Finally a really long uninterrupted night of sleep.  The kids slept in until 9.  They would have slept longer, but Scott was ready to start the day.  He had been up since 7:30 and already hiked in the canyon and back.  While I was off in the washroom brushing my teeth Brooke complained to Scott that she wanted to hike too.  So Brooke and I hiked the 1.3 Navajo Loop into and out of Bryce Canyon.  Bryce is still one of my all time favorite National Parks.  Its beauty is unlike any others.  Due to my extreme love of this area I took a few too many photos…

I only shared my favorites and that is still a lot.

From Scott’s hike this morning.

Our new neighbors last night. Scott was very intrigued by the van design.

Brooke was skipping most of the way down.

A long way down…

Brooke loved finding shade, but she really appreciated the little caves to rest in.

Two Natural Bridges.

This picture is literally 100 feet from the start to climbing back up. She tired much more easily on the way up.

We hiked with a volunteer ranger for a while.  He is behind Brooke in the middle picture.  He helped convince Brooke that we should go back up the regular way and not try an extra 3 miles.  The chipmunk on the right posed for quite a long time.  The ranger warned everyone that the chipmunks carried fleas that can jump six to ten feet.  He also warned that the squirrels can carry the plague.  Happy notes!

Brooke found a puddle when we were walking in between two canyon walls. In true kid fashion she wanted to jump in it.

Goodbye Bryce Canyon!

The kids did a great job of working on Cody’s letter workbook.  I went back to help, but Brooke begged to be the teacher.  She actually did a very good job.  It was nice to see them work together.

We are headed down Route 12 in Utah to Lower Calf Creek Falls at mile marker 75. We stopped at Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument Visitor’s Center in order to plan our next move. Scott wanted to hike the Lower Calf Creek that he heard about from a lady working at the Navajo Bridge Rest Stop (the one with the burned bathrooms). However, the hike is 6 miles round trip, which is obviously a bit much for our little ones. Someday we might come back. Instead we are headed to Posey Lake to get in a canoe trip.

Cody finally caught a lizard and oh was it a big one!

Posey Lake

Posey Lake

The kids asked to stay another day at the Posey Lake Campground.  They were exploring everywhere.

Cody was not loving the Cody sandwich on the canoe.

We came across a gigantic beaver den.

Scott worked hard splitting some logs for the fire. The kids were very excited to have a fire. Scott cooked potatoes and chicken over the fire.

I went for a hike while dinner cooked.  I would have preferred going with the whole family, but the hike was 3/4 of a mile straight up.  It offered quite a view.  My second hike for the day straight up and down.

I am almost certain no other kids have ever had such enjoyment with a bear box as our kids have.  We had our own personal bear box.  The kids kept hiding in the bear box, yes it had an internal door release, but no light.  They were also digging of course.  They came up with a new game where they pretended to be each other’s cat or dog.