Priceless!

Gas $ 4.39 a gallon

Bottled Water: $40

A 7 day National Park Pass: $25

Small, cramped hotel room shared with your kids: $89/night

Reunion dinner: $20 per person

Watching your mom go swimming in a mud hole fully clothed: Priceless

The Parker Family ventured south to Zions for a Madsen Family Reunion. We crammed ourselves like sardines into cars to save on gas $$ and drove nearly 5 hours. Props to the kids who survived with only one stop. We went swimming in the hotel pool and enjoyed seeing my mom's cousins and catching up with them.

Dan and I (& Ash and John) thought that since we had brought our kids all this way we should take them on a little hike. The 1-2 mile shaded river walk on a paved trail sounded perfect for families. The rest of the family was on their way to breakfast when they decided to join us. Not knowing we would soon be lured by the " nearby" Emerald Pools. Had I known that the serious hikers with camelbacks and walking sticks were also headed to the Emerald Pools we would have realized we were ill prepared for the 4-5 mile grueling uphill battle! It was no place for flip flops, and designer purses. Low on water but high on ambition it had all the makings of a good church talk! We quickly made it to the lower pool and waterfalls, then lost Papa (while he was brushing up on his German) and we took a large detour on our way to the upper pools. Hot, tired and bothered we took the advice of happier looking hikers who told us of a pool "just ahead" that we could cool off in. It was only 0.3 miles but it was straight up hill in the sand and lose rocks with no shade. Nick and Lauren were awesome to help some of the little ones. As promised it was worth it and there was a beautiful mountain pond with crystal clear water to play in. Had there been fewer people at the top- John would have gotten the naked family vacation he was hoping for, but none the less even Mushie put her head in the water!!

hiking is not so bad when you are riding in one of these things!