged say Mrs. Rockwood.  She is going to talk with the ALL teacher to see if Olivia can do Math with their class.  The boys are in 2nd grade with Mrs. Denning and seem to be doing great as well.  

Camden is thrilled that his BFF Caleb is with him in class again.  Here are all the kids on the first day of school with and without their masks, and the whole mob of kids that all get on at their bus stop.  

I spent their first day of school canning all these tomatoes into salsa.  

The kids came home just glowing with excitement.  It was definitely the right decision to send them to school.  The joy of being able to go to school with their friends just radiates off their faces.  I could tell that they were definitely missing this aspect of their life and it had been restored once back into a regular schedule of school.

Jeff Gardner's Birthday in Ventura California

Derek and I waffled back and forth about whether to fly out to Ventura for Jeff Gardner’s 40th birthday bash. Most of the high school buddy couples were invited. Finally, a week or two before the big bash we decided to join in the fun. The guest list included Gardners, Stoddards, Hunters, Geoff Hill (Aleena stayed home to get her kids off to their first days of school) and one other neighbor friend couple of the Gardners. 

 

Steph said she would keep the kids which required running Liv back and forth to COPA and taking her and picking her up from her Music Man performances. We flew out the same time as Dad on Lynn on a Sunday morning right after sneeking into Chase’s ward’s sacrament (due to COVID we weren’t technically invited to attend) for his farewell address. Jeff rented a house right on the beach and wouldn’t let any of us pay him a dime for it. There were many a great walks on the beach.

Every day we were in Ventura, Jeff had competition type games with prizes that were focused around his own personal life trivia. I won one of the games which earned Derek and I lunch purchased by Jeff. 

 We played a lot of baseball on the beach, did some sun set walks, some boogie boarding. I did one 6 mile run on the sand which felt fantastic at sea level. One day we played pickleball.  

Also Jeff gave us all birthday swag bags which included an Indians hat for everyone.  So one day we all wore our Indians hat and people kept asking us if we were part of a team..."Why yes...TEAM JEFF!"  

We did a lot of shopping (to Derek’s dismay), ate some fantastic food, and played games at night and made Frozen Yogurt runs.

 We cruised around town in a 14 passenger van driven by Chris Hunter which was awesome. And then, we all flew out together back to home and our kids. We had to wear masks on the flights and everywhere we went, but it was still a great COVID vacation together.  

And the kids had a blast with Steph and Jon and Chase.  The never called missing me once to my dismay.  Steph took the boys to see Liv's Music Man show.  She bought them army playsets from the dollar store right before and they happily played with those to help pass the time.

And Uncle Jon said Liv was a great help shopping.