Zions National Park, 2008

Our dear friend Anh Thoai is the reason we took our summer vacation to Zions National Park.  Anh was Gracie's teacher in Vietnam and took a year to travel and work in Canada and the U.S.  This summer, after visiting us in Idaho, she set out to work at Zion's Park.  We originally planned the trip just to see her and ended up experiencing sights and wonders that would impress even seasoned travelers.  When I say "sights and wonders", that doesn't include the travel time there and back.  Two hours into the trip we passed the turn off to the SLC airport.  Sammy said, "Hey, aren't we flying on this vacation?"  We said, "are you kidding and miss all this fighting, crying, whining, and spilling . . . not for a million Sam!"

The Narrows

We ate like kings!  We were so spoiled by Anh and her managers.

We got a great tip on an area that was away from tourists.  We hung out in this area for two days without seeing anyone else.  It was a good thing too because I when I saw that we could jump off a rock into the deep water, I stripped down to my bra and shorts.  I was of course the first one to jump in (I always feel a need to show my children that their mother is braver than their big strong dad).  As I came out of the water with thumbs up, other things had been forced out of position.  What a show!   Previous to this expose' we had found a natural slide off of a rock into a pool of water.  I had also jumped at the chance to show up Dave by going first (had a swim suit this time).  As I walked down the slide Dave yelled, "better sit down before you . . ."  I hit a patch of moss, did something that resembled the road runner and landed on my bottom, legs spread from here to breakfast.  The look on their faces wasn't what I expected when I'd just done something heroic.  It wasn't the first or the last time I'd see that look.  On the way home we pulled off at a scenic lookout.  Dave h ad been collecting interesting bugs and insects in a cup.  As we were exiting the vehicle I bumped the cup and knocked the lid off.  This huge, hairy, flying bug from the crustaceous period flew out and landed on my shoulder.  I jumped out of the car and stripped my shirt off in the parking lot while screaming.  One day I hope to be Super Hero Mom, until then I'll just be the mom 

that's married to Super Hero Dad.