Day 3::Zion's National Park

For our second day in Southern Utah, we took a tour of Zion's National Park.  The roads are under construction so we parked off the side of the road and took the bus in.

What did we see first thing? This deer.  It was wandering the parking lot for food.  The kids were in awe and wanted to go pet it!  What!?  You kidding me!?

Once we were on the bus, we enjoyed the scenery for a bit, until we heard the driver tell us about the Court of the Patriarchs.  Abraham, Isaac & Jacob.  WELLL...since our first son's name is Isaac we HAD to get off to see what it all looked like and get pictures of course.  From left to right the peaks are named, Abraham, Isaac (middle) & Jacob (far right).  It was a nice little tiny hike to get us started.

































We hopped back on the bus and enjoyed more scenery.  There are so many hiking adventures anyone can go on...we just didn't think the kids could handle them.  We decided to go on our bigger hike to the Emerald Pools.  They were much less pool and more puddle-like.  Oh well.  It was still extremely shady and a much needed cool.

This was the waterfall we saw that in cooler weather, would be helping to create the lower pools.  Beautiful!!!  AND Allison took this photo!!  

We continued our trek upward and onward to see the Middle Pools.  No more pavement and steep rock steps and dirt trails...now we're hiking!  The middle pools are a bit more fun.  You can walk around in them, cool off and just enjoy more shade.  This is also the top of the waterfall just behind us.  COOL!

Now I know you're looking at this picture of tadpoles and wondering why in the world I'd be sharing this silly little photo.  Well, the reason is because my kids were fascinated with these little guys.  My favorite group Barenaked Ladies sings a kids song called, "Pollywog in a Bog" and we LOVE to listen and sing along all the time and watch the {YouTube video} of it, too. The song is all about the life cycle of a frog. When they finally saw the little guys in real life, they couldn't stop gawking at them.


























Just a random family photo under/in some rocks on our downward trek.

Two of the cutest smiles on the cutest faces!  We {HEART} shade!

This angry little boy needed his diaper changed, and once we got back, Daddy was no where to be found (he had gone with Allison to get our water bottles refilled).  He was so angry and tired, that he threw his fit right then and there.  It was rather funny, actually. 

We left Zions enriched and exhausted.  What a beautiful world this is, and how LUCKY are we to live in such a beautiful state, too!