Zion National Park

Zion National Park has a year round $25 entrance fee. However 3 times a year they offer a *free* admission day. Yesterday just happened to be one of those. Needing some much needed family time we decided to take the kids for the day. I can't begin to tell you how much fun we had together. Emily was VERY photogenic. Everytime I turned around she was posing for me.
Our 1st hike of the day was to Weeping Rock. It is this huge rock that "leaks" water. Some parts have a steady stream and others parts are just dripping. This hike was perfect, round trip is only 1/2 a mile making this great for our younger kids.

Hunter tried leaning his head over the edge to collect water droplets on his tongue.

Silly, boy!

There were plenty of spots along the way for Emily to gather her siblings for a fun photo.

At the bottom of Weeping Rock's trail the kids saw stairs and wanted to go exploring

These old cement stairs led to a little stream. I remember this hike the best from my younger years. I remember jumping, playing and trying to catch polywogs in this little stream.

Despite being a little chilly it didn't stop my kids from trying to do the same.

I haven't been to Zion's to go hiking for many, many years. It's a little different now that they no longer allow you to drive yourself but you have to take shuttle buses. Being my kids have never been on a bus they LOVED this part. The shuttles came every 5-7 minutes at the drop off points making it nice not having to wait very long. The part I didn't like about the shuttles was seeing how many people were trying to cram themselves on. The shuttles had seats but then you could stand in the middle of the isles. Seeing how many people were there we left our stroller in the van along with our cooler full with our snacks, lunch and water bottles.

Our 2nd and last hike of our AWSOME day was to the Lower Emerald Pool's.

This hike is just over a mile round trip. By this time the sun was a little higher and we were getting a little hot. Not having snacks or water for the kids we were all getting a little tired.

This was the coolest part of this trail. We got to walk behind a water fall that fell into the lower pool. As your walking behind you can feel the spray of the water. Being quite warm by now the kids loved getting "a little" wet.

With all the water, it didn't take little man too long to find the mud!

Along this trail we took a minor detor to these rocks we saw.

There was a crack that the kids were able to slide through.

You can barely see Maddie going in while Hunter coming out.

More large rocks to climb on.

By the time we had completed this hike we decided EVERYONE was done. Leaving the stroller in the van made Kory and I take turns carrying Brayden. It wasn't that he wouldn't walk, he'd want to walk the opposite way or want to pick up EVERY SINGLE rock, stick, dead bug along the way.
By the end even Emily was being given a piggy back ride.

Even though she was tired and little whiny we were all still in a good mood.

After our hikes we found a little grass and some shade. We quinched our thirst and ate our picnic lunch. We had a great day. It was fun, we had some funny conversations and we saw:

3 lizards

2 squirrels

and

7+ wild turkeys.

It was a great way to spend some family time with one another.

When we got home everyone was tired. Most of us took a 2+hour nap. Can't beat that.

The next free admission day is Nov. 11,2010. We will definetly be going back again then.

Want to go with us?