Sand Hollow Itch

I get the itch from time to time.  Sometimes it's for a Dr. Pepper or Massaman Curry.  Sometimes it's for a particular song or genre of music.  Sometimes it' for something from left field and unexpected.  Usually, when I get the itch, it's to leave town; to travel.  Often I get the itch for the same places such as Hawai'i, San Diego, the beach, our cabin, Zion National Park or Sand Hollow.  I'm the kind of guy that entirely believes you CAN have your cake and eat it too.  So, I typically figure out how to scratch that itch whenever it surfaces.  This time, I had the itch to visit Sand Hollow and Zion NP.  As is always the case, I prefer to scratch those itches with my beautiful wife, our kids (most of the time) and our family. 

This year, my brother Jim and his wife Samantha bought a trailer and they had the itch to travel too.  With Sand Hollow being between the two of our families, it made sense.  What didn't make sense was too visit the Dixie land in Summer where it's hotter than hell.  It was so hot that I often recalled the J. Golden Kimball quote, "If I had a house in St. George and one in hell, I'd live in hell and rent out the house in St. George!"  To top it all off, Sand Hollow gave us an itch of another kind ... SWIMMER'S ITCH!  We've visited Sand Hollow every year for a few years now and the "Swimmer's Itch Is Active" sign has always greeted us upon entering the state park.  We've never encountered it...until now.  I think only me and my brother avoided getting it out of both of our families.  We still had a great time...scratching our itch to travel and our itch to itch. 

It was fun traveling with my brother's family.  We've had several opportunities to travel with both of my brothers' families and we always have fun.  I'm blessed with a fun and loud family that has a deep love for one another.  This trip was no different. 

Sand Hollow

Camping in a beautiful but barren, sun-baked desert is not necessarily a wise
move.  Not hardly a tree in sight.  It was beautiful though.

 

Mady was happy to be in the sun and sea.

Hailey teaching her Dad how to swim at the last minute. 

Leah and Dax love their older cousins.  Here they are floating with Hailey.

Mad-Dawg and Samantha cooling off from the triple digit heat.



Dax fishing for Hailey fish. 

Fina catchin' some rays.

"Don't drink the water, Dax!"

Leah is all girl.  Anytime her foot touched something organic, even the smallest
blade of sea grass, she freaked!

Dax spent more time in the dirt making mud than he did in the water.

A family that floats together stays together.  Unless there's a current and your
rafts and tubes are not linked somehow.  Then you're probably not going to be
together for long, but it's still a nice sentiment.  ;)

I think Jimmy's tube may be a size too small.

From the day this little girl entered the water for the first time at age 5 months, she was meant
to be a fish.  She's so at home in the drink.

Baking away.  The weather was 110-115 every day.  I didn't get to cool off
in the water often enough as I had to work part of each day from the trailer,
but I was happy to know the family was having fun. 

Obviously, I could have used more sun.  At least on those legs.

A lame attempt at catching the most beautiful color of green as the small wakes
rolled over the rocks.  As the sun pierced the water rolling, it reflected so
beautifully.  My lame little camera couldn't catch it. 

This chick and the noodle!  She's cray cray!

I love this pic.  It screams, "relaxed and happy".

It's comforting leaving the kids with Madyson and Hailey.  They're both accomplished
 swimmers and water polo players.  I trust their abilities in the water.

Aunt Samantha and Uncle Jimmy love Dax and Leah.  They spoil them with
attention.  Leah and Dax are happy to receive it.

Sarah chillin'

Leah in her glass bottom boat.

Clearly Jim got my Dad's native American skin tone. 

Looking at Leah through her glass bottom boat.

Dax getting in on the see through raft action.



Trailer Life

Trailer life is great.  I was a bit worried with the extreme and consistent heat that the trailer
AC unit wouldn't be able to keep up, but it did just great.  Camping or RVing is such an
amazing source of memories and bonding.  Nothing is as sweet as a sleeping toddler. 

Eating meals on camping trips is always an important part of the memories.

One night Jim and Sam's trailer somehow locked them out with the keys in it.
We still don't know how it happened, but it was after hours and the state park
was closed.  Luckily they have a very good insurance guy that was able to get
their insurance carrier to send someone out to the boonies at midnight to get
them into their trailer.  Truthfully, it was a bit of a pain considering it is an
auto policy so they twice dispatched a tow truck to break into a car.  It wasn't
until I had to get on the phone and explain multiple times that the vehicle they
were locked out of was not a car, but that we needed a locksmith with
experience breaking into homes and/or trailers.  Third time was the charm
and they finally got in.  Here is Samantha and Madyson in our trailer
watching from the window. 

To combat the "swimmers itch", Madyson and Leah would shower often.  Leah enjoyed
the outdoor showers so much that she would take her normal showers outside too. 

