It was time to start heading back to the west coast. We stopped by the beautiful town of Vail up in the Rockies. We don’t ski but it would be awesome to stay there some summer, to hike and enjoy the fancy hotels and shops.
Back on the road and almost out of the Rockies, we stopped at a rest area that had access to the Colorado River. The boys enjoyed putting their hands in the river.
We spent all day in the awesome, but extremely hot, Arches National Park. We started off the trip in the visitor center, where we all learned how the arches formed. Then we headed deeper into the park, hiking around Balanced Rock and Double Arches.
We finished the day off with a mile long hike back to Landscape Arch, seeing some other formations on the way. The boys were done with hiking and the heat by the time we got back, but it was worth it. Everyone was glad for the long, air conditioned drive to St George, UT, which was our stop for the night.
To break up the drive to San Diego, we spent the afternoon in Las Vegas. The boys had fun exploring Excalibur, Luxor, and Mandalay Bay.
We visited the Safari Park to try to get a peak at the three new tiger cubs. But, it was unbelievably hot and humid. The cubs were smart and hid in the shade of the bushes. We were only able to get a few glimpses of the bigger tigers trying to keep cool.
We were up bright and early for the first day of school. Connor was super excited to start his day in Mrs. Flinn’s class. Gavin was also excited to see all his friends and start 3rd grade in Ms. Namdar’s class. I have a feeling we are going to have a great school year!
Our boys had lots of fun exploring the various experiment stations during the Impossible Science Festival at the Fleet Science Center. Their favorite was running across the pool of Oobleck, a mixture of water and corn starch. They ran across it many times… getting it everywhere in the process when they weren’t quick enough.
We all felt like we were on top of the world at Double Peak Park in San Marcos. The views were amazing and it was nice to get out and hike in some nature.
We spent a beautiful day at the Cabrillo National Monument. The boys enjoyed doing the Junior Ranger program, where they learned about the “discovery” of San Diego Bay (the Kumeyaay people were already here), old Spanish ships and Conquistador armaments, and daily life in the old lighthouse.
Connor had a blast during his first soccer game of the season! The boys on the team picked their name: The Dinosaurs.
Gavin is playing fall ball this season, which is the off-season so they don’t use MLB team names. His team decided to be the Red TNT.
This is Gavin’s first time playing kid pitch (AA level at our Little League). He did well during his first game and is looking forward to learning how to pitch.
Gavin did a great job pitching his first inning ever!
Gavin throwing a strike:
Connor got awarded a “Trustworthiness Character Counts Pillar” award during the monthly school assembly. Way to go Connor!
The dinosaurs had their new team banner on display today. Unfortunately, Connor’s name was misspelled, but there wasn’t much we could do about that.
