Oakley

Usually as soon as Oakley wakes up he looks for me or Dad.  One day I heard him wake up and go into the computer room.  I didn't know what he was doing in there so I went and checked on him and found him laying under the computer desk trying to wake up.  He gave us a quick smile but then was his usual 'grumpy when he first wakes up' self.

My Reagan

Reagan, I am so happy that you are in our family.  I love that you are so helpful.  I love that you put down all the babysitting kids for naps while I clean up from lunch so we can start school sooner.  I love that you have loved to do school with me this year.  I love to watch you learn new things and know that I am a part of that.  Thanks for letting me be your teacher this year.

Love, Mom

Ozone and Peanutbutter

When we decided to leave early, Owen was crushed.  His one goal for the trip was to catch and bring home a lizard, and he had not done that.  Dad and I talked and we decided to go to a pet store the day after we got home.  We were just going to go and look.  Then we saw this little guy.  He was so cute going up to the glass as if to say 'hi'.  We didn't want to take a chance on him being bought before we came back.  So we went for it.

 Morgan was almost glued to the guinea pigs cage the entire time we were at the store.  She had fallen in love with one of the guinea pigs.  He was super cute and seemed calmer than the others.  We decided to get a pet for her.

Owen and Morgan love their pets.  They stayed on the kitchen table in their cages until we got a stand for them for their rooms.  They have been really good about playing with them, feeding them and cleaning the cages out.  I think it has taught them a lot of responsibility. 

Arches National Park

The next day we decided to head over to Arches National Park.  It was weird for as long as Dad and I have been together and Toni living in Moab we have never made it to Arches.  Alisha and Kylee (a little one that Toni babysits) went with us.  It was quite a drive but you all were really good looking at all the sights.  The first point of interest we saw was The Three Kings or aka Three Gossips.  Soon after was the Courthouse Towers.  All were very impressive too look at.

Then Balanced Rock

Finally we got to our first stop, the Windows Arch.  It was an easy walk and had stairs most of the way.

We all thought that this rock stuck in the arch was very neat yet slightly scary!

Oakley would have been happy if we would have let him have free reign but there were some drop offs and I just didn't want him to fall!

You kids had a fun time running around, Owen and Morgan were the most daring.

The girls 'holding' up the rock from one side

and Owen 'pushing' it from the other!

We then did the little hike to the north window, we didn't stay long, it wasn't as fun and it was much warmer.

Reagan found a really neat stick that looked like an arch, I took a picture of it so she could leave it but she just loved it so much we decided it was a good souvenir. 

Owen was on the constant hunt for a lizard...

Our next stop was Delicate Arch, we just went to the view point, the ranger told us that it wasn't a good hike for little children and you need an early start, in a few years we will hike to it though.  We ate lunch there and saw many lizards, one lizard had two tails!  They were fast little guys and Owen never could catch one.

After lunch we went over to the Devils Garden Trailhead.  We looked at all the places and decided to make it as far as Landscape arch.  Dad stayed behind because his back was starting to get a little sore.  Oakley and Kylee also stayed because they were sleeping.  It was a good hike, there were some ups and downs but mostly it was flat.

We finally made it to the Landscape and Partition Arch view points.  It took us about 45 minutes.

Our last stop was the Sand Dune Arch.  There used to be sand about 10 feet from the bottom of the arch but with erosion there is about a 40 foot difference!  You kids had fun and stayed and played in the sand for a while.  There was a kid there that was buried so only his nose was showing!  Morgan decided that would be fun but after Kylee threw some sand in her face it wasn't very fun anymore.

Owen and Reagan started building tunnels.  Alisha taught them how to but it was still tricky not go have the to collapse!

We had a lot of fun in Moab, between the sight seeing and swimming everyday we were all exhausted!  Then our air mattress popped and Toni wasn't feeling well either so we decided to come home a few days early.  It was a fun spring break and we will have to do it again soon!