Well, we went from one weekend in the desert to the next in the rainforest! Ok, maybe not, but it rained pretty much all weekend, which is quite the treat.
Anyway, we had a great Easter weekend in Escalante, although we had some iffy weather there, too. It rained most of Thursday afternoon, but that was ok because it gave us time for a lovely rainy day nap in Sunshine and then a game of Settlers of Catan (the travel version) in the Knappenbergers' tent trailer. Friday night and Saturday afternoon were really windy and cold, so we didn't get in as many campfires as we would have liked, but other than that the trip was faboo.
I know that you were all worried that Sunshine might have flashbacks to last year's Escalante trip when she lost a cylinder and had to get a (well, technically two) new engine. Not to worry, Sunshine handled the hills and valleys magnificently. What a fabulous vehicle.
We did a lot of hiking and looking over majestic vistas and up amazing waterfalls, but the photos will tell the stories better than my words can. We also had an Easter egg hunt, which was quite the experience.
We had high hopes for this year's Easter egg hunt because last year's wasn't exactly a roaring success. Not that it went badly, the kids were just a little to young to really get into it. Anyway, that was definitely not the case this year. Sam was doing well "finding" the eggs (there aren't exactly a lot of tricky spaces to hide eggs in in the desert) until he shook one and realized that it was filled with M&Ms. Well, that was the end of the hunt for Sam, once he understood that there was candy in the eggs, he wouldn't pick up another until the previous find was completely consumed. Cody, on the other hand, was totally hip to the concept. I'm sure glad that he ran around filling his ever-bulging basket because if we had to wait for Sam to collect all of the eggs, we'd still be in Southern Utah!
So, we had a great Easter and a great little vacation. In other news, Ben has decided that he cannot be happy unless he is walking. While we were away he really started to enjoy walking while we hold his hands, and he is simply not content with any other mode of transportation! Needless to say, we are really looking forward to him learning self-locomotion, but until then I guess we're doomed to make lap after lap around the house hunched over holding our little guy's hands!
We thought that you might like an excerpt from Sam's coolest bedtime prayer ever:
God bless Daddy. God bless Ben. God bless Cody. God bless Mavis the Tractor. God bless my bubble blower. God bless my friend Mommy. God bless Popppop. God bless Sharon the Grandma. God bless Marcia. God bless Buddy. God bless Derek. Amen.
What a kid! I could hardly contain my hysterics while he was praying (not very respectful, I know). Here's the translation:
God bless Daddy. God bless Ben. (self explanatory) God bless Cody (his best friend). God bless Mavis the Tractor (he just got a cool green tractor from Poppop, and apparently it needs prayers. Well, it isn't technically his, it's Ben's, but Ben hasn't learned how to defend his stuff. Oh, and if you're wondering about the Mavis part, Mavis the Tractor is a character in Thomas the Tank Engine, so that's his tractor's name, too). God bless my bubble blower (Sam's present from Poppop was a bubble blower). God bless my friend Mommy (don't ask me about the "my friend" part). God bless Popppop (Steve's dad). God bless Sharon the Grandma (Steve's mom, apparently she needs a grander title than just "Grandma"). God bless Marcia (my mom, we don't know why she goes by her first name). God bless Buddy (my dad). God bless Derek (Derek lived with us for like 3 weeks 2 months ago, but he's remained in the prayers ever since). Amen.
Love,
Steve, Jamie, Sam, and Ben