OurLittleMcFamily.com

We spent last Saturday out at Red Rock exposing our children to the elements. It was awesome. The Brummett and DeMarco families both joined us. We also had our little buddy, Kavika, up from Arizona. Oh yeah, and we brought a friend’s grandson from Adam’s work. Needless to say, our car was packed with kids and gear. The picture to the left is of our little band. Even our prissy one loves to hike, so the climb was no problems. Dave bought a few pair of kid’s climbing shoes a few months back since they regularly take friends out climbing. Jena has been anxious to let our kids use them for months now. :) Adam also took the kids a few weeks back to buy a couple of children-sized harnesses. Note, Wompy looking like a little utilities worker in his shoulder harness…too cute. At least I don’t have to worry about him or Nikky flipping upside down on the wall. We knew the kids would do great, but it was rewarding to see them all reach the top of the route. Well, all except Wompy. I think he could have done it with another try, and a little help, but we ran out of time.

Nicole was the only one who didn’t want to try in the beginning. Of course, Adam and I basically threw her onto the wall and made her start. She was crying for a few minutes, but then papi helped her realize that she was perfectly safe by letting her hang on the rope off of the ground. After that, she started, and never looked back until she was 50 feet off the ground at the top of the route. She rappelled down without any help or direction. Actually, both of the girls were better on their first tries than the boys. Ezzy scurried on up without a thought. It took Danny two tries to do the whole thing. His first try saw him only 15 feet up. After seeing Ezzy do it, he wanted to try again. Classic Danny!!!!

Above is a picture of each kid on the wall, but there are a ton of picture in our gallery! We may endure blazing hot summers here in the desert, but the benefits are days like this from October to April. The kids are begging to go back to the Mountains. I guess Adam is pretty proud. I think that Danny and Ezzy will be able to do Keyhole on our annual Zion trip in May, if they learn to really swim by then. (I guess I’ll be calling the Y soon for swim lessons.) That also makes daddy very happy. I can’t resist…here are a few more pics:

Brian turned 34 on May 29th, but he was kind enough to defer his celebration because my adoption shower in Logan was planned for the same evening. Thanks, Brian! Since it was our last weekend in Utah, we all went up to the Lake and stayed in one of the Hirschi’s cabins. Brian had brownies for his cake and we had a camp fire. The kids had a ball playing in the sand volleyball court and running around with Uncle Adam playing frisbee. The weather was perfect for outdoor play. Thanks Hirschi family for inviting us to tag along.

Spring Mountain Ranch–One of Las Vegas’s semi-hidden treasures.

I have been wanting to go out to the ranch to see a play since I moved to Las Vegas in 2003. Adam and I had talked about going many times…and finally, we made it happen. Thanks, Dave and Jena, for inviting all of us along. Jaime and I sat in line starting at 4:45 until the gates opened at 6:00 so we could reserve the best blanket seats possible for our little band of comrades. We definitely took one for the team considering the summer temperatures, but it was sooooo worth it…and I would do it all again tomorrow!!!

Spring Mountain Ranch is past Red Rock and higher in elevation than LV so the temperature is about 10 degrees cooler than in the city…a much welcomed respite after the heat we’ve been having. I actually had my sweatshirt on and was snuggled between Adam and Jaime under a thick blanket. If I had a pillow and socks, I could have comfortably spent the night out on the cool grass.

This month we saw Beauty and the Beast. The costumes were amazing!!! And the Ranch has some new lighting and sound equipment…Wow, what is better than a night under the stars watching a show with good food, good friends, and cool air?

The picture of Adona is of her eating a sour gummy worm–her look says it all. We’re training her at an early age so she’ll be canyon-ready in no time. The picture of Adam and Jeremy HAD to be taken. They were so engrossed in their new business scheme that they didn’t even notice Val and I cracking up and taking pictures of them….super cute. And the picture of me with my little “nothing bundt cake” bundtlette proves that I am no longer an nbc virgin. The cake was so deliciously moist. It was definitely worth the wait! Thank you sweet friend for thinking of me at the perfect time.

To all my fellow Zioneers–Two More Days!!! I’m sure tonight will be filled with dreams of spa treatments, scrapbooking, hiking, and great conversations. Maybe I’ll actually sleep a little too. I need the energy to be able to pack tomorrow! C ya on the South Side.

