The last weekend of September sent us back in time at warp speed. To begin, we packed two cars with all the belongings you might possibly need for four adults and four kids. Two of the adults were extremely pleased to see the other two adults following closely in a car behind...toting one of the four small people. A one-to-one ratio of adult to child is nothing less than fantastic. Even still, it seemed we could have benefited from a few extra hands at times! And, the ratio was not even the best part. Having grandparents come along that are loved to pieces just added to the fun factor. We left around 7am in a drizzle...headed north and then southwest into snow flurries. We passed through the moose capital of the world (where we have never seen a moose), over a flurried mountain pass with trees from a winter wonderland, then down into a very soggy Steamboat Springs. Leaving Steamboat brought us through sleet, sunshine, hail, and gusting wind. Thankfully, we ended in Vernal with sunshine and didn't experience any tornadoes or blizzards during our 6 hour journey. Driving through the city of Dinosaur and Vernal got the kids pretty excited. They don't capitalize on anything there...
So, if you asked the kids what they MOST enjoyed about our vacation, the first words would be, in unison, SWIMMING. Our Holiday Inn was complete with an indoor pool and hot tub, and was our first stop after unloading the luggage cart that may or may not have slightly resembled the Leaning Tower of Pisa.
There are NO pictures of the famed hotel room. Too much excitement...trying to keep monkeys from flying off the bed...convincing toilet traumatized toddlers that the hotel bathroom is "just like the one at home"...undressing four small people and redressing them in swimsuits...maintaining a steady flow of snacks...family discussions about avoiding complaints from neighbors 10 minutes after arriving...unsuccessfully quieting the small but vocally talented velociraptor that seems to have adopted our family (we call him Ollie)...locating sanity. Oh, maybe not the last part. So, there are no pictures of the hotel room part, or the pool part, or the 8 people bombarding the continental breakfast room part...where the children were ONLY interested in eating the sugar cereal and the cinnamon rolls and the chocolate muffins.
I must say, this was the most vacationy (that SHOULD be a word) vacation that I can remember having as a family. Staying in a hotel, NOT making breakfast or dinner (we did have enough packed food for picnic lunches), not cleaning up from breakfast or dinner, not setting alarms, not making beds, not sleeping...oh wait...that happens at home too.
After a full afternoon of swimming and eating dinner at a favorite restaurant, we tucked the kids in with a movie, set up the baby monitor, and hung out across the hall in my parents room. Their room was clean...and sooooo quiet. I didn't trip over anything or anyone and I did enjoy a cup of hot chocolate...while it was still hot. We played some intense Farkle. We decided to let my dad win since it was his first time. ;-) When I went to bed, I snuggled up with Tilly in one of the queen beds and Elijah and EJ shared the other. It wasn't long before I was sure it was actually a twin bed. Her future husband might want to join two king size beds together in their future home. I almost switched sides of the bed but was too tired to make the effort, so I pulled the covers up to keep her warm...only to realize I had just covered her head and her feet were now resting softly on the pillow. There were a few times that I woke up with a start, only to realize that Emerson was defending himself and blaming someone else for who knows what IN HIS SLEEP! We're not talking little mumbles. This was passionate, "I didn't do it!" "It wasn't me!", with all the tones you would expect form a wide awake and unfairly accused big brother. I hope he survives his childhood. Night number two had husband and wife together in one bed again!
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| We spent all day Saturday at Dinosaur National Monument. What a great place. As a Christian, who believes in the literal 6 day creation of the world, and who believes in the worldwide flood and the crazy reality that every kind of living creature and one obedient family was rescued on a big boat, seeing this place was really cool. The evidence of a flood was everywhere we turned and even printed on all the signs we read (I'm sure they didn't MEAN to do it). Things like finding fossils from tropical ocean creatures and sharks. Huh. The wall of dinosaur fossils was incredible to see and touch. |
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| touching a fossilized dinosaur bone that is bigger than you are is pretty cool stuff. |
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| there's a femur for ya! |
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| We ventured on several shorter hikes to see petroglyphs and more dinosaur fossils. The sunshine was perfect. We couldn't have asked for better weather. Considering the day before had been full of every type of weather imaginable, we were VERY thankful for clear skies and sunshine. |
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| Gramma Jo and Clara Jo |
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| Handsome explorer |
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| love this picture of the kids next to a bunch of alien looking petroglyphs. Crazy to think those were etched in that rock 1000 years ago. Not too far fetched to think it was a bunch of kids like mine that drew them! |
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| Green River |
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| How many lizards can you spot? |
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| Clara's got this all under control |
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| Little Miss Independent |
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| best ride around |
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| This is how you hike 1/4 mile with little girls. The "20 minute" hike lasts for 45. :-) Love it! Found every bug, blossom, stick, rock, hiding place, and drawing canvas. |
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| We drove back through Flaming Gorge National Recreation Area. This view was from the visitor center...3000 feet above the gorge...built very much on the cliffs edge. |
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| This is about as close as we let them get to the edge outside of the visitor center. |
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| This must be how they felt about my lack of trust. |
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| Looking forward to our next vacation weekend. Where should we go next? |
