Moab in March

So here's how it happened.  Several months ago, Shawn signed up for the Moab half marathon.  A few months after that, water polo season started.  Somehow in the scheduling, Olympus ended up scheduling a tournament the same weekend.  Shawn stressed about this for a while, but ultimately decided to run the race he had been training for.  Meanwhile, since I am one of 2 people currently trained to keep score, I needed to be at the water polo tournament.  And Jonas, as a player, also needed to be there.  The plan was for Shawn to go to Moab while the rest of us stayed home.  I was a little uncomfortable about leaving my kids alone for literally hours both Friday and Saturday (about 8 hours each day), but figured that's what was going to have to happen.  Then Shawn called me from work a day or two before and said, "What if I take the 4 younger kids with me?"   After a little discussion and making sure that he was really OK with taking them, we decided, why not?  So I packed the kids bags and they headed off for a weekend in Moab with Dad.

Funny faces.

This might be part of the reason why they had to take a few bathroom breaks...

Shawn texted me this less than an hour into the trip.  All of the kids zonked.  That makes for easy traveling.

Samantha had a little time on her hands, so she had fun with the camera.

We've found that any trip can be made successful if we can find a park for the kids to play in.

So, this is how they spent the evening, while Jonas and I were at the pool.

In the morning, Shawn got up to run his race and had Samantha check them out of the motel and take the kids to play at the park until he was done.  Then they spent a little time at the race.  Shawn had a goal time of 1:35.  His actual finish time was 1:33.25, a 7:06 pace.  He was stoked.  I can only dream of running that fast, but I was so excited for him!  

Enjoying post race orange slices and drinks.

And of course, because this was a dadcation, they went out for huge shakes and ice cream.

These are some seriously happy faces.

I absolutely adore this picture of my ice cream-faced kids.  I only wish Jonas were in it, too.

While I sat at a scorer's table for hours on end and watched Jonas play some of his best water polo ever,  (Honestly, he scored and got 2 ejection fouls.  I couldn't have been prouder.), Shawn and the other kids were enjoying the beauty of Moab - exploring and hiking.  (Of course, Woody was along for the trip.)

Some of the local wildlife.

Love climbing through slot canyons.

Woody got in some serious climbing.

So glad these girls have each other.  I hope they will always be best friends.

Still miss the big red suburban, but this car gets us where we need to go.

By the end, it was clear that everyone had fun and taking them along was definitely a better time than leaving them at home unattended.  Jonas was exhausted after 2 days of water polo, and I was ready to do something other than sit at a table all day.  Maybe nest time, Jonas and I can go to.