Eli used to have silent tantrums where he threw himself on the floor and lay there silently. Not so much anymore.
On July 9 we greeted Vicky, a 13 year old girl from China, who joined a summer homestay program through her Junior High. She stayed with us for two weeks. She arrived in the evening, and the next day after he morning class she came home to play with Halle and Emma. She played Just Dance 4, and it was quite funny.
Luckily we had Vicky talk to our brother-in-law, Jason, in Chinese (learned from his mission), where she told him that if there was time she would like to visit the National Parks and red mountains she’s heard were in Utah. We had no idea she was interested, so we made time. We made it a day trip, leaving early in the morning and arriving home at night. She loved it and said she wished she could live here. Luckily Halle’s BFF was also able to come last minute. I thought they could keep each other entertained so there wasn’t so much whining on the drive and the hikes. It totally worked.
We started out at an outlook over the canyon.
This picture is seriously amazing:
We ate lunch at the car, where we found a chipmunk that loved our carrots. So much so that it didn’t particularly care how close you got to it. Later we saw a sign that said don’t feed the wildlife. Oh well.
We started out on this lovely little .8 mile hike that Joan recommended. So short that Joan didn’t find it necessary to change out of her flip flops.
Then after .8 miles we were at the bottom of the canyon and found this lovely sign.
The sign at the top of the canyon didn’t mention it was .8 miles ONE way. Instead of going back up the way we came from, we decided to continue on a different trail that was 1.2 miles. We were hoping 1.2 miles would get us OUT of the canyon, not just further in.
Lonely little tree:
Jared carried Eli on his shoulders the entire way:
Since Jared had Eli, I had the backpack and all the cameras (yes, we took more than one). I wanted proof I was there, so I took some self portraits.
Another End of Trail sign. Lovely.
We were still at the bottom of the canyon. And this lovely sky was awaiting us:
Eli wasn’t fond of the hike by hour two.
So after End of Trail sign three, we came to this. See those little itty bitty people? We had to hike up this, and that storm was coming in, so we had to hike it fast.
We made it!
Well…almost made it, there were still lots of switch backs to hike up. Jared made great time given he was carrying a two year old the entire time. So lucky he’s my husband.
Right as we were coming out of the canyon it started raining. And thundering. We still had to run probably half a mile back to the car since we started at one side of canyon, and hiked down and around to another side.
Maybe next time Joan will wear better shoes.
While Vicky was here, my friend Erica drove through on her way to Oregon from Iowa. It went from her staying two nights at my house, to me seeing her for 1 hour at a friend’s house. But I’m so glad we were able to meet up. Baby Mia was about 6 weeks old, and I couldn’t wait to meet her. Erica has been anxiously awaiting a baby of her own, and a birth mother chose her and Brad to adopt this beauty. They recently got sealed and I’m so sad I couldn’t make it.
In Alaska Halle lost one of her top teeth. It just so happened that her BFF Emma had also lost a top tooth while we were in Alaska. On July 15 she lost the other front tooth.
Now her and Emma were tooth twinners. Cuteness.
We went to the dino museum and I took pictures with my phone (hence the bluriness), but these pictures were special because Halle was being so sweet with Eli this day. They fight so much now, that the times when they’re best buddies are few and far between, and therefore quite special.
Vicky’s last night here Eli got sick.
He got better pretty quickly luckily and we were able to go to Benihana to celebrate Grandpa Jess’ birthday. The big 60. As we were waiting for them I thought this was super cute.
And then Halle got sick. Luckily she has Patch to comfort her.
And lucky for her she was better in time to go to Lake Powell and July 27. I have 150 pictures from Lake Powell, so that will be a separate post.
