"I'm never doing that again!" Part Two (MOAB)

Sunday after Jason's race we packed up, said goodbye, and drove to Moab.  I almost did not go because I felt so fatigued from all that has been going on.  The idea of having the two girls by myself for 3 more nights/4 more days and driving quite a bit was not inviting.  But good friends of mine were getting married, on a Tuesday, and Jason had to work.  Since I did not have to work, I took the rare opportunity to go.

Driving there was good and we stayed in a lovely condo Sunday night with Julie's extended family.  We made dinner after a busy grocery store trip and ate well.  Rachel, Ava and I were all asleep by 8:30pm!

Monday we went to the pool and Ava slept poolside while I played with Rachel.  Then I packed up and drove into Arches National Park.  I had never been before, and was blessed to enjoy the scenery as I drove around and the girls napped.  I decided that I had to try a hike, and picked a 1.7 mile hike in to Landscape Arch.  I put Rachel in the ergo carrier on my back and Ava in the bjorn on my front.  I wanted to know if this was a possible set up entirely on my own.  If I had another helper to get me started, or a large pack for Rachel and the ergo for Ava, it would have been pretty easy.  But it was more comfortable than I expected, and I didn't have any troubles on the hike.  Everyone that passed me had some comment about carrying two kids.  I didn't have any means to carry extra stuff so had a water bottle in my hand and a phone in my pocket to take pictures.  Rachel hiked all the way back by herself without any issues, although she was slow because she wanted to jump off of every rock and point out every cactus and say hi to everyone on the trail.

That evening we moved into a different condo in the same complex with friends.  They have a 2.5 year old girl named Ella and a 2 month old boy named Everett.  Everyone was very tired and bedtime was epic for all, so we just crashed that night.

Ava, discovering hand, with Everett and Rachel

Tuesday was the day of the wedding.  We left for the ceremony shortly after 11am and started our hike in to Corona Arch at 12noon or so.  I knew the hike in was 1.5 miles, but didn't realize it was a technical and somewhat steep 1.5 miles.  When I had asked the bride about the possibility of taking a stroller on any portion of the hike she said she wasn't sure, so I took this possibility to mean that the hike had some flat parts.  Which was incorrect.  I had the same set up as the day before but also had a backpack with diapers, clothes, extra food, water, wipes, phone, etc.  It was about 80 degrees and gorgeous.  My phone died right away so I don't have many pictures, and hope I can snag some from friends.

Julie's Dad and friend help carry my stuff as we hike up into wedding area

Thankfully friends helped carry my backpack and held Rachel's hand while she hiked the last portion.  We arrived at the site of the ceremony - beautiful - and waited.  It was more crowded than expected because all the national parks were closed due to the federal government shut down, so many tourists picked this hike to explore instead.  The groom was on top of the arch setting up ropes for a rappel to occur after the ceremony, and the set up took quite a bit longer than expected.  Rachel played while friends helped keep her safe.  I cared for Ava, who was pretty fussy as we got closer to the ceremony.  Not for the first time in my life, I nursed Ava during the whole ceremony.  There were only about 10 guests watching, but it was stunning and wonderful.  I was glad to be there.

Two other women (Julie's great friends who had been told to help me with my kids!) hiked down with me and carried a tired Rachel down.  If it wasn't for them, I would not have known what to do.  I got the kids back to the condo and had a short play in the pool again before dinner.  Rachel was crazy hyper and zooming around too much for me to take her out, so I didn't go to the casual dinner part of the wedding.  We slept well that night.

Wed I left by 8:30am to drive home.  6 hours worth of driving, and all seemed like it was going well... until we hit construction at Iadho Springs.  It took so long to get through that part that I didn't make it home until 6:15pm, and we were all tired and hungry.  It was a pretty terrible afternoon/evening and I was exhausted.

I am pretty fatigued and tired of traveling with the two girls by myself.  I'm never doing that again.