Best Vacation EVER!!!

That is how we are going to describe our Labor Day weekend. We all had plans, the kids were going with their dad, and I was going to be alone... blissfully, silently, remarkably alone... sigh... But, plans sometimes change, and it's a totally good thing that it did. Otherwise we would have missed the Best Vacation EVER! (From now on to be referred to as BVE'10) First of all we really needed to swim. We just needed it, I can't explain it. We couldn't go far because I had to be back on Sunday for Primary, we had to do a "staycation" So we were talking about where to go, and the kids remembered seeing a motel with a WATERSLIDE. in. MOAB! This place has been around for pretty much my whole life- probably longer, but they updated the pool area a few years ago, and it looks pretty nice from the outside, so I decided we better give it a try. When the kids got out of school we took off. We walked into the rooms, and realized immediately that the majority of the remodel money had indeed been spent on the pool area, not the rooms. Still, it was clean, and nice, (and one of the few vacancies left in town for the weekend) so we were happy to stay. The kids went around the room checking things out and then Adia went into the bathroom. I heard a shriek of joy, and she yelled "Mom, come here quick! This is the coolest bathroom EVER!"
This is it. Pea Green. No need to adjust your screen, it's true. Right there in all of it's awesomeness. (Not sure it's even on the top ten list of the coolest bathrooms I have ever seen, but who can argue with Adia? Not me!)

Once we had thoroughly explored the room, opened our side of the door that adjoins our room to the next one, and been yelled at by a grumpy German man, and we had each had a turn to P.E.E. in the P.E.A.-colored potty, we hit the pool. The water slide really was fun. In fact, according to Adia it was "the Best Waterslide EVER!" And it got you going FAST! The only problem with it was that it dropped off in the deep end of the pool, and the kids still aren't the best at swimming, so most of the time I waited at the bottom of the slide and caught the kids as they rocketed down into the water. I ended up with a slightly swollen right eye, a fat lip and EXTREMELY sore leg and arm muscles, but it was a blast! We swam for three hours straight before I insisted we go get some dinner. (mostly to give my body a rest) We walked a few blocks to "the Diner", one of our favorite little places to eat in Moab, where we had the "Best Dinner EVER!". They have the best ice cream in town, and we totally splurged and got shakes even though we didn't finish all of our dinner. -It's just what you do when you are on the "Best Vacation EVER!" Then we hit the pool again for a couple more hours until it got too cold. Then we took long hot showers in the "Coolest Bathtub EVER" and the kids settled down to watch the Disney Premier of Camp Rock 2 (Best Camp Rock EVER, by the way) while I studied for an Anthropology quiz. We had brought our favorite snacks with us, one of them being Caramel Microwave popcorn. We didn't bring a bowl, and part of the process is to melt the caramel chunk over the popped popcorn. The only thing I could find was the ice bucket, but I figured it would work, right? Nope! Note to self, the ice bucket is not microwave friendly, and it results in an $8 charge to your card when you cook a hole in the bottom of it... But it was the "coolest thing I've ever seen" according to Ethan. By midnight we were pooped.
This is the position they rolled over into after falling asleep during family prayers. And they stayed there until 4 AM when they woke up ready to swim!

The next day we wanted to do some hiking. I haven't been to Canyonlands for years, and my kids never have been, so that was our destination. On the way there we stopped by Newspaper Rock so Ethan could do a a mini report for school. (Bless Mr. Allen for understanding how it feels when dad's can't make it, and giving Ethan a special assignment to give the weekend a purpose.)


All day long the bugs just wouldn't leave poor Ethan alone. This is the only picture of the 9 I took here that was the least obvious that he was swatting mosquitoes.
All day long the tourists wouldn't leave Adia alone. She is making this face because a crazy Frenchman is behind me winking at her. After taking the picture he and his wife offered to take her back to France and love her forever. Cute... or creepy, not sure which. She did have a nice conversation with them all about school and the "BVE'10". They called her "enchanting" She called them smelly. We had to leave then.

Look at the landscape pictures throughout this post. Yeah, I know! I totally live here! LUCKY!

We stopped to take pictures along the way, but guess who forgot her tripod? We had to set the camera on the hood of the car, and this is the best one we could get. Oh, well, at least we tried.

When we finally got to the park we took a little short hike, about a half a mile to see an Indian Granary.

I took a picture of the kids.

And the scenery

And some lady from Georgia who loved Adia and wanted to "Eat her with butter!" (Not sure...) took this picture of the three of us. She had an adoption connection. She placed her son twenty something years ago, and just reconnected with him last year. She had a very touching story that I might share during adoption awareness month. The son is single and VERY handsome... She could give me his number if I was interested...

Our next hike was a couple of miles and took us past a spring where the cowboys used to camp, and before that so did the Indians...

We saw about 900 lizards. They were EVERYWHERE!

Ethan took a picture of Adia and I

I took another picture of them (They look a little more tired than in the last picture)

Adia took a picture of Ethan and I.

We stopped in the shade to have a snack. The bugs are still after Ethan...

We went on another hike that was about three miles, and at the end you can get a view of Wooden Shoe Arch (above Ethan's shoulder, and just to the right) By then they were ready to head home. It was a pretty hot day, but we did have a really good time.

That night we went to the tailings pile to take pictures of the bears that had been coming down to eat on the bloated cows for a report I was writing for Integrated Life Science. There were 4 or 5 cinnamon bear that had been coming out to eat, but of course on the day I took my camera they didn't show up... I did get a cute picture of my dad and Ethan looking for them though.

And a couple of good ones of the landscape and sunset. This is like two miles from my house. I'm totally lucky right?

The next day after church we headed back to Moab. The motel with the water slide was booked (Kinda happy at that point) so we had to stay at a different motel, with a beautiful view of the river. We swam for hours there too. The bathroom wasn't nearly as cool, abut the beds and TV were bigger, and it had a "chair that was made out of a cow skin! Sweet!" "Best cow skin chair EVER!" We ate dinner at the only chineese place in town. NOT the best chineese food ever. Really not. But the motel had a vending machine, and we got ice because we hadn't melted the ice bucket... And breakfast the next morning was super tasty, (Best motel breakfast EVER!) and the family from Australia who sat at the table next to us were amazed by Adia's beautiful eyes, and told her that she looked just like her mother. Hee Hee Hee, I just giggled and said thank you. Of course I forgot to take one single picture, but I'm still getting that back, and I have to ease into it again.

So there you have it, a recap of BVE'10! (Makes me kinda wish we saved our money instead of all those Disneyland vacations, trips to Mexico, resorts in Park City, and camping in the Tetons. We totally could have gotten a room in a motel across town and it would have been every bit as good.)