Last week, I ran my third 10k. It started right by my work and it raised money for the Pediatric Cancer Research Foundation. Kiptyn and Tenley from the Bachelor and Bachelorette were there to cheer us on. I felt I was better prepared for the race than last fall’s 10k; however I actually ran it 7 seconds slower. I am not sure what went wrong, maybe it was nutrition. After the race I felt dizzy and I cramped up so bad that I fell to the sidewalk and writhed in pain for a couple of minutes while people walked by me. Someone did offer me water, but I already had water and just needed a rest. But in the end it was worth it as I am keeping fit.
A Bilingual Wedding
On Saturday D and I left the kids with my sister and BIL (Yay, they’re back from Japan!) and went to a wedding for the pastor of the Japanese-speaking congregation at our church.
I think this was the first wedding that I’ve been to that had orange as the “theme” color. It was a refreshing change. The ceremony was conducted in both Japanese and English. Of course, D and I were lost during the Japanese parts, but the people who spoke Japanese seemed to be getting a good chuckle from some of the Japanese-speaking pastor’s message.
I loved the favors—so cute!
Inside: Mini Japanese chocolates!
I was most curious about the “Hot Cake–butter & maple” flavor. I tried it and sure enough, that is exactly what it tasted like. Congratulations to the newlywed couple!
New Sofa
At the beginning of the year, D set a budget for “home improvement”. Well, the year is not even half way over, but with the flooring and our new sofa, we have reached our max. My future home improvement dreams will have to wait until next year (which is OK, because I think it is better to do it over time).
Apparently, n doesn’t enjoy shopping for furniture.
Here is our old sofa, a hand me down from my parents that has seen better days. Salvation Army will be picking it up next week. It served us well. I spent many hours on that sofa, especially in our old condo, when k was just born. I overheard k telling n that the sofa was “really old, like we had it since she was a baby”. Haha…it’s a lot older than that!
The new sofa. Crossing our fingers that the kids don’t wreck it!
Dora & Diego @ Discovery Science Center
I am happy to report that our camera has been fixed. Having the Canon repair center located in Irvine is very handy. Thanks to my Dad for telling us to look into our credit card’s extended warranty policy.
On Saturday we purchased an annual family pass to the Discovery Science Center. What sold me is that it can be used for a number of other museums if you live more than 90 miles away. Since we are planning to visit some in Northern California this year, the pass is definitely worth it. There are different rotating exhibits throughout the year. Right now, there is a Dora & Diego exhibit.
The kids had fun on the climbing walls.
The big kid had fun too:
D tried out the “bed of nails”. He said it hurt his feet.
I liked how with the pass, you don’t feel bad not spending too much time in one visit. We will definitely be back!
You may also like
Snow Canyon Park & St. George
After eating our Hawaiian lunch we went to Snow Canyon State Park, which is not too far from St. George. There is a sand dune area that is like a giant sandbox. Unfortunately, it was too hot to be enjoyable. (It felt weird that just the day before we were hiking in snow!) D did manage to find a little bush that provided some shade so we played for a little bit. 
The sand was so fine it felt like silk. Although the top layer was hot, just an inch below it was quite cool. We drove around the rest of the park and stopped for some rock climbing. 
To cool ourselves down we went to Nielsen’s Frozen Custard in St. George. 
We had an oreo concrete (like a DQ blizzard) and something with bumbleberry but I can’t remember the name. 
I *think* n liked it! 😉 
Could not resist taking a picture of this sign. For dinner we ate at Smashburger. I was happy because I hadn’t been able to use a coupon the entire vacation until now. I had registered online and received a BOGO coupon! 
The hamburger meat tasted fresh, rather than processed and the smashfries were sprinkled with rosemary, olive oil and garlic. I wonder if this chain will be in Southern California soon. This concludes our Utah trip recap. On the way home, k got carsick (again) so I’m really going to make sure she takes Dramamine for all our long road trips from now on. Also, our camera stopped working less than a week after we returned. Thankfully, I was able to get all of our pictures off the camera before it died. It is in the “shop” now, and the repairs should be paid for by our credit card company. I am reluctant to borrow my parents’ camera because last time I did that, I broke their camera too! So for now, our blogging will be taking a (hopefully) short hiatus.
