Dinosaurs

Sarah, Ellie and I took a day trip up to Ogden’s Dinosaur Park. We met up Grandma McKenney, Aunt Laurie, Summer, and the boys. It was a lot of fun and I must say I was impressed with the park…a great place for kids. The boys were a ton of fun to watch they kept pointing and saying “SaurSaur” for dinosaur of course. We walked through one trail with lots of scary creatures and Parker had a tight grip on Aunt Laurie’s hand. Summer was fun as well, she even knew some of the names before we got to read about them and find out who they were. By the end of the day Ellie was showing off her new trick of growling. She just started that this week, and it was a perfect place to let loose with all the background dinosaur noises and such.

Summer was a good sport and posed for this photo opportunity…

To top the day off we had an excellent sunset last night. I love our view of the Wasatch back! Check it out…

Antelope Island

I have been wanting to check out Antelope Island for a while now. I thought it’s silly to have lived in Utah all my life and not have ever stood on the shores of the GSL for a day. So we asked our friends Jodi and KC to join us for a one day vacation if you will and that is exactly what it felt like. Antelope Island was a pleasant surprise with a beautiful sandy beach, wildlife, and a historic ranch. We ate lunch at the beach then walked down to the waters where we checked out the beach rocks. Gary even splashed around a bit in the salty water. After sometime at the beach we ventured out to try to find some Buffalo. We were able to see two beauties lounging in the grass near the northeast shore. We traveled a few more miles down the road to a historic Fielding Garr Ranch where they were hosting some cowboy poets and singers. We listened to a few poems and wandered about the property stopping to say hello to the horses and take a break in the grass. On our way back to the “mainland” across the causeway the lake, mountains, and sky decided to come together for some beautiful views. The mountains and clouds were mirrored in the lake and we stopped a couple of times to take in the view. Our parting thoughts were what a crazy thing to have so close to us and never explored before. It was a nice little escape for a day.

You can checkout more of our photos here…

We’re Home

We made it home Monday evening after an extremely long day driving through Colorado and Utah. I can’t say the trek back home was any easier on us. It was smooth sailing until we met up with the “Monster Storm” in Colorado. I-70 was closed so we took a detour onto highway 40 through Steamboat Springs and Vernal. It was beautiful country but the stress of the snowy conditions on the road trumped all that and the fact that we just wanted to get home. Ellen did well she didn’t seem to fuss as much, perhaps she understood more the woes of road trips and that sometimes you just have to deal no matter how bad your back aches from sitting so long. She is such a good baby. I learned that she loves it when you blow on her feet I got many frowns to turn into smiles with that trick. I also went to town on my little knitting project there will soon be a scarf to show off. Chip and Adah once again got the luxury of riding up front in the warm cab for the last 150 miles. Once the sun goes down the bed of the truck turned into an ice box we didn’t want to torture the dogs too much so we all crammed into the cab. Chip did look at me with grateful eyes. Adah was over it 50 miles before she even got in the cab and she panted a nice rhythm for us all the way home. Gary was a trooper as well, he focused on getting us there safe and sound. He drove like a champ the entire time only to have come home and face a waist high pile of snow in the driveway ugh, but he persevered and dug out just enough room for the truck at the end of the drive until we could get a plow in the next day. Good thing he’s got a strong back. I miss the Marcoccia’s terribly. I think I cried all the way to Pennsylvania when we left. It is good to be back in our little world though I missed our little cabin. Gary and I are both chomping at the bit to go ski. Oh the snow! There is sooo much Yahoo!

Here is a little clip of Ellie from Junction City, KS, telling us how she feels about sitting in a car for 12 hours…

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dMw9X53a06U[/youtube]