Grandstaff Trail

We went to bed last night around 10. As we got in our sleeping bags, I could feel that Natalie felt very warm. She definitely had a fever. She woke me up around 3 a.m. telling me that she had to go to the bathroom. She was shaking and trying to make sense of her surroundings as I put on my shoes, unzipped the tent, and tried to take her out before she woke up Owen. As I picker her up, I noticed her pants felt wet, doh, I guess I wasn't fast enough? But we continued by the light of my phone through the darkness over to the lovely outhouse. I helped her sit on it, and that was when I saw the reason why she felt wet. She had pooped her pants. And it was "I'm sick" poop. She sat down and went #1 and more of the #2 runs. Great. She didn't want to put her underwear or pajama pants back on and I don't blame her. So we went back to the tent, I found the wipes, and she stood in the cool nighttime air as I wiped her clean. I left the underwear by the side of the tent in the dirt, and it saw it's untimely demise later that morning in the fire pit.

She's clean, now getting her back in bed... I knew I hadn't packed clean underwear for her, but was sure I could find something to work... I looked around in Sophi's and Lily's bags and found a pair, yay. "Here..." "No! I need Rapunzel underwear!!" Ahh! Fine! Shh!! I look in her backpack. No underwear. She did have her trophy though, which made me laugh and roll my eyes. Good thing she brought that! "Natalie, I can't find Rapunzel underwear. Just wear this..." "No! I need Rapunzel underwear!" I look around some more in the piles of pillows, blankets, sleeping bags, and comatose bodies. "Natalie, I can't find Rapunzel underwear! Can't you just wear this?!?" "I know I have Rapunzel underwear..." Kept looking, and finally found it, hallelujah "Yay..." she says, lol. Ok, Rapunzel underwear on, new pjs on, good, we're done. And thankfully her sleeping bag wasn't a mess. She got back in and went back to sleep. Owen was still asleep, yay. I was very thankful that I did not have Daniel. I lay there and tried to fall back asleep but couldn't. It was just a little windy, and everytime the wind blew it make our tent rustle and it sounded like someone was walking along outside of our tent brushing it with their hand or clothes. Once I figured out that there actually wasn't anyone creeping around our tent, I was able to relax and ignore the noise. I was almost asleep when a big gust of wind blew the the rain cover off the top of the tent. Oh, I thought we had clipped that on. Oh well. It sounded loud and I was wide awake again. Luckily it didn't make the tent any colder, it was a pretty warm night. I lay there with Owen under one arm and my feet uncovered and looked up through the tent screen at the stars. I saw several shooting stars and noticed a satellite cross the sky. I lay there feeling very comfortable and content. I'm glad we came, poop and all.

In the morning at 6:45, I left the sleeping kids and drove out to Moab where I could have cell phone service. I called Corey to tell him of our change of plans - I had considered staying two nights but now with Natalie sick that plan changed and we were going to go back home today. I called Corey to let him know, since there was a possibility that he was going to drive down today with his parents. But he said Ethan still couldn't leave cause of so much homework, so okay, good to know our plan. Corey and Eth are going to stay, we'll be back there tonight. I pulled over and did a polo video to my family. Took a picture of the canyon, so cool.

Our campground was right by the Colorado River and also right by the road. The noise wasn't bad at night but in the morning cars were driving by bright and early, so it was easy to get everyone up and out of bed.

So when I got back the kids were all awake. Mark had breakfast ready for everyone and the kids ate up. Natalie seemed to be feeling a little better. She didn't ear anything though, she just wanted hot chocolate. "Mom, can I have some hot chocolate..."

What are you doing with your eye, silly girl?

Sand in your eye? We were out of warm water, so I made her cold chocolate. She accepted my offering. She's a cute little girl.

Last night Mark had gotten a flat tire when he ran back to town for sour cream. Fun for him, right? This morning he went in early to get a new tire around 8:30. We put away the tent and packed the car. while he was gone.

