Spring Break

We finished up our Utah National Parks tour during the kids' week off from school. We went to Bryce Canyon and Capitol Reef and also threw in the Petrified Forest state park on the way. Bryce Canyon was really too cold in April, but we had lots of fun at Capitol Reef. The kids enjoyed all of the crazy southern Utah geology and rarely complained about the amount of walking we were doing. In case anyone wants to know, we think Capitol Reef and Arches are the best parks for kids.



I think the kids have pretty much decided that they want to live in a cave someday. There were tons of these all over during our hikes, but they never lost their enthusiasm for them.



Here's spidergirl scaling the canyon wall.

Negligent Parenting

So I watched 2 of my friend's kids today while she went to the store. Everyone was playing happily, so I went downstairs to print Jacob a picture to color (because he really, really wanted one). I walked back upstairs not 5 minutes later and the front door was open and Luke, who's 2, was nowhere to seen. I scoured the neighborhood. I scoured the house. I got all the neighbors looking with me. I finally called the police and his mom came back from the store. Where was he? At his house watching tv and eating a lollipop. A different neighbor had seen him wandering on her way out and dropped him off at home. Luckily, it was unlocked and he was resourceful enough to make himself comfortable. But it makes me ask this question: How on earth am I going to be able to handle 5 kids?! I couldn't even remember the cardinal rule of 2-year-olds--never leave the front door unlocked.