April 2023

We woke up to begin April in the state of Nebraska. We did a quick little back track in order to get the picture with the state sign of Iowa. Then we got back on the road to head out west. We didn't stop again in Nebraska other than grabbing a little something to eat and some gas.

After the long ride through Nebraska we finally made it to Colorado. Shortly after entering the state I noticed a fire along the road. We didn't have anything to help put the fire out so I instead figured out where we were at by looking at the mile marker signs and calling 911 to report the fire. I really hope that they got it stopped before destroying crops. 

Our first big stop was outside of Denver at Garden of the Gods. This is a pretty awesome area with unique geological rock formations. Landon was really upset that the trails were made of concrete and that according to him it was too easy. He wanted something harder. If he only had any idea what the next few days were going to hold. 

After finding some rocks to climb on the kids both started having some more fun, but it made Jennifer a nervous wreck. The motherly instinct jumps right in with the fear of her children falling and getting hurt. 

We took another quick little hike up to the twin sisters. The kids rode up to the trail head and spent some of the time enjoying the views looking out of the sunroof. At the top of the trail head the kids enjoyed making a little rock statue.

We were able to find a little rock overhang that looked great for pictures. You can see in that middle picture that Jennifer was terrified and crawling around on the rock. The kids didn't have fear at all, which sometimes causes me a little nervousness. 

Last stop for us in the Garden of the God's was at balanced rock. We took a few pictures of the kids and I trying to hold up the rock. After that we hopped back into the car and headed towards the Rocky Mountain National Park. 

We stayed right outside of the Rocky Mountain National Park so it was a really quick drive into the park. Also being that far up in the mountains proved to be quite a bit colder. Thankfully Jennifer had gotten all of us snow grips for the bottom of our hiking boots. If she hadn't we would have never been able to hike in the 2-3 foot deep snow. 

Hiking on the trails at Bear Lake proved to be an amazing day. Even with the grips it proved to be slick in some spots. We made a hike up to Dream Lake too. Both lakes were frozen over and we enjoyed walking around on both of them. It would be really neat to come back after everything is thawed to see what it all looks like then. 

We had some more fun on the way back down to our car. We found a little hill to slide down. We also had some fun with panoramic pictures that we were able to take by ourselves. 

Rocky Mountain National Park was awesome! We all had a really great time hiking in the snow. The kids even made a snowman. Brinley tried to carry the snowman down the rest of the mountain, but eventually gave up and tossed it down because her arms were getting tired. 

Our first hike at Arches National Park was Double Arch. We were getting there around sunset and the kids loved it! They were climbing all over the place. The top right picture is of the kids sitting up in the window of the arch. They didn't want to come down. 

The next day is when we hiked up to Delicate Arch. The hike up to the arch is one of my favorite hikes that I had been on in Utah. The kids really enjoyed the hike as well. Brinley again made a little rock tower. 

The last time Jennifer and I made this hike the entire bowl was covered in ice. I was so excited to finally get over to touch and be underneath the arch. It was super windy up here and the sand from off of the rocks was hitting you so hard we felt like we were in a sandblaster. The bottom left picture was Brinley's solution to the sand, hide in between two rocks and to cover her face. 

The top is a picture of the kids with the Utah road sign. Below is the picture of the actual arch that is featured on the sign as well as license plate, Delicate Arch.

The last hike we did at Arches National Park was Landscape Arch. This arch is so long. From end to end it is the length of a football field. On the walk out Landon started having a string of yawns so we decided to take the bottom left picture of us all doing our yawns (except we didn't tell Jennifer). We also had to test out our panoramic skills again. This time we spelled out C-A-T-S!

We got the kids picture with the sign at the visitor center. The kids also got on and rode the metal ram. We saw balanced rock and even got out and played pitch and catch with the kids. Arches is one of my favorite national parks that I have been too. I would highly recommend it to anyone.

Next stop was the Canyonlands National Park. Now off to explore this park a little bit because none of us had ever been here before. 

Our first stop was Mesa Arch. This was a beautiful overlook with an awesome arch. It was hard to tell with the picture, but there was a huge drop off right below the arch. Jennifer was getting a little nervous and the closer I got to the edge it made me more anxious too. 

Some more pictures from the Mesa Arch overlook. 

More pictures from our time in Canyonlands. Brinley was tired of hiking and wanted to stay in the car. I told her that she wasn't allowed to stay by herself. She even tried her hand at driving. Thankfully she didn't know to move it out of park. 