The kids played soccer and another game that they played was to sit on top of a big rock at our site and try to get all the semis and trucks that passed by to honk their horns. Such a fun game, I remember doing that on road trips when I was little. After Mark got back, we loaded up the rest of the kids and drove to the Grandstaff Trailhead for a big group hike. Owen fell asleep as he waited in his carseat.

Everyone filling up their camelbacks.

Heading to the hike.

Grandstaff Trailhead. Owen had fallen asleep in the car, but I picked him up and figured I'd probably carry him most of the time. Still, I'm glad to be out in the beauty of southern Utah, this will be fun!

Mark and the older kids went ahead, Nancy, Jordyn and Seth saved me and helped me out with my small kids. Lily probably could have kept up with the older kids, but we were glad to have her with us.

Jordyn kept Natalie close by.

Natalie walking with Jordyn, and me carrying Owen on the other side of that photo. He's got his binky and his blanket, this toddler is ready for a nature hike!

Seth with Sophi, he's been so kind with her last night and today, probably a bit of a novelty to have an affectionate big brother figure! Her brothers aren't that way with her, so it was cute to see.

We hadn't walked very far before Natalie was tired. Thank you Jordyn!

Stopping for a snack. Yay, we get to put down these toddlers!

Owen enjoyed his granola bar.

I had come prepared with water, a diaper and wipes if necessary. Unfortunately Hyrum was carrying them. And he was far ahead of us on the trail. So yeah, they weren't going to do me much good now. Thank you to the cousins for sharing with us! The water felt so cool and refreshing.

Part of me wanted to jump in and cool off like we did in Costa Rica. But we resisted. It felt good enough to get our feet wet. I was able to keep my shoes dry on the first crossing of the stream, but got one foot wet on the next crossing. It was hard to try to keep our feet dry when we were concerned about getting the kids across safely, so soon both Nancy and I and the 2 big kids all had wet feet. Stop for a photo ~

Owen letting us take a break from carrying him, yay.

It's slower if he's walking, but our backs need it.

Lots of people walked this trail with their dogs, and each time we saw another furry four legged creature coming, we'd hurry and grab Owen and get him up and safely away from their curious noses, cause he freaks out when a dog comes sniffing him. He made it through the whole hike without screaming about dogs even once, yeah! Jordyn seemed to have a natural motherly antennea that warned her each time a dog was approaching, she is a pro.

Hi ho, hi ho, up the trail we go.

Helping the littles get over the big rocks and steps.

Did I mention yet that Jordyn and Seth saved me?

We didn't make it all the way to the Morning Glory Arch... we knew we had to retrace our steps if we wanted to finish this hike, and with the little ones it tow it might take us a while... so we stopped before reaching the top and had another snack and then turned around. We hoped to reach the bottom at the same time as the big kids did. The trip back down was rough on Owen and Natalie.

Natalie said "This is hard..." and that her legs weren't working. We tried to encourage her "You're doing so good! We're almost done!" And then she cried back "I'm not doing so good!" Ok sweetie, I'll carry you.

You have been doing good Natalie! You did a great job for a 4 year old, especially a little 4 year old who is under the weather. You did great sweetie. And we timed it perfectly - we had almost made it back to the trailhead when the big kids came up behind us and were able to take a turn at the end carrying Owen. Then the kids were all talking about who had worked harder - the big kids who had to hike all the way to the top of the hike, or us who had to carry small children. I let Hyrum, Wes, and Abi think they had worked hard, but we all know that people hiking with toddlers win hands down everytime. Yay, we survived! We started around 10:30 and finished at 2. Owen and Natalie both fell asleep in the car as we drove over to the sandpit for lunch.

The kids slid down the hill and they played in the sand for 2 hours. Sand sand everywhere.

We were on the road headed home at 4 and got home tonight at 7:40. We haven't unpacked the car. Priority for me was a bath, (esp since I hadn't showered since Tuesday morning, ugh.) It was a great quick trip, I'm glad we went, and I'm glad were back.