Bryce–>Kolob Canyon–>St. George
Monday morning we ate breakfast at the hotel and it was actually quite good: scrambled eggs, bacon, potatoes, waffles, pancakes, biscuits, gravy, and mini danishes. The kids liked the hot chocolate machine and pretended it was their “coffee”. 
We drove back into the park, but D had to take a picture by the sign first: 
We hiked from Sunrise Point to Sunset Point and back which is one mile round trip. The path was nice and paved. This is the part of Bryce I remember most from my own childhood family vacation. 
Doesn’t that hoodoo look like it could break off at any moment? 
Thor’s Hammer 
Our last night was spent in St. George. On the way there we stopped at Kolob Canyon, which is a less-visited part of Zion National Park. 
We made it to St. George in time for lunch. We ended up at Honolulu Grill. It seemed to be quite popular with the locals. 
Who knew St. Georgians like Hawaiian food so much? The food tasted very “homey”. For example, the teriyaki sauce tasted like it was from scratch, not a bottle. 
D liked how there was an option to have cucumber salad instead of mac salad and thinks that all plate lunch restaurants should have this option. **Please excuse the formatting of this post. Blogger was “updated” and I’m not sure what is going on.
Easter in Bryce Canyon
During our drive from Zion to Bryce we confirmed that k is prone to carsickness, and that we should always have her take Dramamine as a precautionary measure on road trips. She was not doing too well, so we stopped at a small cafe in Hatch. I gave her some Sierra Mist and it worked like magic!
We entered Bryce Canyon National Park and drove on the scenic drive all the way to the end to Rainbow Point.
There we ate our sandwiches on some picnic tables (caprese and roast beef). Next we hiked the Bristlecone Loop Trail. There were a few patches of snow in the beginning, but we did not let that deter us. We kept going, and there was even more snow. I wanted to turn back at that point, but D was determined. We made the 1 mile roundtrip with many stops to carry the kids over snow patches/ice. If the Riverside Walk in Zion was the longest 2 miles I have ever hiked, this was definitely the longest mile I have hiked.
It wasn’t until I looked at this picture later that I realized how far n is leaning over the edge!
We drove back along the scenic route, stopping at the Natural Bridge and Bryce Point.
Then we went back to the Visitor’s Center where I stamped by National Park passport and we watched a short film about Bryce.
Although it was past 3 p.m. by this time, when we tried to check into our hotel, we were told that that the room was not ready (check-in was officially 4 p.m.). We killed some time by going across the street to fill up on gas and go to Ruby’s General Store. D noted that the town just outside of Bryce is much more hokey/kitschy than Zion. D stayed in the car while n took a nap. Meanwhile, k and I filled a bag with polished stones as a souvenir from the general store. After some more hassle, we finally checked into our hotel room. Since we hadn’t showered in a couple of days, this is just what we needed.
Waiting in the lobby…
Watching Netflix on Kindle Fire.
“Clean Remote” with a disposable cover. I think there was some sort of study that determined that the remote control is one of the dirtiest things in a hotel room–ew.
After washing up/relaxing we went to Bryce Canyon Pines restaurant.
I ordered the hot turkey sandwich (Thanksgiving on Easter!)
D ordered a chicken sandwich with ham and cheese (yes, there is chicken underneath all of that cheese)
The kids shared our entrees with us and then we all shared a slice of blueberry banana cream pie.
Although there is not much choice in Bryce, restaurant-wise, we enjoyed this meal.
We went back to the hotel and enjoyed sleeping in beds. After camping in such cold temperatures, the hotel room actually felt too warm!
One More Zion Post
Sunday morning we packed everything up and drove to our next leg of the trip: Bryce Canyon National Park. But first, let me include some more pictures of our camping trip in Zion. This was our first night camping for two nights and our first time camping in a state other than California. Despite my worries, it was fun!
In preparation for high winds, I did some research and it seemed that “guy lines” would make our tent more stable. D asked one of his “rugged” co-workers about them (he camps in snow!) and he let us borrow some rope and carabiners. Turns out we didn’t really need them (although it was gusty at night, our tent was fine), but D rigged up a convenient clothes line with them. This actually came in handy when some water accidentally spilled on some of our clothes.
Our campsite was covered in rocks, which did a good job of keeping the dirt from blowing everywhere. They were also a good source of entertainment for k and n.
