VaCa Post--Fifth and Final

 Whenever possible we visit Museums with Dinosaurs, and we tried to make time on this trip as well! 

Mimi is holding up the museum with her hands for the photo :)

This is a small museum, but it has LOTS of good stuff!  Including working Paleontologists and Archaeologists!  They just sit there working in their labs and you can ask them questions or watch them.  We talked to a couple of them for a really long time, it was totally unique.  

 They are updating and changing some of their exhibits, but it's cool to see how the museum is working to correct mistakes from the past.  Like taking paint off of the fossils or something like that. 

 In this post I mentioned that we walked in some Dinosaurs tracks.  This sign helped us understand the tracks we saw were probably from Prosaurolopus. 

 Learning more about the pictographs we saw earlier as well. 

 Utahraptor!  

This makes me think about when I was a teacher and raptors were kind of the cool dinosaur at the time.  The students in my class would get really excited talking about them.  

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 On the road we met up with some friends from Boston!  

Here are some of the same kiddos from 2008! So fun to reunite :)

 Their backyard was super!  Thanks, guys! 

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 Then we met up with my good friend from college -- my kiddos never wanted to leave! Thanks for the yummy dinner!

 

Now and...

 

then = 1996.

And Greg's good friend from his mission! Thanks for visiting with us :)

And them back in 1997 

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OK back to the present...

 We hit the zoo with our cousins and Greg's sister = super fun. 

 Mimi is an egg. 

 Then there were lots of zombies at Grandma Eunice's house! 

Thanks Grandma, Eunice!  

 Before we left Utah we visited with our good friends from Boston.  Thanks for the amazing dinner! 

 Here's Parker from way back in 2004 with their son

And us at a play group.  Gosh, Parker used to be so little! 

 Once more, back to Salt Lake City.  We looked around Temple Square.  It's been a very long time since I've been there, so it was very interesting to see all the changes. 

Before we headed into the Visitor's Center, Mimi asked "can we go in?  Are we visitors?" 

 The Tabernacle.  By this time Yoda was DONE with being in photos! 

 The Conference Center. 

 On the rooftop. 

 Again, they were kind-of done with taking pictures.
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The next day we were headed back to Ohio....

 We stopped in Little America for $.50 ice cream cones and working out our wiggles. 

Then we stopped in another Little America and washed the car a little....

We didn't stop until we made it all the way home.  For days after, we drove as little as possible and Yoda would say out of nowhere:"I'm so happy to be home!"

3 weeks from start to finish...

Off to school

Desserts

Yoda talking about jell-o "it's bouncy!"
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Yoda was excited to go to a friend's birthday party, but couldn't make it because he was pretty sick.  Then that night Greg took him to the er to get him a breathing treatment.  He was fine after that, but such bad timing! His friend sent him a cupcake though :)

While taking Yoda's temperature under his arm he asked:"why do I have this fer-nom-meter?"

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I kind-of pushed Parker to finish as much of his Webelos requirements as he could before school starts and is totally distracted.   

Here he is working on his handyman badge. 

VaCa post #4

Then the 4th of July rolled around and it was time for Greg to come and join us --Yeah!!

 We watched the fireworks, maybe next year will be better....

 But nothing is better then Mom's Red-White-and-Blue Parfait! 

 We spend a few days at the local pool, it was amazing.  Nothing like the pool I swam in as a kid. 

 Lots of root-beer floats!  

 And of course pie! 

 One of our last days at Grandma and Granddad's house we drove out to Goblin Valley.  It's a natural wonder really.  All these little rock formations, Mimi never wanted to leave! 

 This was about 2 minutes after we started our hike and 2 minutes before Parker *lost his lunch*.  Then he totally collapsed.  He may have been a little sick but then the desert sun and heat wiped him out for good.  I got an adrenaline rush and picked him up and carried him up to the trail head.  He sat in the shade, ate crackers and drank water and felt a bunch better.  

Then Greg took off with the little kiddos and I wasn't sure they would ever come back.  This place is huge and could take days to explore it all.

 More playing with the toys I played with as a kid. 

 The next day we hit Dead Horse Point.  It's like a northern cousin to the Grand Canyon. 

 

 It's really beautiful.  We have some friends who attended a wedding here, so pretty. 

 More playing with stuff from my childhood.  This time Parcheesi.  

Parker:"What game is this?!"

Greg:"It's like the game 'Sorry' but meaner."
Mimi:"Look at my mean face!"

 Lots of ice-pops! 

One last bit of fun before we took off.  My dad got something that the kids could watch blow up.  

The day we left was mom's birthday!  So we had a nice breakfast then headed north....

Thanks Mom and Dad!