Our First Vacation

Over the weekend we went on our first family vacation. OK, so it wasn't the WHOLE family- we left Eva with my mom (thanks mom!) and hit the road. It was actually a work retreat with Dave's firm but the whole family was invited. We left on Thursday and the kids did surprisingly well during the long drive. We stayed at a resort called Zion Ponderosa Ranch located near Mt. Carmel. We arrived around 3pm and had enough time before dinner to check out our cabin (it was gorgeous) and go exploring around the ranch. We shared the cabin with another family and it was plenty big enough for all of us.

Thursday night was a Dutch Oven dinner and it was delicious. Friday was the big activity day. In the morning we went fishing and caught 6 fish. Then, we went swimming.

After the afternoon nap, we went down the Zip Line. Normally, William is the very cautious (OK, wussy) one and Sophia is the daredevil. But when it came time to go down, William was so excited and Sophia was in tears. We sent Dave down first and then sent Will. He absolutely loved it! There were squeals of delight the whole way down.

Next was Sophia. Even seeing Will go down did not help her calm down. Being the nice mom that I am, I pushed her off the platform anyway. She screamed the whole way down. Dave caught her at the bottom and between tears she said, "That was so fun!" Dave asked, "Do you want to go again?" Her reply was a strong "No!"

So Dave, Will and I went again and this time I didn't force Sophia. The Zip Line was truly the highlight for William. He absolutely loved it and kept asking if he could go again. Next, the kids went for a horseback ride. They called it a pony ride, but it truly was a full-grown horse and one of the wranglers took them around for about 15 minutes. The horse's name was Pinky and the kids loved every minute of their ride.

We also got to do a little bungee trampoline jumping. I think the kids would have had more fun without the harnesses, but they seemed to enjoy it.

After a late dinner, we called it a day. Saturday morning, we just played around the playground while Dave had a meeting. We left shortly after the meeting, and were home in time for dinner. It was a short trip, but we loved it. It was certainly not a restful trip, but a fun one. The twins shared a room (which they don't at home) so they were chatting it up all night. Also, being in an unfamiliar environment meant they woke up several times a night, so not much sleep for me. At one point I heard Will fall out of the bed. I assumed he would cry but he didn't. I went in his room to check on him and he had just curled up on the floor. It then became his preferred sleeping spot for the next night as well. I think Sophia fast asleep in the car expresses how we all felt after the vacation- exhausted, but worth it!

It was great spending some extra time together as a family and watching how happy and excited the kids were during all of the activities. We look forward to going again next year!