Spring Break 2011: Fossil Rim

This was not a planned part of our trip, but we still had some time left so we decided to give it a shot.  We weren't really sure if it was going to be worth the money, cause you know drive thru animal places are pretty pricey.  But it was by far the best money we spent on our trip.  So much more fun than we ever expected.  And the park was just absolutely beautiful.  The drive took us close to three hours, cause the property was just gigantic.

The animals were amazing, and some were a bit too aggressive for our liking.  The zebra's were so out of control that it got to where I was rolling up the window when we came to a group of them.  One actually started nibbling on the window gasket!  There were quite a few times when Josh as looked off the right, only to turn back to the left to be greeted by a large, wild animal head inside the van, right in his face.  No worries - Wyatt never panicked and just threw the food right out the window.  For all the things this kid is scared of, he was not phased by these animals one bit!

Wyatt has always loved animals, but Noah has finally come around to liking them as well.  Not that he had a problem with them before or anything, but he has really started to love learning about them in an obsessive sort of Noah way.  You know, where you need to know every detail about their life, own a few books about each one, and definitely have a documentary for every possible animal there is. ;)

Josh and my dad were the only ones who were brave enough to feed the giraffes.  They were so incredibly HUGE.  Really so much bigger than I think of them in my head.  Look at this shot of his leg compared to the car window.  Really unbelievable.

Halfway through the drive we stopped at their little cafe to have lunch and a bathroom break.  It was so beautiful!  Can you tell how far up we are?

Some of the roads were the steepest that I have ever experienced.  I seriously had to close my eyes a few times, and Wyatt freaked out that he just wanted to "go home" cause he didn't like it one bit!  They also had a little petting zoo up at the top of the mountain, which the kids enjoyed.  I love how Wyatt looks like he is talking to the goat.  That's probably because he was. :)

As I'm sitting here typing this all I can think is how nice it was there!  It reminded us so much of Lost Maples, and that was really unexpected.  I don't know what I thought the area was like up there, but not this beautiful.  I would definitely recommend it for a great family afternoon!

The world's coolest bathroom

Yes, my husband photographs public bathrooms.  And my dad is the one who encourages him to do it. :)

Spring Break 2011: Dinosaur World

When we got to DW we emptied out the van and found the boys long sleeved shirts, which of course were dinosaur themed.  :)  Yay!   The park was really neat.  You just walk around this paved pathway and thre are dinosaurs all along the way with little signs talking about each one.  Wyatt was a bit grumpy so he was not interested in it, but Noah loved it.

They were especially neat cause they have them all in the natural landscape, so some were peeking out from behind trees, and they even had a group of dinos by a little watering hole.

At the end of the pathway they have a little playground which the kids were quite excited about, although it was no different than any other play area.  I guess just the fact that they put one tiny dinosaur in it the whole thing instantly became special. :)

Annie with her baby tongue sticking out.  ALL the time.  She went through a good 2 weeks were it was rare to see her tongue in her mouth.  She seems to be growing out of it now.  Sad, cause I just love it.  Then the had a little fossil dig for the kids.  The boys were very excited about this.  They were allowed to find as many as they wanted, but they could only keep three.  Quite a difficult decision for little Wy. You know how he loves to have large collections of things.  He even tried to climb right into the trough.  I love that kid.

And we had to get a quick shot of three generations of women!  I love it.  And yes, I am wearing 2 completely non matching shirts.  It was COLD, folks!  Of course I packed every single person a long sleeved shirt except for myself.  :P

Dinosaur World Sneak Peek

Could there possibly be anything more exciting than this to a five year old boy?  Definitely a great way to start our dinosaur tour - the peeps at Dinosaur World certainly are in tune with the brains of little boys. :)  I'll post the rest tomorrow!

Spring Break 2011: Dinosaur Valley

For the third day of our trip our focus was on the greatest boy topic of all time - DINOSAURS!  Noah has been very certain for the last year that he wants to be a paleontologist .  I keep telling him he could be a creation scientist. :)  Either way, he has been a smidgen obsessed with these great creatures.  So we started our morning with a trip to Dinosaur Valley State Park.

It was SO cold and we were quite unprepared.  I should have photographed the back of the van - full to the brim with a hundred different bags/suitcases/ice chest etc.  So anything warm I brought was completely inaccessible.  But my  mom came to the rescue with her teeny clothes that weren't too terribly big for the boys.  They looked ridiculous but were happy to have a bit of warmth!

