Saturday, November 15, 2008

Dinosaur Valley State Park

The boys have been to a couple of Father and Sons campouts, but I haven't been camping since before I was pregnant with Ashlyn, so it was at the top of our "to-do" list once Eric's schedule lightened up. So last weekend, we picked Isaac up early from school and headed off to Dinosaur Valley State Park in Glen Rose, TX. We had hardly pulled into our campsite before the boys were ready to be off exploring. Down a cliff from our sight was the Paluxy river where there are some of the best preserved dinosaur tracks in the world. The light made the water and trees absolutely beautiful, but our camera didn't even begin to do it justice. Someday Eric would really like a photographer's camera. Anyway, here are the boys showing off the beautiful evening.


We found some really good tracks, but had to hurry back to camp to set up before dark. Camping dinner is always easy because the kids just want to cook hotdogs and marshmellows over the fire, so that is what we do!


It started to get pretty cold, so we headed into the tent for a few mean rounds of "Go Fish" and "Old Maid" before bedtime.

The night was SOOOOO cold! Our campsite had water and electricity, so we took an extension cord and space heater because a cold front was coming through and it was supposed to get down in the low 40s, high 30s. There were two spots that we could set up our tent, and since it was such a NICE day and we had plenty of blankets, we chose the more secluded spot that DIDN'T reach the electrical outlet, even with the extension cord. NOT a good idea! We DIDN'T have plenty of blankets, and I don't think I have ever been so cold through the night in my whole life! But alas, we survived, only to tough out the wee hours of the morning! We stuck Ashlyn in the van with the heater, in addition to her onesie, two sets of long pajamas and her coat. Oh yeah - the boys were in there, too! :)

The kids finally braved the cold for a little breakfast around a little fire. (Note -next time take LOTS of wood!)

The next day our real dinosaur exploring began. Carter was so excited to be a real paleontologist. It's pretty funny to hear him say it. It's a mouthful for me, but he says it exactly right.

Here is one of the small to average sized footprints. Ashlyn's boot is smaller than it's toe spread!

Isaac was trying to compare his foot to another print and almost landed in the river!
We equipped all three kids with rain boots so that they could wade and not get too soaked. They brought a lot of chuckles from other people, especially Ashlyn.


Carter found Ashlyn a walking stick and she took it with her everywhere. I think it helped her get around in her boots!


Ashlyn's wading didn't get much deeper than side puddles, but she had a blast in them.

The boys got a little farther out into the river. All of the small craters around them are dinosaur footprints.




It was a really neat park and the boys are already asking when we can go back. We'd like to go camping again after Thanksgiving, but we'll probably try a different park just for a new experience, but that's ONLY if it's not during a cold front!

7 comments:

Claudia and Glenn Walker said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Claudia and Glenn Walker said...

I love how the three of your kids look.I wouldn't be able to tell which is the most adorable because the three of them are just so cute. What a crazy adventure. I was just imagine ourselves doing that...correction "coming back at the middle of the night" We are not that adventure I guess. I wish we were but even today it was too cold for me lol.

Briana said...

Looks like a lot of fun! We'll have to talk because we've been wanting to go camping sometime after the first of the year.

KID, MD said...

That looks so fun!! Definitely on the to do list once Logan is a little older (and learns to say "paleontologist"!).

cms87 said...

How fun! My kids would love to do something like that. I am sorry about the cold though. Every time we go camping, I tell Dwain that it is going to be colder than he thinks and every time it is and he is glad that I brought tons of sleepers and blankets. . . but then again, we have never camped in the 30's either. :o) That sounds like a totally different experience!

Kristi said...

Oh my gosh your kids are so big! Its so great to see all the fun pictures! Ashlyn looks just like Carter! So cute! We miss you guys!

Desiree said...

Hey Woman. You have been given a blog award...so cool, I know. :)