Moab April 2014

Moab.  Neil loves Moab.  I'm pretty sure he wants to be buried here, beneath the rocks, next to his bike.  Since our sons are his carbon copies, we decided to head here for Spring Break.  It's the first time we have ever really celebrated Spring Break, but we decided to do it in style.

Thursday-Sunday was spent in Moab.

Thursday morning we woke up to Jackson's lips looking like this:

Pretty sure it was just a cold sore but it was a big one!  He kept saying "What's wrong with my lip mommy?"  I was sure this cold sore was going to put a damper on our vacation but the swelling went away in a couple hours, and he never complained of any pain.  What a trooper. 

Once we got to Moab (after the boys traveled perfectly, once again,) we changed clothes and headed to Arches National Park.  We did a few hikes and let the boys climb and play.

 Both boys love climbing rocks and our trip to St. George was all the warm up they needed.  They jumped right in.

 We still have to keep a close eye on Jackson though, he still has no fear and can climb with the best of them.  We tell him to get in "monkey crawl" position and he shimmies right up to the top.

 Carter is still leery of coming down so we kept reminding him of that as he climbed higher and higer...

The next morning Neil's parents (who were also down there) booked us a ziplining adventure!  We took some off road vehicles up the rocks and then got to do 6 ziplines.  It was both of our first times ziplining and we had a blast.  Only down side was that it was pretty chilly.

After ziplining we headed to Dead Horse Point and Canyonlands were we spent the rest of the day.

Jax feel asleep on the ride so it was just Carter and I to explore for a few minutes.

Overlook at Dead Horse Point

My favorite little guys in the world.  They sure had fun together and love doing things together.
After a long day of hiking we stopped for a quick treat at a cupcake store.  

 Carter chose his favorite, Chocolate on Chocolate.  He sure didn't get that from me:)

 Not even thinking, we didn't have any safe treats for Jackson.  But bless his sweet little heart, he is the most patient, sweet little boy.  He didn't complain once.  He just kept smiling and asking us all "How does your cupcake taste (carter)?"  "Is that so yummy Mommy?"  Made me feel terrible.  But we rewarded him right after we left with French Fries and Bacon.  A Jackson kind of treat.

Another afternoon we stopped at the big sand hill where the boys wanted to play for hours.  They both climbed all the way to the top by themselves.  We brought a lot of sand back to the hotel room after this!

Saturday morning we did Corona Arch with Neil's parents.  It was a 3 mile, round trip hike.  We brought the hiking backpack, like we always do, anticipating that Jackson would ride most of the time in there.
Not this boy.  He hiked the entire way up, and half the way down until we finally convinced him to ride in the backpack.  (We are always trying to pack as many calories as we can into this boy, not burn them up.)

The steepest part of the hike.  Carter was very nervous to go up this part.

Jackson was not nervous.  Grandpa and Grandma were sure nervous about him though:)

 At the top of the hard climb.  Jackson appears to have no neck.  Thank you steroids for that:)  But he finished the steroids the day we left up there so that look is no more!

Resting at the top.  Didn't get a picture of the arch though.  This was my favorite hike in Moab.

We tried to give Jackson a nap after Corona hike and lunch but he would have none of it.  So back we went to Arches.

We wanted to hike Delicate Arch, Carter especially.  He had heard so much about it.   I didn't think either boy would be up for it after the 3 miles hike a couple hours earlier, and Delicate was a bit longer and steeper.  Once again we tried to get Jackson to ride in the backpack.  He refused and walked the entire way up.  He wasn't as fast as the morning hike but he didn't complain or stop once.  Carter on the other hand was starting to feel the effects of a long weekend, and long hikes.  He took a couple hikes and it took a lot of encouragement to get him to the top.

 Almost to the top, where we forced Jackson to get in the backpack as we walked along the steep edge.

We made it!  

After Delicate Arch, we headed to Sand Dune arch which was a favorite of the boys.  Sand, sand, and rocks.  Every boys dream.

We left Arches at dark with 2 very happy, very hungry boys!

 On our way out of Moab we stopped at one last place.  Some tunnel which we all loved.  Reminded Neil and I on a scene on "The Walking Dead."  We were very glad to see that this tunnel was Zombie free:)

When we got home it was bath time for everyone.  The boys left a nice pile of sand in the bottom of my tub.  But I figure the more sand, the more fun was had.  The boys LOVED Moab and constantly ask when we can go back.  Neil's dream is to quit his job, move to Moab and be a bike guide.  The boys would gladly follow him.