Utah trip part 2 - Moab

Monday afternoon we drove down to Moab for my family's reunion. Only 3 of us 6 siblings (me, Julie, and Danny) were able to come this time, but both sets of grandparents were able to come. I'm really glad we got to see the grandparents! It was a great reunion!

Monday we just arrived, got unloaded, went swimming, and talked. I hadn't seen Danny since the last reunion 2.5 years ago. It was fun to be all together!

Tuesday we went to Arches National Park. We enjoyed stopping at several spots and doing several small hikes. The kids all loved getting to climb all over the rocks.

Bradley walking with my 95 year old grandpa. :) love it!

After lunch those of us with kids, went to the Sand Arch. After you hiked back between the cliff walls, it was all just sand! Julie had brought their big bag of sand toys and the kids had a blast! It was like being at the beach. It was nice and cool in the shade and we had a good time there. 

That evening my parents, Tommy, and Danny went back to Arches to hike to the Delicate Arch, which was more intense than the kids would have enjoyed. 

Wednesday we went to Dead Horse Point State Park and Canyonlands National Park. In Canyonlands we hiked up "Whale Rock" which I really enjoyed. I went slow with Bradley and Julie (who recently had her ACL replaced). It was fun to go slow with them. At the top there was a great echo that Bradley loved. 

Thursday morning I did a rafting trip down the Colorado River with my parents and Karen. My mom has all the pictures from that. It was a lot of fun. I was nervous about leaving Caleb for that long (about 6 hours), but decided to anyways. We got rained on during the trip which I actually really enjoyed. Between the rain and the last rapids we went through, I was completely soaked. As we were waiting for the bus to pick us up, it poured! It was a really good rain storm. Everyone was huddled together under the pavilion and all of us who were wet were freezing. We saw lighting strike the cliffs RIGHT by us! I saw it strike and immediately heard one of the loudest thunders I've ever heard. It actually sounded like a pop because we were so close. It was pretty cool. Finally the bus was ready to take us back. About halfway down the canyon, all the traffic was stopped and people were getting out of the cars. There had been a big mudslide with rocks in the road and it was impassable. Grrrreat. It was like my nightmare happening. We had no idea how long it would take to get cleared and my baby was waiting for me and no one had phones (or service...we asked others who were out of their cars). Luckily we only had to wait about 50 minutes before they got it cleared. I was relieved! And Caleb did fine. He got hungry and was grumpy but was fine. I'm glad I went!

Tommy and Danny took the kids on another hike in Arches while we were gone that morning. 

Danny and Julie's families went to play in the river that afternoon, but my family was too tired. They were heading back once our boys woke up so we didn't go. 

Friday we packed up and left the condos. We went back to Arches for one more hike with Danny and Julie's families. It was one of my favorites we did. 

The rest of the time of the reunion was spent hanging out at the condos, playing games, riding bikes, eating good food, watching the kids play in the dirt behind the condos. and swimming. It was so much fun! 

Caleb Glen meeting Grandpa Glen. :)

Grandma Margene celebrated her 86th birthday on Thursday! The kids didn't mind having cupcakes. :)

The only complication at this reunion was Grandma Jane (age 95) fell out of bed twice in one night. We shared a condo with them and my other grandparents, so Tommy and my Grandpa Glen had to help her. It was kinda scary. She also got sick and had a bad cough. Somehow she still managed to keep her sense of humor (even though it was obvious she did not feel good). She's amazing.

Lots of pool time!

Love my siblings!!

Bradley had so much fun with his cousins. He has been talking about them nonstop ever since.

Friday we went back to Julie's house. Danny's family also stayed there. We went swimming at her pool and hung out the rest of the night. 

Saturday morning we flew home. Not going to lie - it was hard to come home. It felt good knowing we would get back to routine, but I loved everything about this vacation and getting to see family and mountains. Ohio didn't feel as exciting this time. 

But I'm so glad we got to go! We had such a great time!