Red Rock Canyon (rest of the weekend)

On Friday, we hiked Calico Hills and the Children's Discovery Trail in the morning.  Calico Hills was the kids' favorite hike.  Calico Hills was real red rocks and lots of clambering and climbing over rocks.  It was less of a hike and more of an exploration/play.

 

Such magnificent scenes!

Gabby needed to go to the bathroom so we found a secluded spot behind a bush.  Just as she was about to squat, we noticed a tarantula right where she had been about to relieve herself.  She decided she didn't need to go after all.

 After Calico Hills, almost everyone went on the short Children's Discovery Hike.  Ella wasn't feeling well so I sat in the car with her so I didn't get any photos.  Then we went to the visitors center to check that out.

Then we headed back to camp for lunch/rest. 

 That afternoon we decided to hike Ice Box Canyon. The kids didn't want to go but it was way too hot at camp.  So we had them hike the first mile or so until we got into the shade.  Then we found a shady, sandy spot for them to play and dig and Dennis, Annette and I hiked for awhile.

The kids enjoyed digging and playing in the dirt while we hiked.

As we were hiking down from Ice Box Canyon, we found two more tarantulas.  Dennis picked the first one up (he'd picked the one at Calico Hills up earlier as well). This guy crawled all over him which both amazed and freaked out the kids.  Davlynn wouldn't come anywhere near him until the tarantula was gone.

Back at camp, there was time to play, read, relax and just enjoy time together and being outside.

 The next day we had a leisurely breakfast and packed up camp.  Then we headed to Mesquite where Dennis and Connie live.  We got separated from Annette and her parents and none of our phones were working and so the beginning of the drive was more eventful than I would have liked.  I was really tempted to just head back to Salt Lake.  But eventually we got in touch with them and made it to their house in Mesquite where we played games, watched a movie, relaxed, SHOWERED, and went to the park.  The next morning we had breakfast (delicious waffles and a smoothie) and then went to church. After that we headed back to Salt Lake.  It was a great weekend!

Hiking Pine Creek Canyon (Afternoon of Day 1)

In the afternoon of Thursday, the little kids didn't want to do another hike.  So Connie stayed at camp with the littles while Annette, Dennis, Michelle, Dante, and I went to hike Pine Creek Canyon.  I really loved that hike...it was cool and beautiful and more like being up in the mountains with trees and grass. 

There were several people rappelling down this black rock.  We enjoyed watching them.

 

The views were incredible, the temperatures were perfect, the fresh air was invigorating and the company was great!   It was a wonderful time and I kept saying prayers of gratitude for the beauty of this Earth.  We hoped we would see animals and all we saw were some tiny little frogs and several rabbits and birds, but it was still a beautiful way to spend an afternoon.

Such an interesting looking rock...almost looked like a skeleton!

 After our hike, we returned to camp.  The kids had enjoyed playing in the sand, played hide n seek and tag and just hanging out. We made dinner and after dinner, we made dessert:  ice cream cones filled with strawberries, marshmallows and chocolate chips which then cook over the fire.  It was a great day of camping and being in nature!