Capitol Reef

I don't remember last week. I'm not sure if it's just routine days blending together, incipient old age, or the fact that the weekend dramatically overshadowed the week.

Oh, my camera reminds me we had a massive rainstorm earlier this week: Oliver wasn't happy that he had to play inside at preschool. But we did have a double rainbow!

And this rather terrifying creature is Oliver, wearing a racoon mask from preschool. They read The Kissing Hand, a lovely little story about taking your Mama's kisses to school with you. I've always had a soft spot for that book because we were given a copy by the hospital when Andrew was born.

This weekend was our (nearly annual) Dutch family reunion at Capitol Reef. (You can read one of my favorite posts about Capitol Reef at Segullah).

We missed having Sarah and her family (and her cookies!) with us, but we did our best to compensate. I spent Friday morning before we left making two batches of bishop bars (from America's Test Kitchen From Our Grandmothers' Kitchens)--which were all gone before breakfast the next morning.

We arrived Friday evening right around dinner time, which Bubby and Poppy had well in hand when we finally rolled in (chicken enchiladas and a yummy corn pudding). We provided the dessert.

Oliver and I (again!) spent the night at a nearby hotel. I think next year I might finally be brave enough to bring him in the tent. He only woke up 3-4 times per night. But he was so wiped he went right to sleep.

We showed up just in time for breakfast the next morning, although Oliver had already had cereal at the hotel and only wanted hot chocolate.

We hiked Cohab trail as a group. I was a little nervous about the hike post last week's 1/2 marathon and this week's shin splints (oh, yes, I do remember this week--I spent most of it hobbling around! And avoiding stairs). But I enjoyed most of it.

 This is the point where things started to go a little awry. See all the kids enthusiastically marching up the trail? We didn't notice until much later that there were no adults in the early group--they were all taking pictures by the trail head.

It was really gorgeous watching the sunlight fill the canyon. And Dan was a good sport to let me take so many pictures of him and Oliver. We hiked in our little threesome for a long time--until Jodi caught up with us and asked if we knew where the kids were, and if any adults were with them. (Up to that point, I'd assumed some were, but Jodi said she'd just passed most of them.)

Oliver looked at the holes in the rock and asked, "Is that where the ghosts live?" (I have no idea where he came up with that--Dan thinks pokemon, since Evelyn is obsessed with ghost types).

We did find a few kids on the trail. They were more interested in playing with the dirt than hiking.

 Shortly after this point, the trail branched upward. Dan and I were both concerned that the kids might not have seen the (somewhat subtle) trail markers, or bothered to read the sign at the trail head. Sure enough, not much farther down the trail we spotted Jodi and Jason down the wash with a whole group of children. They'd been following one of the adventurous older cousins like the proverbial children of Hamlin. Most of them were smart enough to stop when they came to a 10 foot drop, which is where Jodi caught up with them and started bringing them back up the ravine, where they met Jason. A few (my oldest included), climbed down the drop anyway, and Dan had to hurry up the trail to tell them they were on the wrong trail (actually, on no trail at all).

Jodi and Jason helped most of the kids climb up to where Dan and I were on the upper trail and took the littlest ones back up to the fork in the trail where they could join us. As Poppy said later, if there's not a little danger, there's not any fun! But I'm still glad Jodi caught up to the kids when she did.

The trail ended near a parking lot by the river, and of course none of the cousins could resist the combined lure of mud and water.

After the excitement of the morning, the afternoon was spent talking, playing, picking apples in the orchard, walking to the small museum for pie (Dan and Oliver and I) and generally enjoying things.

Apparently I missed a rousing game of capture the flag that night where the kids wore glowsticks (Andrew and Evelyn's favorite part). We packed up this morning and drove home via Panguitch and the mountain (starting to show some lovely fall colors).

All told, a pretty successful weekend.