If you missed Part One, here’s the link.

After a good breakfast we were off to get our handcarts. Our start time was 10:30am, later than I think we all would have liked since it was getting really hot. What really saved the day, though, was the rainbow beach umbrella Rob’s dad lent us to strap onto the handcart so that the kids could ride much more comfortably. More on that later. Here are a few photos of me and Rob relaxing before our arduous day of walking and hauling around the kids. I think are hats are adorable and isn’t Rob so sexy looking in his Indiana Jones hat? Check out that crazy air!  (….Uh….Rob added that bit.)

Here we are on the trail, for some reason our group was at the end of the pack. I think it is our lot in life.

 

After a couple of miles we stopped for lunch before heading up, sans handcarts, to the actual cove area. Madeleine was so hot and said her stomach wasn’t feeling very well. I opted to stay back with her and Caroline so she could rest and cool down. It took about 20 minutes, but then she was back to normal. It took the rest of the group another hour and a half to return so we just hung out.

Here are few images of the hike in and around the cove.

So what do you do if you start getting hot and all you have is a water bottle filled with some kind of berry flavor concoction? Nate didn’t hesitate to pour it all over his head. He loves being silly and getting people to laugh. 

 

Here’s a shot of the rainbow umbrella. Luckily I was short enough to walk underneath while pushing! You can see Rob carrying Caroline in the baby backpack here. She slept a good portion of the walk.

Some time after starting again from the trail head to Martin’s Cove we made our way to the river crossing. Time to cross the river!

Quite some time after the river crossing and the women’s pull we finally made it back to the area to drop off our hand carts, clean up, and drive (much better than handcarts) back to camp. After a long and hard day of hiking and walking we settled back into camp for dinner and a wonderful testimony meeting that we all enjoyed. We discussed how we can accomplish difficult tasks much like our pioneer forbearers. Rob was feeling a significant sense of awe at the physical toils the pioneers endured while walking across the plains. We did it for a few hours and they did it for weeks upon weeks!

We spent the rest of the evening talking and watching the kids play games together. There is a priceless photo of our adventurous Cara covered in filth. She looks like a homeless child.

Here’s a slideshow Rob put together with pictures taken by us and Robin King set to music recorded by the Plewe family. They sang this song in Martin’s Cove and again at the testimony meeting. I love their arrangement of one of my favorite songs. They did a beautiful job! Here is a link to the video if you can’t see it here.