Our 4th of July Zion National Park Trip Turned into a BioFest

Every year we go to Springdale, Utah, where you can find Zion National Park, with Sydney’s entire extended family for a big, fun-filled week of hiking, pool time and lots of yummy food. We stay outside the park at an amazing hotel called The Desert Pearl Inn. The rooms are right on the bank of the Virgin River and their service is top notch. I highly recommend them if you ever plan a trip to Zion.

After this amazing year where Sydney found out she has 6 half brothers and sisters—if you don’t know what I’m talking about, please go read 6 New Siblings in Less Than a Year before continuing this—we invited everyone to join us for this year’s annual trip, in what turned into, what we dubbed as, BioFest. We even had swag.

We had siblings from as close as Phoenix and as far as Toronto. For some, it was the first time they were meeting. The connection was incredible to witness. These people were all strangers last year and after a few months of constant texting and a few Facebook friend requests, they were family.

We spent most days in our bathing suits lounging by the pool, sharing stories of everyone’s first moments of opening their 23&Me kit results, how first conversations with certain siblings went, and comparing one sibling’s likes and dislikes with another’s. In the evening, we’d go out to dinner, get ice cream, and then head back to our river side rooms and play corn hole, drink beers, take selfies, and pass baby Thea around, who is our very own second generation donor baby.

Saying goodbye was hard after such an amazing week, and, we hope to get together again in October in New York for Max’s wedding. Until then, here are some pictures from our trip: