CuteKittyPunk

The City of St George is awesome when it comes to trails, parks, playgrounds and outdoor recreation. In fact, they just received an award for it, a gold medal  to be precise! This is one reason why St George is a great place to live and raise a family. I also like St George because it feels like a small town community even though the population is growing and Washington county is one of the fasting growing counties in the USA. It still has that small town feel to it. Maybe it's because there are several small communities in each little valley between the hills and mountains here. There are several places to take the little ones and little bit older ones to escape from the heat. But probably the best place is in downtown St George next to the Tabernacle. There are no playground toys, but they are not missed at this popular spot. This city block Town Square   is home to the famous Mormon Tabernacle, Children's Museum as well as the St George Library and the Splash Pad.

This is going to have to be an ongoing post... what I mean, is I might have to update it again next year. This is going to be a very big deal this year. My kids have never experienced real American Trick or Treating. I have talked about it, and they have seen it on tv shows over the years and they are very excited. As am I! This is why I wanted to pick a neighborhood that would be awesome for their first experience. Originally, I had planned to spend the weekend with my brother and his family in Spanish Fork, Utah. They live in a neighborhood with about a million kids so it was going to be perfect... but since the flu has affected everyone lately, and since my whole family was sick to death of road trips since we moved back here, we decided to stay in St. George. This posed a problem for me. I didn't know where the best street was. After a quick google search, I found nothing! No one has blogged about this, at least, not in the first three or four pages of a google search.

Awww, this time of year, I love all things cinnamon. For the last couple of years I would look foward to apple cinnamon vla (a type of dairy pudding desert that was sold in Holland).  I would serve it with chunks of ginger bread called ontbijtkoek aka breakfast cake, literally. Even though I grew up in the USA, it still seems somewhat foreign to me. After all, I was an expat in Holland for 10 plus years, and at one time I had every intention of staying there forever. But it was not to be. The excessive rains put a damper on those plans. Now, here we are in sunny St George, and it sometimes doesnt even feel like Fall. For the first two weeks of October we still had highs in the 90 degrees F. Its now beginning to be "cold" at least for a couple hours in the morning, and I saw tiny leaves on the front porch, so some plant out there is shedding for Fall. This is exciting, because with cooler weather we can enjoy the hikes much more, and I can enjoy some Fallish cinnamon d

Another kid friendly hike we went on recently was to see the Anasazi Petroglyphs. This is more of a hike for school age kids unless you can find the short cut for younger kids. I only have one toddler, so we used the carrier so the whole family could enjoy this hike. We went on a warm day with the sun shining brightly and the kids were all pretty pooped when we reached the petroglyphs. I would suggest packing a lunch or snack to refresh your energy and then you can stay at the top to explore as long as you like. I will definitely return to this hiking spot when grandparents visit in winter. Plus the view north of Ivins city and Red Mountain is spectacular. Directions can be found   here or here . Photos courtesy of Mark Daams instagram .

Place:  Red Cliffs Desert Reserve aka Turtle Reserve Easy to Moderate Hiking Ability Hi there! I am Melissa Daams aka cUtekittypUnk aka Dixie Kitty! When I originally started this blog it was to record favorite recipes and review new food to me in the Netherlands. I was an American expat living in Eindhoven, Brabant, Nederland (not too far from the Belgium border). I lived there 10+ years. I raised my kids there, having four children, and now suddenly find myself back in the states. Originally I am from St George, Utah, and I was born and raised here until my parents moved our family to Northern Nevada when I was 9 years old. Most of my family and extended family left Southern Utah, and about a year ago 2014, my sister moved back here. Then my husband had enough of the Dutch weather and we are here, too. It sure has changed a lot since I was a kid. My hope is to review some dining establishments in the area and stuff to do for people with small children. So far so goo