Labor Day weekend hiking and This is the Place

We spent a wonderful two days with Jed's sister Trisha and her husband Quentin and their lovely girls Charlotte, Claire and Evelyn.

Friday was a crazy day with my ultrasound (more on that another post!) and then running over to American Fork Canyon for a hike up to the caves on Mt. Timpanogos for a tour. And what a hike it was! It was very challenging as we went up 1065 ft in elevation with five children, ages 3 months, 3, 5, 7 (?) and 10, not to mention the 5 month pregnant lady (yours truly). But it was worth the hour plus hike as the caves were amazing and the views were spectacular. Luckily, they gave us an hour and a half to hike up to the caves in time for our tour. We made it with 15 minutes to spare! I had been agonizing over this hike for weeks- would we be able to make it with our boys? Would we need a child carrier as strollers weren't allowed? Would we have enough provisions for the 3 hours that we would be up there? Luckily, it all worked out for us and we couldn't have asked for better weather: warm but breezy.

Before our hike, a ranger gave us some instructions and rules, and Jacob immediately ran up to him and called him "Grandpa." The guy loved it.

The boys were absolute troopers! Jed carried Jacob only a little bit and Adam didn't complain too much. It IS doable with little guys.

The caves were pretty amazing! The boys were really good at not touching the rocks. I was pretty impressed - they love climbing and touching things, especially rocks. This tested their endurance in more ways than one! I definitely would love to go back without the boys because I spent so much time watching them to make sure they didn't fall or touch the rocks that I didn't enjoy the caves as much. But I'm glad they had this cool experience that they'll (hopefully) remember for years to come.

This is on our way down. I brought up the rear because of potty breaks (Adam, not me). We even avoided a potentially catastrophic event in the caves thanks to a kind couple and their empty water bottle that was a perfect tool for an emergency potty break.

Cave tour tip with young boys: bring an empty disposable water bottle for potty emergencies.

We spent the next day at This is the Place park. We did pioneer chores, checked out Brigham Young's house, panned for gold, played in an iron maiden and our favorite: rode a train (twice!). This was a cool place to learn about Utah and Mormon history.