Zion National Park

Our next stop was Zion National Park. We found an online deal to rent a cabin for two nights at Zion Ponderosa Ranch. It was a great deal because it was during "off season".
After our ride through Zion National Park, we found this resort which is right outside of Zion and checked into our own little cabin.
We ate dinner that night at a pricey little restaurant because we didn't plan ahead to make dinner. It would have taken too long to go back through Zion to a grocery store.
The next morning, we ate breakfast (we had planned for that) and packed lunches and headed back to Zion to go hiking.
The girls each have their own Camelbacks. Here is Brooklyn sportin' hers.
Eliza was so excited to have her own as well, but she didn't carry it for very long.
Love this picture of my family enjoying the scenery.
We picked a short hike to see how the girls would do. We hiked Weeping Rock first.
It's a very short, yet steep hike.
Eliza loved it so much she ran up the hill!Weeping Rock
Our view from Weeping Rock.
We conquered hiking Weeping Rock. The girls loved that it was raining off the rock.
Weeping Rock was too short so we started another one. We attempted Hidden Canyon Trail. The sign said it was 2 miles so we figured it was manageable. Yet, we kept climbing and climbing. There were so many switchbacks. We got to one point and someone told us it wasn't kid friendly because you had to use chains to get to the top. I knew right then and there that we would not finish this hike. I've climbed Angels Landing and there was no way I would be taking my 2 and 5 year olds anywhere that required that you have to hold on to chains.
So we climbed to the top of one of the mountains and stopped for lunch. It was perfect because the next part was where the chains started.
Brooklyn was terrified of the chipmunk that had obviously been fed food before because it was relentless and kept coming closer and closer to us. So we finished up and started the hike back down.
Love Zion National Park! There is so much to see there. The girls were such troopers and did so well. I did have to hold Eliza for a good portion of this hike, but Brooklyn hiked the whole thing. The weather was absolutely perfect!
We headed into La Verkin to get some food for dinner that night and went back to the cabin to make dinner. We also rented a Redbox for family movie night.
After dinner we took the girls to the park at the ranch and let them play for awhile.
The girls had a blast!
Then we went into the activities cabin and some of us played pool while the rest of us played table tennis. Brooklyn was determined to hit the ping pong. I served her ping pong after ping pong until she learned to hit them. She could have done this all night.
But the girls wanted to watch the movie too. The girls were so excited to be sitting in a cabin and watching a movie. We chose Rango to fit with the country theme. It was pretty cute movie actually.
The next morning we took the girls for a pony ride. Hah! No ponies though. They rode horses for 15 minutes. It came with the cabin rental so we thought we would let them ride while we watched.
Eliza was too little to ride by herself so she rode with the "cowboy" as she so affectionately called him.
The girls were a little nervous, but did great! Eliza was nervous about the cowboy and Brooklyn was nervous about the horse, but she was told she would scare the horse if she cried so she was brave. Brooklyn is afraid of just about anything at her age. I hope she outgrows that soon.
The girls keep talking about the horses named Willie and Wilmer. It was a good first experience with riding a horse. I hope they can do it again.
The girls really wanted to go swimming too, but the pool was outside and freezing so we decided to go home instead.
It was a fun family vacation!