OUR HOT N’ SWEATY SUMMER ADVENTURE: ARCHES & CANYONLANDS!

Recapping a bit of our summer and finally sharing our grand family adventure to Arches and Canyonlands Ntl. Parks! Our biggest summer adventure was having Chloe Baby, obviously, but before the first day of Fall hits, though (and for the sake of cleaning up my memory card so that I can photograph the bajeebees outta Chloe Rae, haha), I’m getting these photos in the books!

We weren’t even planning on going on this trip, actually, until about one week before we went. I had assumed we would be in the trenches with new baby Chloe for the entire summer, so I wrote off taking any trips this summer. But Sugar was the sweetest newborn (still is the sweetest little baby), and I felt great postpartum. So Ryan threw the shebang together a couple weeks after Chloe was born, and by the time Chloe hit three-weeks-old, we were off! My family had a reunion at Bear Lake, Utah, at the beginning of July, so we made the trek from San Diego all the way to the top of the state, stopping in St. George (of course), Koosharem (my grandparents’ tiny town!), and Salt Lake en route. After spending a fun five days at Bear Lake, we made our way back through Utah, stopping in Park City, Provo, and finally landing in Moab. We dubbed the trip our “Tour de Utah” since we spent the whole month of July going from the bottom of the state to the top and back to the bottom again, and gosh, Moab was a major cherry on top. A big, HOT, juicy/sweaty cherry, haha. Broke out into a little sweat just looking at these sunny pics, but man the heat was worth it. We’re desert rats at heart, you know?

We started our Moab adventure in Arches National Park, hiking to Double Arch and Broken Arch on our first day. Ryan and I both knew we were half-crazy to go on this trip with four kids under 6 in July, but again, #desertrats. :). And, really, is there ever a perfect time to go anywhere and do anything in life?!? We did a little prep to help the girls do well while hiking in the heat, though, like getting them their own water backpacks (this was a serious game changer), incentivizing with 7-11 slurpees after every big hike, and then just crossing our fingers and going for it. We weren’t 5 minutes into our first hike to Double Arch when Emmy started losing steam, but Olivia literally jumped to her side and saved the day. I stood back and just stared, so grateful for Olivia’s help. Emmy perked right up and kept going. Getting help on the parenting side from your own kids, man. It’s straight-up magic. 💫

Sis was RED as a beet. She gets it from her mama. And her dad. Our kids are so lucky. 😉 

We chilled and played in the shade for a bit…

And then we were off for that day’s hike number two! PS take a look at that tiny baby arm — Chloe was a champion!! My one regret from this trip is that I didn’t get enough photos of Chloe. She was strapped to me about 100% of the time, and Ryan was manning the other three girls so he never had the camera — forgive us, Chloe!! 🙂

Sand Dune Arch! 👇

But first a little rock face climbing. Literally — can you see this ol’ rock’s face??

And rock jumping. 🙂

We took it easy after that, hitting up the pool at the hotel for the rest of the day (after we got those slurpees) and going to bed early, since hiking the famed Delicate Arch the next morning was next! Ryan and I grew up in Utah but hiking to Delicate Arch was a first for both us, so we were stoked to finally do it. I took ZERO pictures on the way up — the hike is a bit intense — but we did celebrate with a few shots up at the top…

Very very enthused  Emmy, hahah. 🙂 Sis was a good sport!

Classic shot! I’m stoked for her to have this photo for the rest of her life. 

Claire found “a cool house. Like it’s cool and cold, Mom,” and wouldn’t emerge for a shot with the Arch. Stoked for her to have this “cool house” shot for the rest of her life, too. 😉

Emmy ended up sleeping right on top of her Dad for most of the way down the mountain (lucky girl — the perks of being little, right?! :))

We really crashed at the hotel after hiking the Delicate Arch – literally didn’t leave the pool from 2 – 5 and then we went to bed at 7. We were exhausted and, again, gearing up for the next day — Canyonlands! 

We did the best kid-friendly hike in Canyonlands – “Whale Rock” – and it was perfect. Not too long, not too short. We grabbed the Junior Rangers program from the visitor’s center before starting our Canyonlands day, so we had a fun list of things to learn and do/a good chunk of distractions for the girls since the Delicate Arch nearly wiped them out, haha. 🙂

Junior Ranger Olivia! 👏

Claire was our trailblazer on this hike, totally keeping us on track with the cairns.  

The desert’s details had me all 😍😍😍

 

Those colors! Sooo so pretty. 

Part of the Junior Ranger’s program included a 10-minute “silence” exercise — we had to sit for 10 without saying or doing anything and just listen. That’s what nature’s for, right?? Disconnecting from the buzz and reconnecting with what’s real. It was super, super cool. We loved this part of the hike, despite everyone’s faces below looking dead. 🙂 

My other favorite part of this day was having a little one-on-one time with our big girls for a super short hike to a small arch. Emmy and Chloe were sleeping by the time we got to this trail head, so Claire and I split off and did the trail together…

She was SO cute. We talked and talked and talked the whole time, and she asked me to “take a couple cute pics” of her. Gladdddddly. 🙂 

And then Ryan and Olivia hit the trail real quick (wish I would’ve done it a second time with my Olivia)! It’s hard to catch personal time with our girls right now, so these few minutes with them were a gift. The girls would say the same. 💛 Happy hearts all around! 

We did a few other super fun things in Moab before we left, like hiking along the Colorado River and going to Moab’s Giants (such a cool dino museum)! We took the long way back to St. George from Moab so we could check off a couple more Utah must-do’s, like Monument Valley and Horseshoe Bend. That whole corner of Utah is so awesome, and we’re still pretty stoked that we (finally!) got to see it all this summer.  Moab, Arches, and Canyonlands especially, were such stellar spots. Yes we’ll be back, Moab! But next time — in the Spring. 😉