It was so beyond what I expected.
When we pulled in at sunset, I spoke it out loud to the whole car,
THE HEAVENS DECLARE THE GLORY OF GOD!
The mile high walls of solid red sand took my breath away. With my face smashed up against the car window, my eyes looked straight up into some of His most amazing creation.
We had the gift of spending a week away in Zion National park with some truly lovely friends.
Yes, packing for six was a wee bit crazy.
Yes, tent camping with a soon-to-be 2 year old was some what risky.
Yes, the drive was long.
But it was all beyond worth it.
And to tell you the truth, our kids were flat out amazing. They entertained themselves for hours in the dirt. They rode bikes and chased frogs, and scooped up fish eggs from the river. They hiked and swam and took a shower under the spicket right there on the side of a dirt road.
WE spent our afternoons, taking naps under a giant tree (cuz it was WAY to hot to take any sort of rest in our tent), and walking down to the river with all the treasures in tote. The Mama's would plop their chairs down right there in the river and watch the kids come up with their own projects for the afternoon... projects like building a series of rivers for the ants... you know, that sort of thing. :)
When I asked Reesie what her favorite part of the trip was, she jumped up, flung her hands in the air and shouted, "Apple Jacks!"
You gotta love the simple things in life, eh?
We hadn't seen the family that we camped with in over and year, and honestly we just picked up where we had left off. It's one of those friendships where no matter how much time passes our friendship is still the same. These kind of friends are pure gift.
It was lovely.
Truly lovely.
