Chasing My Joy

My journey to becoming an Ultra Runner and Ironman

SPRING BREAK ’22 | Fruita Colorado

We woke up in a hotel on the day we were supposed to drive home, towing our trailer, problem solving our blown tire.

We were stuck in town without a car and being told it would be at least two weeks before they could fix our truck. We rented a car so we could get out to our trailer and get around. My kind parents offered to come and tow us home (huge favor to offer) but luckily a mechanic was able to fit us in between his other work so we didn’t have to leave our Tahoe out in Moab for weeks! We really lucked out with the kindness we were shown! The tow truck driver was also very sweet to us, our crazy dog and two sleepy kids.

It felt like magic when we got our truck back just a few hours later totally fixed.

We got a later start then planned so we decided to drive just part way home to Fruita Colorado.

This little campsite is one of our favorites.

The kids weren’t sad about our extended trip.

SPRING BREAK ’22 | Goblin Valley State Park

Utah has some amazing National Parks but the State Parks should not be overlooked! We LOVE Goblin Valley State Park so we made the day trip over from Moab. It’s only 1.5 hour drive so not too bad.

In the morning we woke up to a bit of snow in our campsite.

It was a surprise but also pretty.

On our way to Goblin we stopped for coffee and treats.

When we arrived we decided to start with a hike.

We did the Entrada Trail along some drainage areas and it was such a cool, unique experience. Dogs are allowed so Humphry came along with us.

We then made our way to the Valley of the Goblins, which is a big open area full of Hoodoos that you can climb and explore.

It is so fun to see the kids playing in the best (biggest) playground ever.

It’s the perfect day trip from Moab or this is a good stop if you are seeing some of the other National Parks. Last year we camped here on the way home from Capitol Reef.

On our way back to Moab we decided to grab a pizza and go back into Arches National Park to eat dinner.

This was such a fun way to eat dinner I highly recommend. At this time in the evening the park is pretty quiet.

Then we went down to the Double Arch area to go for a little sunset hike.

We have been down to this area many times but always hiked up to the Windows section. This was our first exploring the double arch side and I can’t believe we waited so long, it was stunning!

This hike is super easy and accessible to view the arches. To get up inside takes some scrambling.

The kids loved the sandy trails.

It was amazing watching the sun go down over the desert.

I will never get over this place! Hiking out in the dark was a fun experience since there is so little light out here.

Then on our way back to our camper disaster struck, I won’t go into the long story but we ended up in a hotel overnight, searching for a way to get our Tahoe fixed. Luckily we were all safe and together so it could have been WAY worse.

SPRING BREAK ’22 | Arches National Park

We spent our second day in Moab visiting Arches National Park. This is one of my favorite places and it never get old.

We started our day by going to the visitors center.

We needed to pick up our workbooks so the kids could do the Jr. Ranger program and stamp our passports.

The visitors center is super beautiful and has so much good information.

Our first stop was Broken Arch Trail, this one was a new one to us and a new favorite! It was really kid friendly and so fun.

I think this might be our 5th visit to Arches and we still find cool new places to explore. I am excited to do more epic hikes when the kids are bigger.

We had our picnic lunch and enjoyed some more overlooks. Then we went to Sand Arch which is our kids’ favorite.

We stopped on our way out of the park for the necessary picture with the sign.

Then we went into Moab for ice cream then back to the campsite for dinner.

The sunset was amazing!

Then we set out for another night hike because it’s the best way to get some energy out before bed time.

The kids love hiking with flash lights! And these trails are so pretty. Another magical day in Moab, I love this place so much!

Spring Break ’22 | Canyonlands National Park

We woke up early in Fruita, Colorado, made breakfast and coffee before hitting the road. It’s only about an hour to get to Moab.

We set up camp on some BLM land where we could have direct access to some awesome trails.

Canyonlands National Park is just down the road from our campsite so we set out to find some hikes.

First stop is to get a picture with a sign.

Then into the Visitor Center so we could participate in the Jr. Ranger program and stamp our passports.

It is so beautiful here!

We hit up some trails we didn’t do last time we were here and enjoyed a picnic lunch.

After a long day of hiking we went to Moab to grab some dinner and shopping. The kids got to pick out a souvenir and new sweatshirts.

Emmy picked out a dino puppet and was hilarious with it.

We had dinner at the Spoke on Center and then went back to our campsite.

Last year we started doing evening hikes after dinner and have continued it this year. It’s the perfect way to end the day.

Spring Break ’22- Travel Day

We spent the morning getting ready for our spring break trip to Moab. We attempted to see the “mighty 5” of southern Utah’s National Parks last spring break. We couldn’t make it to Bryce Canyon and Zion because of snow and I can’t wait to see them soon. We are only planning on going to Moab and Goblin Valley State Park this trip because we only have four days. Hopefully next year we can make it to the most western parks. We LOVE visiting Utah

We hit the road right after Cannon got out of school.

We were lucky that the roads were dry and clear!

We drove for about five hours through the mountains to our favorite place to camp near Fruita Colorado.

https://www.campendium.com/rabbit-valley-north-camping-area

Humphry was glad to be out of the car and settled into the camper for the night.

Tips for Disneyland with Toddlers and Littles

We have taken a few trips to Disneyland now with our kids and feel like we have a pretty good system going. We have visited the park when the kids have been 9 months, 2.5 years, 3.5 years and 5 years old.

We have been for Valentine’s Day, Halloween and Christmas time and loved every visit.

Here is what made our visits not only manageable but fun for all of us:

1. Bring The Biggest Stroller You Can

Our stroller was the command center for every trip!

