On Friday Abe came home after having a really great day with unexpected blessings on the last day of his quarter. Deals came in out of the blue, and he ended at a higher number than he anticipated. It has been a HUGE load for him to manage, though, so he was so excited to leave it all behind and drive straight to Goblin Valley State Park.
I had stayed up too late on Thursday night trying to extend my amazing Thursday, and the ironic outcome was that I was tired and very, very irritable on Friday. Poor Lydia tried to have a good harp practice but I lost my temper. We were all a sad bunch when Abe got home.
But as soon as we started driving, things got better. It is so fun to go on adventures as a family, and we were excited to finally see Goblin Valley. Once the muddy boulders that look like goblins started appearing, Ammon started to call them “glob-lins.” It was, in fact, a very apt term. “Look, Mommy!” he kept shouting. “A GLOB-LIN!!!”
Once we got to the campsite, the kids immediately started climbing up to the towers while I supervised and Abe set up camp. We were all thrilled to use our sleeping bags, and everyone was especially excited to see Clarissa use hers. She snuggled right in! …But she was too excited to fall asleep. She kept crawling out of it after snuggling and exploring the tent. Abe got her to sleep by walking her all around in the dark until she fell asleep.
After Clarissa was asleep, we ate s’mores by the fire and the kids tried to build a sandcastle out of heaps of soft dust around the site. When we got tired, we fell asleep in our tent which was open to the stars. The temperature was GORGEOUS, and I don’t know if I have ever slept under the stars before. It was a beautiful experience.
The kids saw a shooting star, and Lydia reported that she made a wish.
“What did you wish for?” Abe asked.
“I wished that Ammon would never kill his-self,” she replied seriously.
Abe and I laughed so hard. Ammon is indeed very adventurous so we are always commenting on how he tries every day to kill himself. Lydia has apparently overheard our jokes and has been concerned. She is such a sweet girl.