This year we decided that I would take the youngest two kids to participate in the annual family outing to Eric and Heidi's property at Zions National Park. After some serious stress with planes and car rentals and lots of shuttles, we then proceeded to get lost while driving around looking for the right site. I found myself at the spot my gps had directed me to at the end of a dead end road and seeing no one in sight. It was dark, we'd been travelling all day and the kids were tired. I braced myself for a complete break down from the kids as I started to tell them that we had to turn around and I had no idea where to go next. They did panic a bit, but Sam surprised me with his immediate idea that we should pray. We did and no miracle immediately happened, but we felt peaceful. I knew that things would be okay. And they were... we'd lost our signal, but after driving back for about a half hour... I got a signal again and managed to call my family who directed me to the right place. It was quite a touching experience for me and for Sam.
After kind of a rough start... we ended up having a wonderful time. I love seeing these cousins play together. They had so much fun running around, sword fighting, digging in the sand, hiking and shooting bb guns.
My favorite part was each evening after the kids were tucked into bed in their tents...quickly falling asleep after their busy days... my siblings and I all gathered around the fire and talked and laughed and had a great memory-fest! It was such a great time.
I'm not sure if I'll remember what this means 10 years from now... but Eric's lesson about the "royal we" was one of the best laughs I've had in years.
Nothing ends a great trip like ice cream sandwiches.