Next stop on the mighty five trip was Capital Reef. This park was beautiful and really amazing. We got to drive down inside a slot canyon. I was worried the car would have trouble with the off road terrain, but we made it work. Brinley enjoyed getting out and climbing around on the walls of the canyon. Landon was too scared of possible spiders in the holes. 

The kids enjoyed riding and looking out the sunroof as we drove through the slot canyon. I even gave Brinley my camera to take some pictures. 

McKinley and Taylor had highly recommended the pies from the Gifford House inside the park. Well, I never turn down a reason for pie. Brinley wanted the apple, Jennifer wanted the cherry, and Landon decided on a cinnamon roll. They were delicious. I got to have everyone's leftovers. 

We hiked the Hickman Bridge Trail which ended with the Hickman Natural Bridge. This was a fun little 2 mile hike. The kids enjoyed running around and playing on this hike. This natural bridge reminded me a lot of the one that we hike to in the gorge in Kentucky, except you can't walk on top of this one. 

Fourth park of the mighty five was Bryce Canyon. This was another park that we had not been to before. This park was in higher elevation so we had to have the shoe grips again because the walkways were covered in snow and ice. 

This was a really fun hike down to Queen's Garden. A little slippery in spots, but overall not too bad. The hoodoos were really neat. It is amazing what weather and time can do to the natural landscape. I enjoyed seeing them snow covered too. I would like to go back another time and see what they look like when they aren't partially covered. 

More pictures from our walk down. The kids were running around which made Jennifer a nervous wreck. They even went out to get a few pictures on some of the ledges. 

I actually liked this park the best out of the new ones for us. Brinley said it was her least favorite because of the order of how you hiked. She didn't like going down the trails to then have to hike back up them to get out.

Last on the list of the mighty five was a pretty awesome national park, Zion. We started with the hike up to Scout's Lookout, which is the first part of the famous Angel's Landing hike. The chains were being worked on so Angel's Landing was closed to the public. This is the second time that Jennifer and I have hiked this far up and not been able to complete the entire hike. I for sure want to return someday to finish this hike. I believe Landon is the only one that wants to climb up there to try it again. 

Landon and I hiked a little further up the West Rim Trail to get a better view of Angel's Landing. The girls took a little break and rested up on Scout's Lookout. Apparently they were attacked by chipmunks while Landon and I were gone. 

Some more pictures of our hike up and down from Scout Lookout. Landon loved the entire hike, while Brinley hated it especially Walter's Wiggles. This was a series of 22 switchbacks that had a huge elevation gain. Walter's Wiggles are the top two pictures. 

Jennifer and I had talked about bringing the kids out west to hike for a few years. I had always been worried about their stamina and attitudes. They hiked 6 national parks in under a weeks time. There was some complaining, but overall this was an amazing adventure with them. They surpassed all my expectations and I am very proud of them. 

Our second hike at Zion was Weeping Rock. Parts of the wall still had icicles on it. The kids just kept pulling them off and playing with them. 

We also made it down to the Lower Emerald Pool to see the small waterfall and completely frozen trees and pool of water below it. 

We decided to head out of the park for some lunch. We saw the line of people just waiting to get on the buses to get into the park. We got there at 7 am and there wasn't a single wait at all. I would highly recommend getting there early to avoid the crowds. I also really enjoyed going in the off season when you can drive up to the trailheads in your own vehicle. We did that the first time we went to Zion. We had some lunch and played corn hole with a great view of the park.

On our way out of the park we stopped at one last hiking spot, the Overlook Trail. It was an easy little 2 mile hike. We even got to see some rams while we were out there too. We messed around with some fun panoramic pictures too. Zion is an amazing park and I will definitely be back because I need to complete Angel's Landing and would also like to try out the Narrows - a hike that requires you to go through a river at times. 

When looking for something to do in New Mexico I thought I had found the perfect idea. We could go to Four Corners - which is the spot where 4 states come together - Utah, Arizona, New Mexico and Colorado. We traveled about two hours out of the way to see this monument and when we arrived we saw that they were closed. It just said they were closed that day. No reason for it at all. I felt like Clark Griswald when he got to Walley World and found out it was closed. I was excited about throwing the baseball and softball around with the kids while we were in different states. With it being out in the middle of nowhere I am not sure I will ever make it back out that way again. 