I really expected to see more footprints, so in that respect it was a tiny bit disappointing.  And I was well aware the kids would not be as wowed with it as we were to see real dino prints.  What I didn't realize is that we would pass the entrance to Dinosaur World on our way into the park.  Once they saw the huge, painted dinos in their lot that was all they could think about.  So we didn't stay long.Annie was also not real thrilled with hanging out in the Bjorn.  It was supposed to hit nearly 80 that day so I dressed the kiddos for that weather.  Luckily I had packed some leg warmers so Annie rocked those with her skirt. :)

The park itself was really beautiful - the river was gorgeous and they had some really nice camping areas.  My parents and I agree that it is definitely some place we would consider going back to and camping for a few days.

After 20 minutes we crossed back over the river and hightailed it over to Dinosaur World.  I'll post those pics tomorrow!

Spring Break 2011: Day two!

Aren't these just the cutest little wolf pup ears?  They got them with their lunch and I'm a bit obsessed with them.  I want them to wear them more than they want to.  Cause it is CUTE!  Serious cute.

Day two consisted of more and more and more water!!  The adults were pretty sick of it, but the kids could have stayed all day.  Which we pretty much did.

I love these kids jumping into the water.  Don't they look like they are jumping off into the great unknown?  Well, it's about 12 inches of water.  But they were sure proud of themselves. :)

  We stayed until late in the afternoon when we drove over to Alvarado to spend the night.  We had a slight problem during our drive, and I was so crazy that I didn't get any pictures of it.  So Annie had some sort of tummy bug the week of the trip, so her poop was all kinds of crazy.  So we're stuck in traffic in Ft. Worth and I start smelling something horrible.  But I wasn't concerned.  She always poops as soon as we get into the car.  But it was REALLY stinky.  So when we get to the hotel I got out and discovered the most horrible thing ever.  A baby COVERED in poop.  In her car seat.  On vacation.  In a hotel.  How on earth do you even begin to clean that up????  It was a nightmare.  We must have used ten thousand wipes and then threw her into the bathtub.  And all we could clean her seat with was wipes.  DISGUSTING!  Oh, Annie.  I guess every child has to their one really bad poop incident, right?

We went to the kids favorite restaurant, Red Lobster.  Evidently it is quite the popular place to eat in Burleson cause it was crowded,  but we were all happy to get normal food after the junky food at the lodge.  We went back to the hotel and got into our new adorable dino jammies and played with their new surprise lego sticker books, which I also forgot to photograph.    I guess I fell down on the job!  By this point I was really ready to go home, though! :)

Spring Break 2011: Day One!

I guess it is impossible to get  a picture of all three of them looking at the camera, right?  Wyatt has the same problem I do - my chin is always way up in pictures. :)

Once again we went to Great Wolf Lodge for our spring break trip, and once again we had a great time.  We knew we couldn't do it this year without some help, cause I am just so nervous around the water with my non-swimmers.  We are so blessed with my wonderful parents who came with us to lend a hand and just enjoy loving on their grandbabies.  We couldn't have done this trip without them.  Our night at the lodge I laid in bed and thanked God for giving me parents that I actually love to be around.  They are the best!

I don't really know how the kids just go and go and go, but they do.  We got up early and drove all morning, and then spend the entire afternoon in the pool.  All four of the adults felt like just passing out by the time night came, but you know then the kids were ready for some MagiQuest and general unruliness. :)

Annie was so incredibly good.  She wasn't too sure about the water, but she did love the kids hot tub.  And so did I! :)  I think I need one of those at home.  She just couldn't stay awake any longer, though, and I got to hold her for a sweet little nap, which I cherished cause we never get to do that with her anymore. 

 Wyatt was not as brave as I expected him to be.  He has been going through a bit of a "mommy phase" lately, and wouldn't venture off to do much.  I really expected him to do some of the bigger slides, but nope.  He seemed to have fun anyways. 

And take a look at this big grown up boy!  I can't even believe how much he has grown and matured!  When we came into the park they measure the kids to see what rides they can go on.  Last year he was just barely underneath the line for the tallest slides and this year he was a good 3 inches above it.  I was so surprised!

This year he really wanted to spend a ton of time in the wave pool, which he wouldn't touch last year.  He is so afraid of water, but he did branch out and try some new stuff this time so I was really proud of him.

We were more than happy to go to bed that night, and it went so well. We got Annie a crib, and the child just laid down in it and went to sleep without making a peep.  I cannot get over it!  She falls asleep in the swing at night, and evidently she doesn't need to. Ha!  The boys slept in the main part of the room with my parents, so when we got up in the morning I asked Noah how he slept.  He told us all that Grandma slept great but the rest of them didn't because of her snoring!  I love that boy. :)