Moab!

After scheduling, canceling, and rescheduling, we finally made it to Moab. This was our very first vacation with the kids where we didn't go with any other family--just us six. We had such an enjoyable time getting away together--nothing to worry about, no chores, no work, no computer, just us. We rented a really nice condo that was perfect for our family. The kids said they could live there. The best part of it was that there was a swimming pool there and we had it all to ourselves most of the time. This was a great opportunity for our kids to practice their swimming skills since they are all lacking a little in that department. So we swam and swam. It was nice to relax on a lounge chair in the sun and read in between dips. We didn't see much of the sites down there but that was okay. We hiked to the delicate arch and I think that was enough hiking for the kids. It was just so hot and a couple of them aren't too hip on hiking anyway. But it was cool. Another day we went to the museum and saw some neat things like dinosaur eggs, bones, and footprints. We also went last night to see the new Harry Potter movie. Moab has a very small movie theater and we couldn't buy our tickets ahead of time. So we ended up driving by before we went out to dinner to see if they were open yet and they weren't, but people were already camped out in line. So I dropped off Ry and Christian who went to get a place in line while I took the other three to Domino's to go get some pizza for our dinner. I thought that would be good "line" food. So we waited in line for a while and got in. The theater didn't fill up as fast as we thought it would and we figured that we probably didn't even need to wait in line like we did to get tickets. Oh well. Harry Potter was cool--more humor in it than the other ones I think. I can't wait for the last movie to see how it all ends (no, I haven't read the books and probably never will). So even though we didn't go hiking a million places or see very much of the area, we made so many happy memories just relaxing with the family. That was our goal to just relax and not have a schedule and we definitely accomplished that. I used to dream of the day when my kids would be old enough and independent enough to take on trips and boy has that day come so quickly! I loved watching them interact with each other. I liked seeing how they reacted to the neat things that we saw. I am looking forward to more family trips in the future. It's great to go with other family and friends, but there's something about going with just our family that is so special and so worthwhile.