Inside the tent, we hung these cute mini lanterns that n received for his birthday.
We brought plenty of sleeping bags and blankets to keep us warm at night. n doesn’t like to stay in his sleeping bag, so I found myself waking up just to make sure he was covered. I also wasn’t too sure how n would do with the toilet situation since he hasn’t been trained for too long, but he did just fine.
Static!
D did some Easter devotions in the tent and we taught k how to play 20 Questions. Then she kept on wanting to play and we regretted teaching her.
For breakfast on Sunday I wanted to go to the Mean Bean, but it wasn’t open, so we went to a cafe/gift shop called Elements that had caught my eye on our previous trips up and down Zion Blvd. We sort of a did a repeat of the breakfast from the day before, ordering a blueberry muffin, breakfast sandwich, milk and a mocha for D and me.
Although this muffin may not look like much, it was vastly superior to the one at Cafe Soleil. It was made from scratch and had a nice crunchy top. There were a half dozen on display on the counter and they let D choose which one he wanted. We also had it warmed up in the microwave.
Ordinary “McMuffin”.
I had read there is not too much food-wise in Bryce, so we picked up some sandwiches to-go at Sol Foods Supermarket.
There is a nice upscale deli/bakery that wasn’t too expensive.
On our way out of Zion, we stopped at Checkerboard Mesa.
We also went through the famed Mt. Carmel tunnel–1.1 miles long!
Hiking in Zion With Stollers: Riverside Walk, Emerald Pools & Pa’rus
For breakfast we went just out of the park’s entrance to Cafe Soleil. We ordered a breakfast sandwich, a blueberry muffin and milk. The breakfast sandwich, which we ordered on a wheat sandwich thin was just ok, and the blueberry muffin tasted straight out of Costco (which is fine, just not special). We also ordered two wraps for lunch, which they packaged to go for our hike, but more about that later.
Even though k is 5, we brought two strollers along because we knew we would be able to do way more hiking that way. By 8:30 a.m. we had taken the shuttle to the Riverside Walk (2 miles RT), which leads to The Narrows. According to the shuttle driver, this is the “cold side” of the park in the morning. It was FREEZING…I can see why there were few people that chose to do this hike in the morning. I was ill-prepared, but at least the kids had gloves (actually, we had only brought 3 out of 4) and D had his trusty headband/ear warmer. Due to the cold, these were the longest 2 miles I have ever walked, but we did make it.
This is the entrance to The Narrows, which actually requires you to hike in the water. I cannot see how this would be fun, but D would like to try someday.
The highlight was coming across a deer family. Here is a close-up of one of them.
Next was a 1.2 mile RT hike to the Emerald Pools. Since it was warmer, we had k walk parts of this one, but the problem was that n wanted to follow suit. Pushing two strollers while trying to make sure two kids don’t fall off the cliff is just not a good idea. So back in the strollers they went.
We wouldn’t have wanted the situation depicted on this sign:
Upon our return, we ate lunch picnic-style on the grand lawn in front of the Zion Lodge.
We shared a chicken caesar wrap and a turkey/bacon/avocado wrap from Cafe Soleil. These were quite substantial, and along with the chilled drinks I brought in our cooler, made quite a nice lunch.
Next, we stopped at the Human History Museum. I inquired about the little junior ranger program for kids five and under. We worked on a worksheet together and I had D take the kids to turn them in for a little pin. Little did we know that there would be an oral test, but both k and n passed. (The ranger asked n what the person in the picture was doing wrong and n answered, “picking flowers”). We also watched a short film on Zion. n fell asleep and started to snore. Loudly.
Water filling station to cut down on plastic water bottle usage.
Finally, we decided to walk the Pa’rus trail (3.5 miles RT). I had read that it was wheelchair/stroller accessible, but it turns out this is not the case when you start the trail from the Human History Museum. First of all, there are rocky steps you have to go down, and then you go under a bridge on a narrow ledge which would not even be possible with a wheelchair. However, once we made it past these obstacles, the path is nice and paved. 
Not wanting to deal with the obstacles again, we just went one way and took the shuttle back to the Visitor’s Center.
We relaxed a bit at the campsite and went to The Flying Monkey for dinner. 
Even though we had pizza the night before, this restaurant had a wood-fire oven and is known for its pizza, so we did pizza again. We created our own, with D choosing prosciutto and grilled zucchini. 