We finally made it to New Mexico. We traveled through Albuquerque and it is here where I introduced the kids to the musician Weird Al. He has a song entitled Albuquerque that is hilarious and lasts about 10 minutes. The kids enjoyed it too. We stopped at a park which had some really old petroglyph carved into rocks. 

Texas was the next state on the journey home. We had just been there last year, but not on this side of the state. We stopped at Cadillac Ranch which is a Route 66 attraction where someone buried 10 old Cadillac half way in the ground. People come out and spray paint on the cars. We all tagged it with some of our own art. I added an FTK (For the Kids). Right after spray painting we headed to the Big Texan. This is a famous restaurant that has an eating challenge if you can eat a 72 oz. steak then you can have it for free. I settled for a smaller steak, but it would be interesting to try sometime. Landon's meal came inside a cowboy hat. Landon was so excited and wore it proudly. 

We were having trouble finding anything to do in Oklahoma. We found another Route 66 roadside attraction. The world's largest soda bottle that was a little diner and store that had over 700 different bottles of soda. We all picked out one to try and then got a few extra to bring home. Some that we got were Banana, Blue Cream Soda, Red Cream Soda, Blue Raspberry, Barf (yes Barf flavored), and Butterbeer soda. It was a fun little stop. 

Missouri was the next stop for us. We found this cool art sculpture made out of road work cones. Then we took the kids to the most fun restaurant I have ever been to, Lambert's Cafe. This place is home to the throwed rolls. Every few minutes a guys brings hot rolls out to the dining area and will literally chuck dinner rolls across the restaurant. The kids really enjoyed catching them.  

We got home from our Spring Break trip the day before Easter. We were happy to be home to celebrate our risen Savior at Southland. 

Easter traditions that we continue to keep are bunny pancakes where the kids wear the bunny ears. They also really enjoyed hunting some Easter eggs out in the backyard. 

Brinley got a note from school that they were going to have a 5th grade field trip. I was excited to go on one last field trip with my little girl. Well, Brinley lost her mind when I told her that I wanted to be a chaperone. She didn't want her dad to go. This broke my heart because outside of the Covid years I had been on every field trip with her class. She didn't want to go with me because she wanted to spend time with her friends. Well, I made the executive decision to go anyway. We had a good time and we were able to spend most of the day with her besties. They went to the Science Museum in Louisville and to the food court in the mall for dinner. The kids looked like they had never seen a food court before and they spent so much money there that day!

Brinley's softball team had a get together to watch UK Softball. Brinley was able to track down a home run ball from the right fielder, Taylor Ebbs. After the game she was able to find her and get her to sign the home run ball. 

Taylor had really been wanting to go to eat at Frisch's Big Boy for the breakfast buffet. No trip is complete without a picture with Big Boy himself. 

Landon and Brinley both had their first games of the season. Brinley was playing a tournament in Somerset and Landon was playing with his rec ball team. I have been helping out with both teams, but I was asked to be the first base coach while Landon's team was up to bat. So I had to watch Brinley's tournament games on GameChanger during Landon's game. Mimi, McKinley, Taylor, and Rupp came to watch him play. 

Brinley's team won the championship! Proud of her and her teammates. 

I really enjoy watching these two grow up and play sports. I believe that they are both way more athletic than I was growing up. 

Brinley's team also had another team bonding night at Activate games and dinner at Culver's. These girls really enjoyed hanging out with each other. I know for a fact that they always have a ton of fun when the crew gets together. 

Another ball game for Landon. He really wanted some ice cream from the concession stand. I think he was more thrilled to eat a couple of scoops out of the mini helmet than the actual game. His team is an expansion team and is comprised of ten 9 year old boys and two 12 year old boys. 

Brinley's 5th grade class performed a musical of Willy Wonka. Brinley was terrified to sing in front of people so she instead chose to be part of the set design team. Her and the rest of the design team did an amazing job with all the pieces of the set. She was excited to tell me all about how they made all the different things. 

Another weekend means it is time for some softball! Brinley and her teammates travelled up to Southern Indiana to play. Brinley really enjoys giving her teammate Natalia a piggyback ride in the handshake line. 

April proved to be quite the adventure. The kids went to a lot of new states on our trip out west. The kids have officially been to 39 of the 50 states. Maybe someday we will be able to make it to all of them. The kids only have a few more weeks of school before it is time for summer! Thanks for reading and God bless!