Friday we celebrated Stephen’s birthday with a BBQ dinner in Cedar City, Utah at Charlie’s. It got two thumbs up from Stephen who never was able to find a good BBQ place in California. I expect everyone to comment now below on what their favorite barbecue restaurant is in California!

Saturday we hiked into Zion National Park. We wanted to hike the Narrows and Angels Landing, but we soon realized that both would be too difficult for the kids. Instead we hiked Pa’rus trail and the Lower Emerald Pool trail. The upper trails were closed due to boulders falling and blocking the trail.

The Lower Emerald Pool hike had two small waterfalls that we hiked under, spraying us like a shower. It cooled us off from the close to 100 degree weather. We ended the hike with some soft serve ice cream at the Zion Lodge (the “we” being Stephen and the kids, I got a mango smoothie).

Sunday I took the kids to play in the Virgin River while Stephen hiked the Narrows on his own. I sat on a rock in the river finishing up the book “The King of Ireland’s Son” by Padraic Colum which is a collection of stories I will be telling the kids (often told in Waldorf schools in second grade).

Stephen said the river reached his waist at one point. There were so many people hiking the Narrows trail that day. I’m hoping we’ll get to come back at some point either when the kids are old enough to hike it or just the two of us.