Jeff spent 3 months taking tender loving care of his new/old GMC Vandura camper van and was extremely excited to take the family on a Spring Break road trip to Southern Utah. He had it packed and ready to go as soon as school got out on Friday—he and the kids picked me up from work with the van stocked full of supplies, complete with paddleboard on top and mountain bikes off the back. And we were off!
MONDAY – Temple Mountain
Family Hide & Seek
Rules: No climbing cliffs
No going past the van
Ashley: “Can we hide in the van?”
Dad: “No”
Ashley: “Oh crud!”
Later that day…
Ashley: “Mom! Come outside & get shot – it hurts!”
TUESDAY – Swasey Beach
Windy, cool, partly cloudy
Jeff decides to strip naked and jump in the river. Yes, we’re alone on the beach, thank goodness. Peyton thinks he wants to do the same. I make him stand in the river up to his knees for 30 seconds to see if he can handle it. He lasts 10 seconds. The he says he’s going to do it anyway (stubborn kid). Peyton strips to his underwear (he’s a little more modest than his father) and runs and falls in the river. His wet head bounces up and his eyes are as wide as his forehead. “Oh man that’s cold.” Then Ashley thinks she wants tot do it. “It’s a man test” Peyton says – “to see if you’re a man.” He and Dad are men now. Ashley gets down to her Hannah Montana underwear. She runs into the river. As soon as the waves touch her ankles she does a 180 and races up the dry sand. She tries again. And a third time. I finally convince her to put her clothes back on. It’s OK – we’re girls – we don’t have to pass the man test I tell her.
My favorite part of the whole trip was just being together as a family in our comfortable van on the open road. Each kid had a notebook and I thought I'd report a sampling of their writing:
Peyton’s writing:
Goblin Valley
Mountains, rocks, boulders, grass, snakes, dirt, river
Ashley’s writing:
I love mom and dad I do not love peyton
We tried to enjoy nature and be together as much as possible, but some nights we plugged in the ol' DVD players for the kids and each took time to ourselves. One night I took a look around and observed the following:
- Peyton watching The Sandlot
- Ashley watching Sleeping Beauty
- Jeff reading Every Rapid Speaks Plainly
- Jen reading Comfort Food
Loved our trip to and around Green River, Utah!!!
1 comment:
I love seeing all of the fun things you guys do. I don't know how you do it all. oooooh I wish I was young again!
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