Geologists

You might recall that as our remodel was being finished up, that we wound up living with Yaya and Baba for a week or so (after a week or so living with Mimi and Pops).

One Friday while you all were still on winter break, I texted Mama and asked her what y'all were up to. She replied "They were geologists for most of the morning."

What followed were some amazing photographs that brought such joy to my soul. You two are so creative, such an amazing team, with complementary super powers.

I love that you have your Mama's creative oomph and such insatiable appetites for play, and creative play at that. Let that be a lesson for you: boredom is a great thing...look what can come out of it! AND you have so many hats you can wear, if you put your mind to it. You can be/become anything you want!

So...what does playing "Geologist" actually look like?

Well, Aidan was the excavator...smashing rocks and crystals into smaller pieces:

Julia and Aidan were the gatherers, collecting, washing, and polishing samples:

Julia, you were the organizer and cataloger of the geological samples. As well as the label-maker. You created the Museum exhibit for the samples (totally your idea too, apparently!)

This hammer cracked all of these crystals open. 

Please no touching!

This bench is special too. It belongs to the Queen and King!

These crystals are ____ and that are cool!

Way to go super geology team! Next stop...Grad School! Next stop...Smithsonian!

Spring Break: Snot, Rocks, Hotels, and the Ostrich

Sometimes you just gotta get out of town...so this Spring Break we hit the road for a family adventure!

Our first stop was Dinosaur Valley State Park, where we hiked and waded in the frigid Paluxy River bed and stepped in the fossilized footprints of 130 Million Year old Dinosaurs!

And after the interest of  130 million-year old fossils wore off rather rapidly, you guys discovered and gathered SNOT (algae) balls! Amazing!

Then we dried off an hiked some more, to see the BIG (inaccurate) statues <and the gift store>:

Next stop on our adventure: Big Rocks City Park!

And, true to it's name, it had a LOT of big rocks, which you guys LOVED to leap across and climb and explore:

...And then you found the Paluxy River again...and all bets (and dryness) were off:

Then we dined in one of downtown Glen Rose's finest restaurants (Pizza!) And went to our hotel (wow!) And then went to another hotel in another city, because they accidentally didn't record our reservation. But, we just went with the flow! And you guys LOVED the hotel. Apparently you haven't been in a hotel before, Julia. And Aidan, you were just a baby when we went to San Antonio and then down to the border. So this hotel thing was a NEW and EXCITING experience!

"Wow! There's a fridge near the beds!!"

"Whoa! There's a TV in the Bedroom????"

"OH MY GOSH an IRON in the Bathroom? WHAT????"

Your amazement led to a few rounds of bouncing between beds, and then the excitement of the day quickly led to heavy sleep for all of us.

The next morning we rose early, and went to Fossil Rim for a wild, awesome Safari!

Unbuckled, poking through the sun roof, and amazed by the peaceful scenery and amazing animals, we meandered for 3 hours through the safari, feeding some very cool critters!

This European Red Deer came RIGHT into our car and ate out of Aidan's hand!

The giraffe stiffed us.

You both stood atop the center console and peaked through the sun-roof. And I just thought that was cool. 

ZEBRAS!

The Ostrich was very forward and we had an emergency roll-up-the-window situation as Julia jokingly screamed. The Ostrich then sat down in front of our car. The ostrich was a star.

And then we hit the road and came back home for a relaxing, yard-work, play-time filled rest of our spring break . But that road trip- full of dinos and snot, and rocks and hotels, and ostriches and deers, and a lot of PB&Js was a hell of a lot of fun. 

I can't wait to hit the road again.