tales from a far-land

On Friday, October 8th, a week after Josh and I were in California visiting Santa Ynez Valley, we drove back out to Calabasas to spend Shabbat with the Vorobiofs, Dione and Selma.  Plus, it was a fun way to kick off the kids' fall break.  The kids really enjoyed seeing and playing with the cousins.  The boys played a ton of Fortnite together and the girls kibitzed in the hot tub.  On Sunday, before we headed out of town, we enjoyed a family barbecue.  I am so glad that we decided to do a turnaround trip to California to see Dione while she was in the States. On Sunday night, we drove to Valencia to stay at a hotel near Six Flag Magic Mountain.  The kids had been wanting to go to a "real" roller-coaster park.  Well, this was certainly the place to visit.  We arrived at the park as soon as it opened and decided to try the fastest and most thrilling of all of the rides first -- X2.  X2 is a ride that had 360-degree rotating seats, you are positi...

Leg three of our family road trip! After staying the night at a Best Western in northern Utah, we started the drive to our final destination - Bryce Canyon National Park. On our drive down the highway, we decided to stop for breakfast in Midway, Utah. What a cute and quaint little small town! The breakfast was amazing. Then, back on the road again. After about three hours on the road, we stopped at The Creamery in Beaver, Utah, for some ice cream. I mean, who can pass up ice cream. After driving for about an hour more, we made it to Bryce Canyon City. We checked into the hotel and headed back out to visit the park at sunset. Oh, how I had forgotten the uniqueness and majesty of this national park. The next morning, we headed out early to hike Queen's Garden to the Navajo Loop Trail with the kids.  Aiden was less than thrilled.  In fact, he was kind of a pain -- pouty and reluctant to complete the hike. Madilyn was happy as long as she could take photos with my phone....