Heading down South

For the 4th of July we went down to Blanding for Jackson's mom's family reunion. All of his brothers and sister went with their families, so we had a great time ATVing, roasting marshmallows and even being in the Blanding parade. I did have a moment of wondering what my kids thought of me as a mom. As I was taking a little nap after dinner I heard Jared walk up with his cousin, she asked where I was and he told her he thought I was sleeping in the tent. He then said, "Do you know what happens if you wake her up? You get grounded!" Now I don't recall ever telling him that, but I do tell them not to wake me up unless someone is bleeding. Later he was walking by with his 3 year old cousin, I overheard him say, "Now you just stay by me and I'll take care of you. If you are scared of anything just let me know and I'll take care of it. (pause) except for bears, I won't be able to do anything about bears." So funny! There was a little stream running through the campsite so the boys had a great time building a dam and fort. Thank goodness they had showers, I don't think I would have recognized them after three days. We also were able to spend two days in Moab. We had always driven through but had never stopped so it was fun to go explore. We went to the Canyonland by Night tour. Where you go on a raft up the Colorado River while it gets dark and then float back down while people shine great big spotlights they have mounted on a truck, up on the mountains. It was pretty cool but I'm not sure it was worth the money we paid. While sitting by the pool at the hotel I had one of those 20/20 moments on "what would you do." Jared and another little boy had gone over to the hot tub (that really wasn't hot) to do some swimming, when 4 girls ranging from 15-5 decided to go in. Jared had hopped out but the other little boy stayed and was having fun splasing around, the girls didn't like this so proceeded to tell him how rude he was and started making fun of him. I looked around for at least one set of parents to notice. The girls were from another country, the next thing I knew one of them had been dunked by the little boy (served her right I thought) but then the girls really started being mean, so finally I decided I'd better step in. You know me I can't not get involved, so I walked over and told them they needed to start being nice to each other and to make good choices. As I walked away the girls started talking in their language, I'm sure the ridicule turned to me but at least they stopped. We also went to Hurrah Pass, Jackson was thrilled to be able to go four wheeling with our four runner. We were able to see some famous Petroglyphs and get some good pictures. As we drove out we went past a big red sand hill. Jackson and the boys thought it would be fun to run down it in the blistering heat. I stayed behind and took pictures so I was unable to do it. (Darn)