Spring Break in Moab

Moab is nature's biggest playground...

for little boys...

and big boys!

I was planning a fun family vacation for spring break this year and was disappointed when Jason told me he was going to take the varsity scouts on a Jeep trip to Moab.  Then my friend Kelly (whose husband was also going on the trip) suggested that we go too.  So while our husbands camped and jeeped with the scouts we stayed with the kids in a hotel and found lots of fun rocks to climb on.

Nick, Ben, Andrew, Will, Kaitlyn and Jared in Arches National Park

Kelly's boys are close to my kids' age and they had so much fun playing together!

Moab is usually the perfect place to go this time of year for sunshine and warmer temperatures.  We didn't get quite what we expected with a storm system moving into the state for the weekend.  It was cool and really windy but at least we escaped the snow that fell all weekend in Ogden.  With the threat of a government shutdown closing all the National Parks we tried to fit in as much hiking in Arches National Park as we could the first two days.  Luckily the budget was passed last minute and the parks stayed open.

Notice the fossilized dinosaur tracks on the rock.

We climbed up to look at tons of petroglyphs on the cliffs.

Kaitlyn was a trooper climbing over all the rocks with only one good hand.  Here she is by the Windows in Arches National Park.

We found this cool trail on Mill Canyon Road with dinosaur bones in the rock.

I love that we are less than a five hour drive from some of the wonders of the world!  Delicate Arch is one of those things that pictures just don't do it justice.  Unfortunately we hiked there on a super windy day.  It sits up on top of a plateau and when we came around the corner where we could view it we felt like we were going to be blown off the cliff behind it.  The kids didn't like that at all and stayed wedged between these rocks.  We took a few quick pictures and then turned around to hike back to the car.

Double Arch

Saturday afternoon the scouts went home and Jason was able to join us for a couple more days.  Monday the sun finally came out and we had a few hours of warm weather before getting back in the car to head home.

Canyonlands National Park

The kids loved earing their junior ranger badges at the national parks.

Hiking to Double O Arch

Double O Arch