hikers one and all . . . with varying degress of enthusiasm

It seems I have kept you all in suspense about the rest of our awesome vacation!  Sorry 'bout that.  I wasn't in any hurry to post because I didn't feel like I was behind.  Now I'm behind, and back.

With the biking portion of our vacation behind us, we moved on to one of the major draws (in my view) of packing up three kids and driving five hours:  Bryce Canyon!  (Cue the choir!)

 Still just as lovely as it was when I visited it as a teenager with my family.  My Dad was serious about taking us to every single site of interest in Utah, so of course we hit Bryce Canyon.  I don't remember hiking down into the canyon, however, and I was SO glad Jared decided we should do it, in spite of our three youngish kiddos.

Here are our hikers--ta-dah!  We are absolutely in love with Nora's outfit.  This is what she came up with after being made to change from her shorts that were so short you couldn't see them because they were covered by her shirt (which, I might add, isn't all that long).  This picture was taken before Jared realized Nora was in her extremely well-made *cough* Payless moccasins.  Thank goodness he noticed and sent her off to the car to change.  

 Lia was made for this kind of adventure.  She did super duper great on the hike!  Everything was AMAZING and PRETTY and otherwise SPECTACULAR!  Here she is by Thor's Hammer, just loving it up.

 Okay, now you can get the full effect of Nora's outfit--the shoes just make it, don't they?  This is at the beginning of the downhill portion of the hike.  You can easily tell, because Nora is still smiling and looking perky.  Don't worry, we'll get past that soon enough.


These next several shots are taken at the bottom of the hike--exploring Bryce from a different vantage point.  So amazing and SUPER neat!

 Porter loved these little caves--we were surprised!

 Jared in his hiking gear--he just LOVES his outfit.  No, really, he does.  I think he's looking pretty manly in this picture, ugly fish shirt notwithstanding.

 Porter finds purpose in this hot and long excursion:  CHIPMUNKS!!!

Or in Porter's words, "Cheenk-mawks".

 Had Porter not been intent on catching this little guy, Lia would most surely have been bitten, as she is certain that all animals love her and want to be her best friend.  She just about had him picked up when Porter arrived on the scene.  

 Awwww!

The whole fam!  We are nearing the top here.  Apparently we didn't take any pictures of Nora's meltdown, which occurred just as it we started uphill.  Jared ended up having to carry Nora for about 100 yards, which meant that I had to carry Port--no easy task.  It happened to be the steepest part of the hike:  the stairs.  I'm really glad that's over.  (Jared had carried Porter most of the way; I am ULTRA impressed with his manliness! (ugly fish shirt notwithstanding))  Nora, after her brief respite, decided life would go on and treked the rest of the way up the canyon without a single complaint. 

We're just about done here, and Lia needed another picture of herself in her element.  This is totally posed.  She's pretty funny.  Cute, too. 

 

 Porter thought he wanted to be up there with the girls, but he really didn't.  This was another of Lia's posed pictures. 

We dragged Nora around to a few of the other lookout points after a picnic and before heading for the cabin.  This is rainbow point, where you can see all the way to Arizona. . . or New Mexico . . . or both?  (As you can tell, it had a major impact on me.)

LOVED BRYCE!!  

Maybe one day, Nora will forgive us for taking her there.