Dinosaur Land

Adelia, Lincoln, and Ivan sporting their new vernal t-shirts

We did it! We finally took a vacation that did not involve going to visit family. Not that there is anything wrong with going to visit our family, of course, we love to do that. But this is the first time ever that we've taken a vacation for the sake of taking a vacation. Yay for us. 

I remember (vaguely, since I was only 5 or 6 at the time) going to Dinosaur Land as a kid, and thinking it was pretty cool. And we needed a trip that wasn't a very long drive away, so that Aaron didn't have to take off a lot of work. So we packed up and headed to Vernal, UT. Our friends the Parks came with us.

#1 Adelia blowing bubbles, we used bubbles to entertain the kids while we got things set up. #2 Our campsite. #3 Lincoln and Ivan under the canopy, which we set up to give us more shade, it worked like a charm. #4 Sleeping arrangements in our tent. It was squishy with five of us in a four-man tent. We meant to borrow a six-man from my mom and Kerry, but we forgot.

We spent Friday driving to Steinaker State Park, which is where we camped. Then getting our campsite all set up. We had a couple of hours before dinner, so we walked down to the lake and let the kids wade and try their hand at fishing. Props to the Parks for being a family of fishers. Neither Aaron nor I have a clue how to fish, and Lincoln has been begging us to take him fishing for a long time. So thank you Danny for letting Linc try his hand at fishing.

 #1 Ryan, Kaitlyn, and Adelia "wading" (ok, they might as well have swam, Adelia came out completely soaked) #2 Lincoln, Nathan, and Ivan trying to figure out fishing at Stienaker Lake. #3 Krystal, Suzy, and Danny chillin' in the shade. #4 Aaron and Krystal

 

 Lincoln the fisherman

 Ivan, happy to play in the sand and throw rocks in the water.

Adelia, cute screaming child that she is.

After a few hours of the lake, it was time to go back to camp and make dinner. Suzy and I had prepared a tin foil feast! Four gourmet tin foil dinner recipes and they turned out excellent. Suzy found the recipes on FamilyFun.com. Basically, you just put some of all the ingredients into tin foil and wrap it up tight so nothing leaks out the edges, then you throw in on the coals for 10ish minutes, or until the meat is cooked and heated all the way through.

South of the Border
hamburger
black beans
red onion
zucchini
grape tomatoes
corn
Pepper Jack cheese
Tex-Mex Sauce:

    Sprinkle about 2 teaspoons per packet
    3 tablespoons minced cilantro
    2 tablespoons minced
    chipotle chile in adobo
    1 tablespoon sliced green onion
    1 clove garlic, minced

Mediterranean Coast
chicken breast
red potato
broccoli
red onion
feta
Vinegar Splash:

     Drizzle about 1 1/2 tablespoons per packet
    2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
    1 clove garlic, minced
    1/4 cup olive oil
    Pinch of salt and pepper
Parsley Pump-Up:

     Sprinkle about 2 teaspoons per packet
    2 tablespoons minced parsley
    Zest of 1 lemon
    1 clove garlic, minced

Off to Asia
shrimp (with no veins or shells or tails)
red bell pepper (chopped up small)
asparagus (chopped up small)
pineapple chunks
sliced almonds
Ponzu Power:

     Drizzle about 1 1/2 tablespoons per packet

    2 tablespoons ponzu (a Japanese sauce)
    1 teaspoon minced ginger
    1 teaspoon honey
    1 teaspoon sesame oil
    3 tablespoons vegetable oil
    Pinch of salt and pepper
Asian Fusion:

      Sprinkle about 2 teaspoons per packet

     2 tablespoons minced cilantro

     Zest of 1 orange (about 2 tablespoons)

    1 1/2 teaspoons grated peeled ginger

    1 teaspoon sliced green onion tops or chives

Oktoberfest
bratwurst (sliced into small chunks)
butter beans (drained and rinsed)
carrots (cut into small chunks)
summer squash (cut into small chunks)
Mustard Madness:

     Drizzle about 1 1/2 tablespoons per packet

    1 1/2 teaspoons Dijon mustard
    2 tablespoons lemon or lime juice
    3 tablespoons vegetable oil
    Pinch of salt and pepper

 Aaron and Adelia keeping an eye on our tin foil dinners so they wouldn't burn.

And after dinner of course we had to roast marshmallows and eat s'mores.  I think that was the kids' favorite part. 

 Ivan, Lincoln, Aaron, and Nathan roasting mallows. I love that Nathan has four marshmallows on his stick at one time. :)

 #1 Adelia taking pictures of herself. #2 Ivan eating his marshmallow. #3 Suzy and Adelia #4 Roasting marshmallows #5 Aaron and Lincoln picking his nose #6 Ryan enjoying his s'more.

I wish I could say that our night went as well as our day...but alas, camping with children (aka Adelia) never makes for a peaceful night. We put them all in the tent around 8, but they were up until we came to bed at 10:30 or so. Then it took us another half hour to calm them down to sleep. Several hours later Adelia woke up in a screaming fit. She was hysterical (way overtired) and it took me a really long time to calm her down. I finally got her to stop screaming by letting her lay down on top of me, and then she promptly fell asleep. But unfortunately, I don't sleep well at all with 35 pounds of snoring child on top of me. Plus at that point, Ivan started waking up about every 40 minutes with a little shriek and then he'd fall right back asleep, but that continued for a couple of hours. I very seriously considered going to sleep in the van, but was afraid to move, for fear of waking up Adelia. 

Moving on to more pleasant things...Saturday morning Aaron made us a lovely pancake breakfast. Then we packed up our camp site and headed to Red Fleet State Park to go on a hike. Our hike was about a mile in and a mile back out, through the desert. But at the end of the hike was a large slanted piece of slate that ended in a lake. On that piece of slate were dinosaur footprints, real ones, that had turned to stone in the slate. It was pretty cool, albeit hard to take a picture of that really shows the footprints well. The kids were champs on the hike. It was really hot, especially when we hiked out, and our kids did awesome, with very minimal complaining. 

 Nathan, Kaitlyn, Ivan, Lincoln, and Ryan on one of the cool rock formations on our hike.

#1 Suzy, Kaitlyn, Nathan, Lincoln, Aaron, Adelia, Ivan, Danny, and Ryan on our hike at Red Fleet Lake #2 There were lots of cool rock formations along the way. #3 Aaron, Adelia, Krystal, Lincoln, Ivan, and Ryan, #4 Some of the trail was really steep, but the kids were champs. #5 Pretty cactus flower. 

The lake was so pretty and clear, I wanted to dive right in...but I didn't.

 #1 Adelia sitting on the shore of the lake throwing rocks with the best of them. #2 Aaron tracing the dinosaur foot print with water so I can take a picture of it. #3 Aaron skipping rocks #4 Nathan, Ivan, and Linc throwing rocks #5 Adelia and her cheeser.

 My children playing in the lake. They were definitely more interested in the water than the dinosaur tracks, but that's ok.

We got in a lot of rock throwing on this trip.

Red Fleet was really cool. If we ever go back, we'll definitely camp there instead. After hiking out, we got in the van and drove to Vernal to the dinosaur museum. It was fun too. Not as big as the one at Thanksgiving Point, but all the specimens were from local dig sites, and they did have a lot of hands on things for the kids to do. 

 #1 and #2 digging in the bark chips with paint brushes to find the dinosaur bones. #3 Wooly Mammoth

 Ivan, Lincoln, Krystal, and Adelia with the T-rex! 

And the crash, about 30 seconds after we got in the car to drive home.