The last two years, we’ve celebrated Rachie Day. Adam is so great on this particular day. He does whatever I want (I know, that’s most days) and he is extra-loving. This past Sunday we went on a hike to the Logan Wind Caves. It was the perfect hiking day. There weren’t too many people on the trail. The weather was overcast, but not windy or cold. And it was a good warm-up for Angel’s Landing in Zion. Since it was Rachie Day, however, we didn’t go to the top. I was done about three quarters of the way up, and my sweet husband said he would turn around with me. I told him to go ahead and I would wait at the truck, but he said, “no this is Rachie’s Day so we do what Rachie wants to do.” That was sweet music to my ears. We had an enjoyable descent.

During the rest of the day we made a pizza and had hot-fudge browning sundaes. Yeah, it was definitely a non-diet day, but I did skip dinner to make up for a few of the extra calories. We watched two or three movies in bed while surfing Colombian adoption blogs and homeschooling materials. Adam finished our Zion t-shirts for our upcoming excursion. It was perfect.

Thanks Adi for always knowing what this time of year means to me…you always handle it with perfect sensitivity and love. 

The plan was to explore Falls Creek Falls, a (we have read & heard) beautiful waterfall not too far from Stevenson, Washington. It is also not too far from Panther Creek Falls (aka Davenport Falls), which we visited last fall.

As we drove further up the road, there were patches of snow in the forest, but overall it didn’t look too bad. One guidebook claimed year-round access, so I wasn’t too worried. Imagine our surprise when we found the last two miles to the trailhead covered in 2-3 feet of snow. I guess we won’t be making that hike today.

We did have an enjoyable drive back to Dan and Jessica’s though and were able to catch a great view from the aptly named “High Bridge,” where the road crosses over the Wind River. The high snowpack is feeding a strong river that is running a bit higher than in the past. Looks like an awesome place for a bungee jump!

Coming back into Stevenson, we came to the Davenport’s home. They have an unbeatable view from the front yard, with the Gorge and the Columbia River spread out before them. This is a beautiful place! Now, if they could just do something about the rain…

Check it! We were the only tent camping in any of the campgrounds or RV parks! I love it. One of the older RVer’s asked if we would like to borrow an extra blanket-cute, huh? We said, ‘no thanks, we actually went and bought one yesterday, and a pillow, and an extra cushion.’ (for real) But we were roasty toasty warm and much more comfy after that. And yes, we both have our laptops out inside of the tent. :)

We spent our three days here hiking in Arches, playing cards, watching movies, and eating. This is the best time to visit the park. Spring Breakers and Jeep Safariers were on their way in when we were on our way out. There were other visitors at Arches, but nothing like when we’ve been before. I think it helped that we didn’t stay over a weekend and we were a week ahead of the start of the ’season’. We were actually the only people at Landscape Arch for few moments. Usually, it is so crowded you couldn’t dream of such a thing.

The rest of our pics are here!

Well, that about wraps is up. We had the best time on our shoestring budget. I know we spent more time “lookin’ at dirt” than some of our friends (Robert Lea) can muster. It was hard, fun, and rewarding. Our relationship is rejuvenated, as well as our resolve to keep exercising. There’s No Way I could’ve put the miles in I did (w/backpack) if I hadn’t been walking and jogging our hills with my sister.

SLC ½ marathon-I’m ready for you!

Here’s another hidden Utah treasure. We stopped by after driving out to the Black Hole. We both wished we had more time to spend. There are three natural bridges that are much bigger than any bridges I have seen before. You can hike to all three of them.

We considered, earlier in our trip, hiking the nine-mile loop down in the canyon, which passes under each of them…but we were way too tired. This could be a super cool trip for the future, though. Instead, we hiked to each of the viewpoints and hiked down to the oldest bridge. Very Cool! We’re glad we stopped by. The rest of our pics are here!

What’s Hovenweep, you ask? How about only one of Utah’s coolest hidden treasures. The Indian ruins at Hovenweep National Monument are extensive and terrific. We would like to take our children back and camp so that we may explore all of the sites with them. We only had time for one 2-mile hike of the closest of sites. But it was totally worth it.

The rest of our pics are here!

While heading out for a day trip to Four Corners we realized just how close we were to Monument Valley so we decided to extend our trip by a few hours and make a loop. We reached Valley of the Gods first, which is coined as a mini Monument Valley. There is a 17-mile loop you can drive. It was pretty cool.

Driving through Monument Valley, I totally felt like I was in the middle of an Old Western. You can even see John Wayne’s cabin, which we didn’t. The scenery seems other-worldly…a little surreal. The funniest part of this side-trip was the amount of EMPTY road-side stands that said “Open”…also check out the visa/mastercard graphic on the “Sacred Monument” tour stand. Nice juxtaposition, right?

The rest of our pics are here!