Sutherland Spring Break

Like every other family in the state, we headed south for the kids' spring break. Though we've been to St. George a million times, we've never taken the kids to Zion National Park. 

That fact that fourth graders get into national parks for free was just the kick in the pants we needed. 

The park was crowdddddded. That meant finding a parking spot it Springdale, taking a shuttle bus to the park and then another one up the canyon. Luckily, our kids liked taking the bus as much, if not more fun, than visiting the park itself. (Our hikes are always filled with lots of grumbling.) 

After all of the bus shuttling, we only did one short hike before the kids were complaining and wanting to go to the condo. Still a success by our standards. 

The weather was perfect for hiking in the sun, but pretty chilly for swimming. Luckily, kids never seem care. 

It was a good weekend for Easter egg hunting, bowling, rollerskating, hiking, tennis, and Go Fish. 

And we even ran into some people we know. Sixty percent of the Sutherland clan happened to cross through St. George on Easter Sunday. 

School was out Thursday, Friday, Monday, Tuesday so we took advantage of the cheap Monday night hotel rates in Las Vegas. 

The kids were excited to go to the Hersey's store, but the highlight was supposed to be mega pool at the Mandalay Bay. There was just one problem: it was freezing outside. 

Actually, it wasn't really the cold, it was the wind. With gusts of 40-50 mph, bark was flying off the palm trees like missiles into the pool. The sand from the fake beach was whipping around and pelting us in the head. We withstood the wind, but when it started raining, too, the entire pool emptied out. By the time we made it to our pool chairs, our towels and clothes were completely covered by sand. It was a muddy mess. 

But vacation is vacation. We still had a great time lounging around the hotel and visiting the Lego Store so Curtis could spend the Easter money that he had gotten from Great Grandma. 

And even some wind and rain in Las Vegas was better than the snow back home. 

It's always tough to come back.