Zion's Emerald Pools

Our second day at Zion started with a drive through the park--they have an amazing road through the park that had a tunnel through the rock, huge arches, and amazing views of red rocks.  The pictures really don't do it justice...

 

Josh chose this drive to lose his VERY FIRST TOOTH.  He'd been wiggling and wiggling (for only two days--it got loose out of nowhere!) and as we were driving he said, "My tooth's in my hand!"  Quite an excited boy.  We put it in a baggie, but it kept coming out to be admired and by the end of the day we'd saved it after being dropped through the crack in the seat AND it broke in half from so much admiration.  The Tooth Fairy found him at the condo that night and left him TWO QUARTERS.  I think he was excited to finally join his sister in the land of money-making teeth.

Bighorn sheep!

We then decided to take the Emerald Pools trail.  Three pools to see...the first had a drip coming off the side of the cliff right over the path.  The kids loved "taking a shower" right in the middle of the trail.

The second pool had amazing tadpoles to investigate!

And the third pool was a quiet place to reflect...until we got there!  :)

Poor Julie's foot was not happy with us for two straight days of hiking.  After this hike I told her I was no longer listening to her phrase, "I'm fine!" because it was a lie.

Joshy busted back down the trail with Julie:  "The faster I get down the trail, the faster the Tooth Fairy will come to visit!"

Walking through a rock was quite a trip!

And just so you can see a little of the sibling-ness that happens on family vacations...Josh pushes buttons and Grace turns sensitive...

The pack had the perfect chin rest for our littlest hiker.

And of course our hikes end with ice cream!  Auntie iced her foot and we iced the children down with sugary calories.

We LOVED this park!  I would definitely come back again--but maybe not in JULY...