Zion Campout Trip

 We took the kids to Zion National Park for part of Spring Break. Daniel took off the first 2 days, and we left the weekend before so that we had a few days of camping in Zion and exploring. Here are some of the highlights of our Spring Break trip to Zion:

• Brian and his family came with Sammy's mom; David came with Anna and Callie; Drew joined us for a couple of days and camped in our smaller tent by himself; and Dad Holbrook got an airbnb room in town so that he could join us on activities without having to camp.
• On the way up, we stopped at Kolob Canyon to drive and see the view and to do a short hike at the top of the canyon. The little kids did a great job on the hike up, and it was a fun little hike. 
• We got 3 campsites all right next to each other. Daniel and my campsite was kind of our basecamp, where we did all our meals together and cooked and hung out together. The sites were all really close together, so it was good we had so families with us, so that we weren't so close to people we didn't know. The views were amazing! We were surrounded by these amazing red cliffs and the river running through. It was lovely. An ideal camping site.
• It was quite chilly the weekend that we were there. The weeks leading up to our trip, the weather was significantly warmer. But the week we were there it cooled down. It was perfect during the day for when we were hiking and exploring. But at night and in the early morning, it was pretty cold. Daniel and I were worried that it would be too cold to camp. But we just bundled up in blankets and sweatshirts, and it was all fine.
• We ate really well. We divided the meals and sides between the different families and gave assignments to those who joined us. Brian's family did a couple of delicious dutch oven meals, and we did pancakes and french toast and burgers. And everyone brought snacks and treats to share, which meant we ended up with way more treats and snacks than we needed. I always over-plan and over-buy for food, and this trip was no exception. We came home with a lot of the food we brought. Oh well.
• The deer at Zion were so friendly and unafraid of people. They just wandered through the campsites, eating grass and food people left out. We saw so many of them just walking through and getting so close to us. It was crazy, and also so fun. 
• Our first full day at Zion, we did Angels Landing hike. Daniel and Brian got 6 tickets to go all the way to the top, but most of us joined for at least part of the hike. We took all of our kids most of the way up the hike, 2 miles up. I was very proud of my little boys, who both hiked most of the way up by themselves without complaining. Sawyer brought a little dump truck and wanted to stop all the way up to play with the sand and dirt and his truck. And Daniel had promised Jack that he could have ice cream if he hiked without complaining. And he was certainly motivated, because he did not complain. We all hiked up to the point where they require passes, right at the end, when you have to climb up the mountain cliffs, hanging onto chains. At that point, Daniel and the girls, Brian and David and Anna kept going to the top, and I took the boys back down with Callie and Dad Holbrook. They were such good little troopers. That hike is hard! It's very uphill and steep in places, and there are some crazy switchbacks going up. But they did it! They certainly earned their ice cream.
• We also did the emerald pools hike with Brian and Sammy's family. We stopped at the middle pools to eat the lunch we packed, and then Drew and our family kept going up to the higher pool. The views at all these hikes were incredible. I think my kids had fun with the hikes, although at the end of this one, the boys were very done, and unhappy about having to hike all the way back down. 
• Jack and Sawyer, Callie and Cap all did the junior rangers program. They worked on their little booklets all weekend and attended one of the ranger talks, and then we took them to the ranger desk in the visitor center, where they said the jr ranger pledge and got their badges. Jack was the most excited about it, and loved doing the whole thing. I think he loved every minute of the packet and talks. He even attended a second ranger talk with his cousins, just for fun. 
• Our last full day there, we took the shuttle all the way to the end of the canyon where the narrows begin. We did the mile or so hike to the beginning of the narrows, and hung out there for a little bit before heading back. Brooke forgot her water bottle at the river, and was so sad when she discovered that we'd left it, so she ran and walked all the way back to the river to get it. While she and Daniel did that, the rest of us took the shuttle to some other lookout points on the way back to the visitors center. The weather had gotten pretty cold and windy by that time, and we were ready to go back to the campsite. 
• We went into town to get ice cream, as promised to the little boys. We went to get some very overpriced ice cream at this little shop attached to a Subway. In my opinion, and also Camille's, it wasn't worth it. We would rather have stayed at the campsite and had s'mores or other treats we had. 
• The last night that we were there camping was so so windy. The temperature dropped even further, and the wind kicked up. At one point, in the wee hours of the morning, it was winding so hard that it woke us up. We were afraid that the wind would make the tent break and collapse. Daniel had to put his hands up and push against the side of the tent to keep it from falling in on us. It was quite humorous, actually. Brooke was the only kid who woke up, and she was pretty afraid. Later, though, when she had calmed down a bit, and she showed me her watch, which showed that it was early morning, and April 1st, and she said, "It's Mother Nature's April Fools joke." Haha! My cute, clever, funny girl. It cracked me up.
• The kids were so excited to pick out souvenirs in the visitors center store. Dad Holbrook and Daniel both offered to buy the kids a little gift. Jack and Sawyer both picked out the cutest little stuffies. My favorite was Sawyer's little baby deer. Brooke also decided to spend some of her own money and get a really cool, expensive water bottle of all the national parks, that you can put stickers on for the parks you've been to. She loves it. 
• Our last partial day there, before we headed home, we had breakfast and packed up the camp before going on a little hike with Grampa Holbrook along the river and hitting the museum of natural history. Everyone else had gone home already. We went home in the afternoon and got home in the evening. The kids loved the trip. It was a nice trip. Brooke wrote us a cute little note on our mirror a few days later, thanking us for taking her to Zion.  

Brooke's note: Mom & Dad, I love you so much! You guys are the Best! Thank you for taking me to Zion! It was so fun! Love, Cookie