Wow, it's been almost a year since we last blogged. I guess it's time for an update. This one is a bit long and has a lot of pics and even video!
At the end of April we had a family reunion with the Jenkins side of the family in Moab. Jen had driven through Moab when she was about 8, and I had never been there, so we were very excited to go. The first day was spent driving there and checking into the hotel. The next day we went to Arches National Park and visited a few locations. One of the first was Delicate Arch. Apparently this is the arch that is seen on many Utah license plates, so I learned something new. The scenery was great, and the hike wasn't super long either which didn't hurt.
This was right before we actually got to the arch. A bunch of the family is up top. Through that hole you could see Delicate Arch. Jen was a little nervous about climbing up so she took this selfie instead.
Here's us at Delicate Arch. It didn't look too delicate to me, but Jen's the geologist, not me, so I could be wrong. :)
You could walk right under the arch. There's the back of Eric and Jenn, with Nat and Spencer under the arch.
This is the view from the arch looking back to where everyone was sitting. You can see Mom on the right taking pictures of all of us under the arch.
There she is in the Minnie Mouse shirt.
Jen was nervous about going out to the arch, so this is the view from directly under it so she could see what it was like. Doesn't really do it justice. Oh well.
While some of the adults went out to the arch, Jen kept the kids busy by taking turns saying a sentence to make a story together. During story time a few squirrels came to visit. Judging by their faces, this one must have been particularly impressive. Oh, and thanks for the photobomb, Steve.
Next we went to Double Arch (I think that's what it was called.) Aptly named.
Here's the view from under the first arch, while we are standing under the back arch.
I told Steve to sit on this goat at the visitors center, so he did. He looks slightly confused. So does the goat.
Next we went to a big sand dune outside of the park, just on the side of the road, to give the kids a chance to play. A lot of the adults climbed the dune. I wasn't planning on climbing it, but then both Steve and Eric decided they would, and of course I can't let them show me up, so up the dune I went. Jen and Lisa followed shortly after.
It was big. We took a lot of rest stops on the way up. When we were done enjoying the view and the kids were done climbing up and jumping back down the dune, we all ran down the hill. Eric also did some rolling down the hill. He forgot he had his phone in his pocket and it fell out while he was rolling, so we all started climbing up to find it. He activated an app that makes it beep loudly, and we were able to find it. It's a good thing he had that app, cause I don't think we would have found it otherwise. If I ever get a smartphone, remind me to install that app.
The next day was spent on ATVs. I was on this regular ATV...
...and Jen was in this different one. It drove more like a car, with a steering wheel and pedals.
You see those clouds? It was COLD. Steve warned us that the forecast called for cold and rainy weather, but I don't think any of us were prepared for just how rainy or cold it actually would be.
Lisa, me, Spencer and kids.
Our first pit stop. Jen had the foresight to bring a trash bag as a makeshift poncho before we even got started. I didn't think it was necessary, but boy was I wrong. Once Natalie rescued us we all grabbed a trash bag to use as a poncho. More about that rescue in a bit. We were already soaked at that point, but it helped keep the wind off a bit. I told Jen that if I ever make fun of her for overpreparing for cold again, she can just remind me about this. You can see how soaked Carter already looks in the picture above.
Some pics from the ATV. By the end we were very muddy and wet. At one point the trail led down into a valley, and the trail was also in a wash, exactly where you don't want to be when it's raining. I got some video, so hopefully it uploads correctly. I made some commentary, but the sound is horrible because the camera was in a waterproof case.
At this point there was so much rain it was creating waterfalls off the cliffs, which you can sort of see in the video. It made me and Jen a little nervous. I was at the very back of the line, so I didn't know this at the time, but the front of our group could actually see the front of the "river" flowing. Apparently we would catch up to the front of the water, then it would get ahead of us again, then we would catch up, rinse and repeat. I was in the back, so I had no idea we were close to the front of the water. All I could see was a flowing river the whole time. The video below is where we took a bit of a pit stop where the trail widened out so we could stop and we decide whether to keep going or turn back. We kept going and they started seeing the front of the flood waters at that point, so they made the right decision.
Eventually the trail turned and went uphill, so we were able to get out of the water.
Natalie had stayed behind to babysit a few of the youngest kids. Right after we got out of the water, Natalie met us on the trail in the SUV to switch with Spencer and get a turn on his ATV. Because of the weather, it turned into more of a rescue for the kids to get out of the cold. Eric's Jenn and Mom took all the kids in the suv, and Nat hopped in Mom's ATV. I think everyone was really happy to see Nat. The last video shows a bit of the triumphant rescue.
Because it was so cold we cut the ATV trip short at that point and just headed back to the rental place. Even though it was cut short and rainy and cold, it was still a very fun day. We both had a really good time on the ATVs, and during the whole trip. All the activities we had were really fun and it was great to have the whole family together.
