Zion's Emerald Pools Hike

*I think I've discovered that blogger sorts my camera pictures before my phone pictures for some reason. No desire to try to fix this so you'll just have to see things in weird order in all these posts. Sorry.

On Tuesday, July 7th, Cody's mom joined our family on a hike to the Emerald Pools in Zions National Park. We love, love, love visiting Zions and look forward to it every time we visit. We really lucked out with the locations of each set of grandparents! We set out early so that we could have a breakfast picnic before taking the shuttle back to the pools. The morning was nice and overcast, it even sprinkled a bit, and the weather did not really heat up until we were leaving around noon. The crowds were also light at 8 in the morning and insane when we left. Great timing! We started out the hike with Truly in the backpack carrier and everyone else walking. I put the Ergo carrier on my back just in case we needed to carry Hazel. Well, about two feet into the hike Hazel spotted the Ergo and immediately started a whining campaign to get in it. She caused such a fuss that Grandma started petitioning to take her back down the trail. Cody and I were insistent that Hazel get on board with the hike and FINALLY convinced her to calm down. She did and we had a very nice time until Hazel and I tripped and then it all started all over again. I finally succumbed and put her on my back for the last stretch of the hike and then it was all smiles and peaceful hikers till the end. Phew! These kids are exhausting!

Heading out.

Little babies of some sort of rodent.

A deer with its head down near the trail.

Kids trying to get a closer look at the deer.

Hazel mid melt-down.

Found some nice hikers to take some group shots.

Enjoying a yummy breakfast of donuts and chocolate milk.

Truly attempting to scale a mountain.

Checking out the waterfalls.

Some brief happy moments with Hazel.

Someone was super happy that she finally made it on to my back!

Truly was very happy to be let out of the backpack and run free. But she really was a great little hiker and happily bounced along for the whole trip.

Squirmy baby on a shuttle bus! For some crazy reason, half way through the shuttle ride back to the van my nose started gushing blood. It took me forever to get it to stop. Thank goodness we had a whole packet of wipes!

They have some scrawny deer at Zions and totally not afraid of humans. This one was in the middle of the parking lot.

"Conquering Zions National Park during a breakfast picnic."

"Heading off to see the Emerald Pools and Gorge in Zions National Park. Hazel almost got left on the mountain because she wouldn't stop whining. She finally got on board with the adventure and the rest of us had a great time."