Weekend Getaway!

Springdale has become one of our favorite "getaway" spots. So many great hikes to choose from, long or short, and of course awesome places to eat. We went up this past weekend mainly because 1. We needed to get a little bit north and out of this heat! and 2. Matt did a day-long hike with some friends on Friday. So the kids and I drove up Friday evening to pick him up. We checked in to our hotel and chilled while we waited for Matt to return safely to us. He quickly showered and out the door we were to eat dinner at the yummy Wildcat Willies! After we ate, we stopped by the candy shop for the kids to pick out something special. Then back again to the hotel while Matt and the kids swam. After showers, we made popcorn and cuddled in the same room together! The simple things in life.

Saturday morning after a yummy hotel breakfast, we entered Zion's and hiked "Many Pools." Though there was no water this time of year, the kids had fun playing in the "many pools."

The kids had fun picking out different walking sticks along the way.

One pool did have some stagnant water with LOTS of frogs.

This was a really cool tunnel we found on our way back to the car that went under the roadway.

After our hike, we went back to the hotel to shower and check-out (oh, and swim one last time), and then stopped by our very favorite, Oscar's, for lunch.

Lovin' his lemons! Totally an Ekins thing.

Funny story behind this picture Matt took. Lately we've been telling Rett that if he hits, bites, or pinches anyone, we're going to put hot sauce on his tongue (an idea uncle Scott gave). Every time we tell Rett we're going to do it, he says, "Hot sauce on food! Not tongue!"

And I guess Matt meant to capture another meaning with this one.;)

After we ate lunch, we loaded up and headed North (Zion's was still too hot) to hang out with the Spencer's for the rest of the day. We enjoyed visiting and catching up with them. In the evening we went to one of Cody's All-Star baseball games. Rett could only sit so long so we let him run free in the field behind us.

After the game, Aubrey and Cody watched the kids while the adults went up the canyon for a steak dinner at Rusty's. 

And since our return, we've been drinking lots of water and eating lots of salads. :)