Spring Break 2024

Spring Break 2024! I can't believe that after this week there will only be 7 more weeks of school. As with most years, this year has flown by and Jonas is definitely counting down the days. This year for Spring Break, we headed south again...only this time, the Tanners joined us! Actually...we joined them. They drove down on Friday, but for reasons I'll explain in the Easter post, we didn't go down until Saturday. From Saturday through Wednesday morning, we spent our time with Gma, Papa, and all the aunts and cousins in the valley. The kids played video games (while the adults played card games) and yard games at Gma and Papa's house. They also picked and squeezed over two gallons of orange juice. During those days, we finally got to meet and love on little Samson (Michael's son). He is such a sweet, patient baby. All his cousins just wanted to hold him and play with him, which was a little overwhelming to him at first, but he warmed up. 

The Sunday after we arrived (March 31st) was Easter Sunday...and also the day Michael blessed Samson (one of the major reasons we came down). I truly loved watching my baby brother with his baby. He is such an attentive, loving father. During the blessing, I just watched him as he tenderly held that sweet baby. I heard the intense love and concern he has for Samson as he counseled and blessed him. Michael has waited a long time for this miracle; it was humbling to see God's grace in action. 

Easter Sunday was rather rainy so we hid eggs after we arrived the day before. The kids had 100 eggs to find between the 5 of them...and they did! I was pretty surprised. They had so much fun searching for eggs the day before, they did it again after church on Sunday; only this time, Tyler and Kate (and their cousin, Keilei who was also in town) joined in. The little kids hid eggs for the bigger kids and vice versa. After they had exhausted that activity, they got to color/dye some eggs too. This was our first time celebrating Easter with Gma and Papa, who thoroughly loved it all.

Monday (April 1st) and Tuesday (April 2nd) we ventured out a little more (but, to be honest, the kids would have been just fine to stay at Gma and Papa's and play). On Monday, we went to a wholesale book warehouse. Gma used to be a school librarian so she had connections to inexpensive books. Each of the kids picked out at least two books to kick off their summer reading. Afterwards, Krystle wanted to show her kids where she used to work in high school, Bahama Bucks. They all enjoyed some shaved ice before going to a park to run off some of their endless energy.

Tuesday the weather finally dried up and the sun came out so we headed to Golfland where we played a round of mini-golf then the boys got to do bumper cars and laser tag. (Addie played several arcade games.) In the afternoon, we headed to the park down the street for some fun. The rest of the day was spent back at Gma and Papa's as the kids tried to soak in as much fun as they could. 

On Wednesday (April 3rd), we packed up, said our sad goodbyes, and headed north. On our way out of town, we stopped at the Mesa LDS temple. This is where Jeff and I (and Krystle and Jordan) were married. It was where our "happily ever after" began. I loved bringing Jonas back here where his story started. We then hit the road and made our way to Williams, AZ. There is sincerely not much to this town other than the fame of the old Route 66. It was the last town to be bypassed by I-40. It has a fun downtown area with several shops selling Route 66 paraphernalia and local restaurants serving everything from burgers to pizza and more. We found a pizza place we liked then Jeff and I wandered the downtown area while Krystle, Jordan, and all the kids went back to the hotel to get a little swim time in before it was time for bed.

Thursday (April 4th) we got up early and headed to the Grand Canyon. This was a first time visit for all the kids. As you can imagine, it was a little nerve raking for Krystle as she watched Addie (and even some of the boys) flirt with the canyon's edge, but I'm happy to report no one fell in. We headed to the area of the canyon with the most viewpoints. We hopped off at one and walked the trail to two more before making our way back to the main shuttle stop. We then decided to hike as far down the Bright Angel trail as we could. The kids loved hiking down into the canyon. They thought it was so cool....and Jeff and Jordan started to plan their future rim-to-rim hike with the boys. After a few hours at the Grand Canyon, we made our way to Kanab for the night. On the way, we stopped at Navajo Bridge on US 89A. Jeff and I usually don't drive this route when we're heading to or from AZ, but it was awesome! The bridges were definitely cool as they straddled the Colorado River, but what was even more amazing were the several California condors taking flight. This endangered bird has found a home in the rock sides of the canyon. We got to see several perched on the bridge and flying in the air. It was a fun stop to make!

Friday (April 5th) was our final push home...but not before a couple more stops. As we left Kanab, Krystle led us to a short trail called the belly of the dragon. It was this water tunnel that had eroded over decades of use to resemble the belly of a dragon (although does anyone really know what the belly of a dragon looks like). We had fun hiking through it then the boys decided to go off the trail to explore more of the terrain on the other side. They scampered up a little mountain and found a trail on the top that eventually led them back down to us. It was fun to see Jonas having a blast with his cousins...and taking the lead on some of these hikes. 

Our final stop on the way home as Bryce Canyon. It was frigid! The wind was blowing and some snow fell as we were admiring this unique canyon, but the boys loved it! They thought this canyon was way more cool than the Grand Canyon...and I kind of agree. The Grand Canyon is huge, but this one is so interesting with all the rock formations (call hoodoos). We visited a few viewpoints and actually hiked down Sunset Point a little before turning around to join Addie, Krystle, and Jordan who decided it was too cold and too muddy (well really Addie made that decision and Krystle and Jordan stayed with her). The trail was really cool! By the end of our short excursion, we all decided that we needed to come back in the fall to experience more of the canyon. Prior to fully leaving the park, we hit one more trail just as the sun was coming out and the wind was dying down. This was a trail that was considered to be in the park, but was outside of the park entrance. It was called Mossy Cave Trail. It was a short, really easy hike, but the boys weren't satisfied with an easy hike. Instead, they decided to hike along the river bed (more like a stream) and up to a little waterfall among large boulders and overgrown vegetation. We did finally make our way back to the original trail to see the cave with big ice formations still inside as well as another waterfall. We definitely need to come back to explore more of this National Park. After that hike, we made our way to Beaver for a quick ice cream break before we finally split up and headed home. I can't believe how quickly this week flew by. Summer will be here before I know it. In some ways, I like cycling through all the seasons and holiday and vacations; I just wish they didn't fly by so fast.