St George Get a Way

Feels like yesterday we were in St George but really it was a month ago! I spent ( and Maddy) 9 days in St George in the month of Septmeber. I am still playing catch up on all I need to do, but maybe it's just life I'm trying to play catch up on. When we received our track assignment, we were so sad that our summer would be shortened. We signed up together and they put us together without really trying to get us the track we wanted. BUT after looking at the track breaks, we decided to make the most of it and enjoy the breaks we were given. Our family wants to do a mini vacation during each break to make the most of our shortened summer. Our first track break was Sept 10-Oct 6, it's still really HOT so we decided to go where it was really still summer and take a mini trip. The Tullis' and Wakley's and Bishop's joined us.

Mike took the day off (it was the day after his birthday) and we left early to head to St George. We bought a Groupon and found a hotel that had a pool and breakfast.  

The kids were great travelers. They watched movies and we made it in just over 3.5 hours. We went to lunch at McDonalds then headed to the pool. Our friends were still at home! And we were soaking in the UV rays!

The hotel had a baby 2 ft pool that Lilly claimed as her own. And it was hot. 90's! Just what we wanted--our summer to be extended!

BTW this isn't me taking a picture of Lilly on accident with her eyes closed. She does this on purpose. Cheese's with her eyes closed and then asks to see the picture. What a crazy girl!

Alli drove with us. The kids swam for 3-4 hours until the others arrived and we meet for dinner at Frost Top ( our most expensive meal of the trip) and I forget when kids get together they don't really eat they just play. Oh well, it was yummy burgers and shakes!

Friday morning we woke up and wanted to go hike. We drove to a cool hike (can't remember the city) but the HIKE/ROAD was closed for construction. Say what! So we headed to the D on the mountain instead. Oh and it was HOT already early in the morning. The kids were troopers and enjoyed the red sand!. Here's the kid group. We also had a Larsen friend who came with Gage. 11 kids. Yep, we were an army.

The little girls all played well together. They found a cute hole to climb into and sit in the shade (there wasn't very much of it).

We climbed to the top of the ledge(this was the about as hard as our hike was).

To over look the city of St George. Love how the Temple is in the center and everything is low. 

Some of the kids went high on the hike!

Others tried to stay cool in the shade.

We found a mini cave to wait for the explorers in.

All the kids really wanted to do was swim! BUT we wanted to explore the city. We went to the center of town and found an awesome splash pad. We made a picnic lunch and the kids splashed and played and enjoyed the morning.

And then we found a carousel. Mike also found a black widow on the bench. Glad we didn't have to wait to ride. The lady working the carousel was so grumpy lol shouldn't being happy be a mandatory on a carousel job?

AND the kids finally made it to the pool! after a stop at Swig--I've come to find out there is one in Lehi--St George sounds more fun to go to however. They played here until dinner time. We went to the Pizza Factory. There was a girls tennis tournament going on so lots of people were everywhere but the pizza factory is great at getting groups in and out. After dinner, the kids wanted to go back and swim some more. They did until the pool closed @10 or so. It was a full day of fun in the sun and water!

Saturday morning after breakfast we went to Snow Canyon National State Park. It was also HOT! Our first stop was the sand dunes. We lathered up on sun screen and then walked to the sand. You can imagine what happened next.

The kids were covered in RED sand that stuck to the sun screen. LOL. BUT they didn't mind. While the adults were melting in the heat the kids were having the time of their lives.

Rolling down the hill.

tumbling

making sand mans

playing catch

rolling some more

digging

and soaking their toes in the sand

Lilly's face is all red not from a burn but just being HOT! We drove to our next hike and to have lunch.

Here's some of the kids who climbed up by the petroglyphs in the rock.

Madi even came with us!

This picture looks like Ben and all his wives and children. Mike took the picture and Jake didn't make the trip-because Mack had a homecoming football game and they were spending the day together (although he ended up in the ER having his gall bladder removed).

Wakley fam

Loveridge fam

Tullis Fam

We went back to the pool and swam some more. Just before dinner the storm started rolling in. We ate at Denny's Saturday night because Kids eat free! It was the longest meal of our lives! BUT cheap although sometimes you pay for what you get. Lexi pulled the fire alarm--that was awesome. The kids ended up going back with the dads in the rain while the mom's settled the crazy bill (the waitress was confused who was with who). Sunday morning we ate breakfast and drove back in the biggest down pour. I was glad Mike was driving! And that it was the end of our trip.

It was not planned to go together as Elk Meadowers but just kindof ended up being the perfect weekend to go together and since we were off school it worked out we could go in the middle of the week. It was scary that Jake had an emergency gall bladder surgery and the day before we left Kami got hit in the eye with a Frisbee at mutual. So we weren't sure what was going to happen, but it worked out and we had a blast! I'm already trying to plan December's adventure. Probably won't be as magical!