The crust was also a bit soggy in the middle, but overall the crust was much better than the one we had at Zion Pizza & Noodle.
We also ordered a Cubano sandwich, which came with waffle fries.
Do you see that small container of pink sauce? That is fry sauce, which is Utah thing. I would highly recommend this sandwich after a long day of hiking.
For dessert, we went back to Bumbleberry Inn to try the bumbleberry ice cream.
The kids really enjoyed it. The ice cream was lighter than premium ice cream, and the “bumbleberry” was more of a jammy swirl. If you only have one chance to try bumbleberry-flavored something, I would go with the pie.
Photo op outside of a restaurant that we didn’t go to.
D insisted that we take a picture by the official park sign. This is our only shot during the trip of our entire family together.
Camping in Zion–Watchman
On January 1 of this year, we were hanging out at my parents’ house and thinking about the coming year. We decided that we would like to visit Utah, and I reserved two nights at the Watchman Campground in Zion that day. I looked up the average night temps, and April didn’t seem too cold. Fast forward to a couple of weeks before our trip, and I was scared to see that the forecast was for 27 degrees at night, with some predictions of rain/high winds. Eek! The predictions of rain/high wind eventually disappeared, but it was still supposed to get pretty frigid at night. It didn’t help that some of D’s co-workers told him about their weather-related camping horror stories. However, we were determined, and D managed to obtain our CX-5 just in time, so off we went Friday morning.
D is both a walking and driving advertisement for Mazda. I think he should receive some sort of commission. 🙂
It took us 7 hours to reach Zion. Snacks, DVDs and our ipod made the ride tolerable. k made a wheat thin in the shape of Utah (shown backwards).
We set up camp first thing. The lots are not that spacious, but you can’t beat that view. (I don’t think I would enjoy camping there when it’s hot, because there is not a lot of shade).
Next we hopped on the Zion shuttle (mandatory from April 1-through summer) and took a short hike to Weeping Rock. (.5 mile RT).
n fell asleep on the shuttle…
…so D had to carry him up the hill. Good thing n is a light-weight.
It is difficult to see, but there is water constantly trickling from the rock, and the hike ends in an alcove behind the water.
Another angle:
It is a good hike for kids, but I wouldn’t recommend strollers (as we saw some people attempting).
We ate dinner at Zion Pizza and Noodle Company.
We ordered a Combo Man Pizza–Tomato sauce, pepperoni, black olives, onions, mushrooms, Canadian bacon, mozzarella & cheddar cheeses
and Pasta #1–Grilled chicken, broccoli, carrots, fresh cream, cheese and penne pasta.
The pasta was surprisingly tasty–the sauce was light and flavorful, not too salty or heavy. The pizza was OK–the crust was too soggy for our taste and for some reason we didn’t think about the fact that D is really the only one in our family who likes olives.
We visited the store next to the restaurant and came upon this cute shy resident dog:
Afterward we walked for a bit in Springdale, the quaint little town just outside of the park. It is easy to navigate because everything is located on one street: Zion Park Blvd.
We stopped by the Bumbleberry Inn and shared one slice of bumbleberry pie.
According to our trusted source, Wikipedia: “Bumbleberry pie, sometimes spelled bumble berry pie, is a pie made of at least three kinds of berries, but generally refers to a mixed-berry pie as there is no such berry as “bumbleberry”. This pie often contains apple or rhubarb. Berries commonly used in this pie may include blueberries, raspberries, strawberries, blackberries. Bumbleberry pie originated in the United States, likely by pioneers.”
However, I like the definition on the Bumbleberry Inn’s website better: “According to Grandpa, bumbleberries are burple and binkel berries that grow on giggle bushes, so named because they giggle when the berries ripen and the bush begins to quake, and at the precise moment that they ripen, they giggle. If you were to eat a berry while it was giggling, you would spend the rest of your life giggling!”
Despite this discrepancy in definitions, the bumbleberry pie was good (and I didn’t taste any rhubarb, which is a good thing, because I am not a big fan of rhubarb).
With our stomachs full of food, we headed back to the campsite, bundled up for the night and managed to keep relatively warm despite the temperature supposedly being in the 30’s. The wind did kick up some during the night, but our trusty REI Basecamp 4 passed the test and we did not end up having to sleep in the CX-5.