bike riding, hiking, and tractors

We are on our 5 week vacation. Our first stop is Grandpa Hawkins. We left Houston, Texas on Friday at 10pm. Garren got home from Scout Camp at 9 pm. We had him shower and threw in his dirty clothes and packed a few clean clothes and left on our trip to Utah. We drove all night and the next day. We arrived late Saturday night about 11:30 pm. It was an uneventful drive (we like no excitement). Whitney and Brady had a marathon movie watch. The older kids get tired of the little kid shows. Sunday was church.

Brady holding the peacock egg he found on our Sunday walk

Monday morning we woke up at 5 am. We went on a bike ride. We went on a short one. It was just the fun downhill part of the Gem Trial. We had just got started and Garren's seat broke off. My dad went back to the truck to find a way to repair it. He came back vise-grips and electrical tape. He used the vise-grips to hold the seat on and the tape was wrapped around the vise-grips to keep from opening. He could only sit for emergencies. To much pressure and the seat would fall off again. He rode that downhill stretch great for a seat that didn't work well. Bryant did great for one of his first mountain bike rides. It was a great ride.

Brady rode in the tractor with grandpa while he bailed hay. Garren drove the tractor with the hay wagon while Bennett and Jose threw the bales of hay on the trailer. Whitney rode it back.

While Bryant and I took naps, Bennett and Garren helped Grandpa do some work. Bailey helped Marilyn cook a great lasagna lunch.

Then we headed to Zions national park and hiked the Narrows. Whitney and Brady found a Junior ranger hat, backpack and flashlight in the visitors center. Bryant gave into getting Brady the hat. It was a great hat for keeping the sun off. Whitney hiked all the way there--even in the water. On the way back she rode on Bennetts back through the water part of the trail. After we walked a ways in the water we found and good spot and had a picnic dinner of tuna fish sandwiches.

shuttle ride in Zions National Park

Brady with his Junior Ranger hat or also known as the Adventurer Hat