Goblin Valley and Birthdays at the Miner’s

Today was one of my favorite family vacation days I think I have ever had. Even before the trip, I had a daydream of waking up the family to the smell of pancakes in our yurt. Well, I may gotten out of bed after everyone, but I did eventually make a yummy pancake breakfast for everyone using the grill that Lily bought a few years ago to recreate our experience at Slappy Cakes in Portland.

Outside the Yurt, Lily and I saw Lydia sifting sand in her hands. We both thought of the picture we took in October 2012 of 18 month old Lydia sifting sand in her hands in Moab (see below šŸ™‚ ).

The kids climbed on rock features right at our Yurt site
Our Yurt is in the background. It is Yurt site 1. It is tucked away from the road and has amazing features the kids can climb on all around it.

After packing up (which is easy when you stay in a Yurt), we went to valley of the Goblins. It is literally a playground that nature has made for children. We spent about an hour and a half just going around and through the features with the children who were thrilled to be experiencing nature in such a fun way.

I also had fun crawling through that small tunnel šŸ™‚
I love the pig tails!

We finished up the hike by summitting a greenish mountain on the left-hand side of the valley (facing out from the pavilion). It was a bit steep, but super fun to climb, and the view was amazing. I had so much fun with everyone!!

We then drove home, cleaned up, and made our way to the Miner home to celebrate the birthdays of Olivia, Cam, Mary and Clarissa. It was so wonderful to see everyone, and it’s always so sweet the way the celebrate people on their birthdays. I love the Miners! Lily and I ate at David and Olivia’s table. It was really nice to see them since they just moved to Utah and I haven’t seen them in a long time!

https://youtu.be/USryHPc4t8cā€Ø

The kids sure had a big day. It was evident just looking at them when we pulled in the driveway at night :).