Desert Birthday

Our trip to St. George was PART I of Brighton's birthday celebrations! Brighton has always been fascinated by sea life, including The Little Mermaid! So we knew we must take him to the Tuachan Theatre surrounded by beautiful red rock in St. George to see their production of Disney's, The Little Mermaid. Although, I was a little apprehensive about taking a trip to St. George. For me it is a stop through town, on the way to greater destinations and I wasn't expecting much from the trip aside from the play. When we arrived it was late in the afternoon and only 104 degrees!! We pulled up at our condo rental and I immediately had flashbacks of our life in Vegas while Spencer was in pharmacy school. Lets just say I was not a Las Vegas fan. But after we went in and got settled, went to the pool to cool off I realized it would be a wonderful trip! All of my expectations were exceeded.

Our accommodations were very family friendly and the kids were ecstatic to have bunk beds to sleep on. My parents joined us that night and we went to a great little pizzeria. The following day we got up early before the blazing heat hit and did some hiking in nearby Snow Canyon. It was beautiful. Spencer always makes it so fun and interesting for the kids. They always get a hands on science lesson from dad while hiking and they soak it up. My mom even went on the hikes with us. After hiking all morning we went back to the room to swim and rest.

Friday night we went to the Tuachan for the play and I have to admit it was AMAZING. I did not expect them to flood the stage or have a huge wall of water with really cool projections on it. I really thought it was close if not equal to broadway quality. It started late 8:45pm and normally my kids would not last that late at any event. But it was so great that it kept their attention until the very end at 11pm. I loved seeing Brighton's face light up and watch him cheer at each scene. All the kids were captivated. I would highly recommend this play and will return to other shows in the future.

Saturday, was Brighton's birthday August 13 and we headed toward Zions where Spencer's brother Dan lives. He was kind enough to take us floating down the Virgin river, of which was a welcome activity on a hot desert day! All three had so much fun floating the river and catching tiny frogs. Saturday night we went to Brick Oven for Brighty's birthday dinner. He was so happy that they sang to him and brought a special treat. We walked around the outlets and then went back to the room to swim.

Sunday we went on a tour of the historical portion of St. George. There was a really great park next to the tabernacle with a splash pad and cool old carousel. I had know idea you could visit all these cool pioneer sites in St. George. It really was so interesting. The pamphlet describing the sites told of the ghost of a six year old girl that still haunts one of the homes. Brighton loves to be scared and for me to tell him ghost stories. He made me read that portion of the pamphlet the whole way home.

I love when trips are unexpectedly fun and full of fresh new experiences. It wasn't the St. Goerge I remember, the one where I spent many spring breaks during Jr High and Highschool. If there is another good play it may be worth repeating. As we pulled out of St. George Miles said, "I am going to miss Dan and the frogs."