Arches

Lesson learned in Arches National Park: Fire ants sting, they don't bite, and it hurts worse than you'd think.

I wish I could say I knew from personal experience, I would have gladly taken the pain from my girl, but I know because poor Quinny stepped in a fire ant colony and was stung three times on the ankle. At the time I didn't know ants could sting or bite or be anything but annoying and mostly I just thought she was overreacting because she didn't like them climbing on her. She cried inconsolably for a solid 15 minutes before I looked at her ever-swelling ankle and realized that she wasn't messing around. I should have known when she started crying, everyone knows Quinn's no sissy, but we were weeks into travel and hikes at this point and I thought she was just tired and over it. Nope, turns out she was legit in pain. #momoftheyear #overandoverandoveragain

Later that day a Ranger told me that a single fire ant sting is as painful as ten bee stings, so that basically means Quinn was stung by a swarm of 30! I don't know if there's any science behind that, but girl had every right to scream and cry, that's all I'm saying. 

Fire ants and all, the four little Wig's logged six total hiking miles and complaints were left to a minimum. I was so proud of them and of our experience in Arches. It's such a manageable park because most of the hikes are within a mile or less of a parking lot--easy peasy--and in just one day we felt like we saw and did everything on our list. Moab in general was a town full of hidden gems, including our magical resort-esque hotel on the Colorado River and a short hike to Mill Creek waterfall and rockslides. This part of our trip just felt easy and fun and carefree. 

Except for them fire ants.

We saw this from the road and couldn't help but stop and take a picture!

Look at these two--getting along and playing together like always--cough cough. I was so proud of how nurturing Ev was in helping Quinny slide down that rock waterslide. 

This little guy was super grossed out by the mossy rocks so he hung with me and watched the others.

The pool you guys, THE POOL!!! Our hotel had five hot tubs and three pools with waterfalls galore. I had seen pictures online and it looked cool but it was a trillion times better than I imagined. After swimming in the river for a few hours we went straight to the pool for a few more. 

View from our room: pool up front and Arches National Park in the background. Yes, we stayed RIGHT outside the entrance and it was perfect in every way.

I called her Queen Quinn when I saw the throne she made for herself and she looked right at me and said, "I'm actually the King!" 

Delicate Arch was our hardest hike of the day. It wasn't too long, just 3 miles, but there were cliffs galore and while Everett was fearful he was going to get hit by a falling rock or fall off the edge I was more afraid that something would happen to my brave blondes. James laughed at my death grip on all of our children in this picture, I guess I'm a pretty fierce Mama Bear.

The biggest trooper of them all! About an hour after the stings we were walking behind everyone else and holding hands and all of a sudden she was all, "Mom, I'm better! It doesn't hurt anymore!" And just like that, she was back to normal. I love how tough she is!

Sand Arch parents, courtesy of Everett Knight (who thought it would be fun to take 200 pictures in approximately 30 seconds).

There were amazing arches everywhere we looked. Honestly, the beauty of this park was incredible. And we seriously lucked out in the weather department. It was supposed to be 104 degrees and we lucked out with cloud cover so it hung out in the 80's for our whole visit. WHAT?! I don't think we could have done all that we did had it been so hot. I actually know we couldn't have! You should have heard this sunshine girl praising the clouds, haha!

There is almost no shade in Arches, so when the sun broke the clouds and the kids felt like they needed a break we felt like we won the lottery if we found a little tree to hide under. James was the best water boy known to man and was constantly filling, carrying and feeding us.

Most of the time Coco was walking or on my back but I wore her on the front for a little bit and we all couldn't stop laughing at how it looked like her head was my head and my arms were her arms!

I don't know that any of my kids have ever been more tired than on this trip, when their fearless leaders happened to be a little go-go-go. They fell asleep in the most uncomfortable positions along the way and were the happiest crew despite the lack of snooze. In general my kids are not nappers and never just fall asleep, so these moments are priceless.

We were just going to drive by Double Arch but as soon as Quinn saw kids scrambling up those rocks and realized she could do it too we were all out of the car following her lead. She's so brave and adventurous and made me pretty nervous, but Talmage followed her around and they had so much fun. 

The girls had to recreate different rock formations to earn their Junior Ranger badges and I laughed so hard. They took it very, very serious!

We had to make a potty stop on our way from Moab to Cortez and I don't even remember what little city we were in but holy hannah they had a temple! I was stoked about them touching another temple.