Dax loves his Uncle Jim.  I'm pretty sure his Uncle Jim loves him too.

Much time was spent playing with snapchat.  Leah and Dax loved
all the faces they could make with it.  None as freaky as their older
cousin, Hailey and her snaggle tooth. 

Leah and Dax enjoyed watching a movie in Uncle Jim's trailer. 
Nothing says roughing it like watching a HiDef movie on a 55 inch
flat screen tv while camping in an air conditioned trailer. 

Dax and Uncle Jimmy both with their Dinosaur shirts

Even when we're camping in the middle of nowhere, the tablets and phones
find their way.

It's a small bathroom, but it's still bigger than the bathroom our tent had!

St. George LDS Temple

 

Madyson on the steps of the temple in St. George

We found a baby Peregrine Falcon that was perched on the hedges on the
temple grounds. 

Hailey on the steps of the temple.

It's a beautiful temple with the white washed exterior against the green grass, blue skies and
red rocks. 

 

Zion National Park

Zion is my Disneyland.  Disneyland is Sarah's Disneyland.  Zion is still a
favorite of Sarah's as well.  We are always excited to share it with our kids
and other family.  Here is Hailey and Dax riding the shuttle. 

Jimmy, Leah, Mady and Sam enjoying the beautiful scenery on the shuttle
up Zion Canyon.

It was hot.  Miserably hot.  This made the day difficult.  In fact, my thought
was that we could stay cool in the shades of the narrow canyon walls.  Well,
that may have been a good plan had we went hiking when it wasn't high noon.
There is no shade from the high canyon walls when the sun is directly over
head.  It made the most easy hike long and difficult.  Dax couldn't go too
far without being carried and I couldn't carry him as far as I normally could
in these conditions.  We still enjoyed the beauty of the Virgin River and
the narrows, but at a much slower pace.  Then Dax and I bailed out
while the rest went on. 

One of our many breaks.  We went through water like mad.  Anytime we
stopped to snack or drink, these dang squirrels were all up in your business.

Hailey and her squirrel friend.  Luckily, she speaks squirrel. 
"Squeak, squeak, squeakerson"

Cooling Dax and I down under one of the many hanging gardens dripping
off the canyon walls.

I had a tradition as a young man that I would keep a rock from every important trip I went on.
In fact, as I type this, there is a rock in my desk drawer from the top of Mt. Whitney.  Most
of my other rocks I collected, I had given to my Dad for his medicine pouch.  Anyway, it
must be an inherited trait as Leah and Dax both are obsessed with collecting rocks wherever
they go.  Here's Dax showing off his rock from the Virgin River Narrows.



Hailey worshipping the Sun God.

Jim brought his walking stick which was immediately confiscated by Leah. 

 

This kid and his Sister were stoked to stop at a rock shop on our way out of
Zion NP.  Springdale is a fun little town. 

Before heading back to our campsite, we took a small detour to visit Grafton.
Grafton is a ghost town in Southern Utah and is most known for being the
site where part of "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid" was filmed. 

Leah in front of the city building/K-12 gradeschool and church

Dax watching lizards

Unlike other times we've been here, the buildings were unlocked so we explored them in and
out.  From the basement root cellars to the top attic floor. 

I was impressed Leah went up these creepy stairs with us.  It was kind of
spooky.

 

 

 

Water and Fire & Ice (Cream)

The kids love the splash pad and red rock river at City Center in St. George.
Uncle Jim, Aunt Sam and their older cousins accommodated the kids desire
to go cool off in the fountains. 

That's probably ill advised.

Monkey see, monkey do.  "But, Momma!  Leah did it!"

As we sat on the bench watching the kids play in the splash pad, we noticed
a thick, black plume of smoke.  We ran to investigate and found that a shop
was ablaze. 

Dax likes fire fighters so we watched them battle the blaze, but not before the house next
door caught fire too. 

Dax had a front row seat and loved every minute of it.



 

After a fire and a bloody nose, we figured it was time to beat the heat and find someplace
cool to chill.  We knew just the place.

It wouldn't be a complete trip to Dixie unless we stopped and got a Nielsen's Frozen Custard.

 

Leah loves her chocolate chip cookie dough custard.

Mady and Hailey giving Grandma a Hot hairdo.  BTW, Mom joined us the
last two days.  It was fun to have her with us. 

 

She's a punkrock Granny!

We ended our trip to Southern Utah with a visit to the
Brigham Young Winter Home.  It was interesting.  I
don't need to go again.  Once was enough. 

Leah and I admiring the grounds at BY's Winter home.

 

We went to Cracker Barrel to celebrate Samantha's birthday.

 

Happy Birthday, Aunt Sam!

 

In spite of the scorching heat, we had a blast with our family.  I can't wait to do it again.  I've already got the itch!