Babies, toddlers and little kids need a lot of things and can’t walk the 10 miles that a day at Disney requires. We store all the things we need for a day in the parks like snacks, water, changes of clothes, diapers, etc. in the stroller so we don’t have to carry everything.

The stroller worked as a great place for the kids to nap when they were younger.

We weren’t sure if we would have to return to our hotels for nap time, but both kiddos were able to nap in the stroller while rolling around the park.

Even at five and a half Cannon would get tired and want a break in the stroller. It was especially helpful as we usually stay in a hotel close to Disneyland but not on property so walking back to the hotel at night the kids would always fall asleep.

Our stroller also has a great rain cover that really helped when it rained during our visits. I think having a good stroller is key to having a good visit if you have little ones.

You can rent strollers at Disneyland if you can’t bring one with you but I am not a huge fan of them, they don’t look comfortable and don’t have a lot of protection from the elements. Still better than nothing but highly encourage bringing your own if you can.

We LOVE our double Thule Cougar Chariot.

2. If You Have a Baby, Wear Them

When we took Emerald for her first visit when she was nine months old. We brought our Becco baby carrier (as well as a stroller) and wore her while in line and often on the rides. She was comfy and happy to take naps and just hang out with us.

Baby Emmy in line for Alice in Wonderland

3. Bring Your Own Snacks and Water.

I am a BIG fan of Disney snacks, we particularly love a popcorn bucket to share while waiting in line. But we also bring lots of our own snacks so that we aren’t spending tons of money as well as the kids aren’t getting sugar overload. It’s nice for their tummy to have snacks they are used to getting. We also save special snacks to have while waiting in longer lines to make the time go by faster.

Frozen lemonade while waiting for Rise of the Resistance

4. Bring Portable Phone Chargers

More and more you need your phone to make plans, check the wait times and take millions of photos. I love the Disneyland App but it also drains my phone’s battery quickly so we bring portable charges to be sure our phones can make it through the day.

5. Find Time to Play

Waiting in line and sitting on rides isn’t a great way to get energy out of little bodies. It’s important to find time for them to move and play. Toon Town, Tom Sawyers Island and Red Wood Creek Challenge are great places to let kids run free.

5. Take a Break

When we are visiting for more than a couple days we like to take a break day.

On our trip in October we thought we would spend the day at our hotel pool then in Downtown Disney. It wasn’t very warm so we headed to the beach instead and had a great time before jumping back into the parks.

Most importantly take your time, enjoy the little things and know you might not do everything but you are making memories and bonding as a family!

What are your favorite tips for visiting a Disney park?

A Winter Day Trip to Rocky Mountain National Park

We often overlook that we live so close to a magical National Park. It is my goal to spend way more time there this summer (We love our parks pass).

We have been to RMNP many time but never taken the time to get a stamp in our passports so we stopped in at the visitors center.

We went to the Bear Lake Corridor.

Source

We weren’t really prepared for a long hike as this wasn’t our original intention but we explored around Bear Lake and had an amazing time.

The lake is frozen over so it’s fun to run around on.

We do have all wheel drive and snow tired but the roads were easy to drive on regardless.

A little deposit in my attempt to like winter more….

Christmas Cactus – Day Fifteen – Home!

We woke up on our fifteenth day of our trip excited to get home! It had snowed the day before but we were hopeful for dry roads.

The drive is about seven hours without any stops or slowdowns. It obviously took us longer.

Luckily the kids are amazing in the car and didn’t really complain at all.

There were some icy bits that were stressful but we made through just fine.

There was lots of coffee stops.

We had a wonderful adventure but we are so so happy to be home.

Christmas Cactus – Day Fourteen – Albuquerque

This post could have also been titled a somewhat unfortunate day in Albuquerque. Again we would have liked to have gone home early but it was still snowing and we wanted to wait for clear roads. Originally we were excited for a day in Albuquerque because there were places we loved that we wanted to show the kids.

Unfortunately we missed in our planning that everything is closed on New Years Day. We really wanted to take the kids to see Botanic gardens that has a magical children’s garden. The zoo and aquarium are really good too but they were all closed. All the museums and the tram up the mountains were closed as well. We were super bummed, between the fire, snow and everything being closed it was not the way we wanted our trip to end.

We tried to rally but were mostly killing time until we could drive home. It was cold and there was some snow/rain mix but we went to a playground anyway.

I am always impressed by these kids resilience and how they always find the fun.

We also made our way down to Old Town.

My parents gave me some money for Christmas so I could buy something to remember our trip. I really wanted to get a Turquoise ring and had been looking for most of our trip. I finally found the perfect one while in Albuquerque.

We brought back pizza to have in our hotel room and worked a little on packing up to head home the next day.

We now want to return to Albuquerque to visit what we missed and probably go to the Balloon Fiesta.

Christmas Cactus – Day Thirteen – Tucson -> Albuquerque + New Years Eve

First off Happy New Year!!

We spent most of the day driving to Albuquerque. We would have driven straight home to be near our friends but there was a lot of snow and icy interstates.

There aren’t many places to camp near Albuquerque and we aren’t huge fans of RV parks so we opted for a hotel instead.

When we arrived to Albuquerque we checked into the hotel and dropped the trailer in the parking lot. We then went to the store to grab some goodies for the evening to celebrate New Years Eve. We got sparkling cider, champagne, treats and a new game to play.

We got take out from one of our favorite restaurants from when we lived in Albuquerque. We watched a movie then a countdown on Netflix and we were all asleep before midnight.

We hope you had a wonderful and safe New Years Eve!!!

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