Day 2, part 1::St. George Dinosaurs

So, Saturday we spent the day doing yard work.  I know, not really vacation-type fun, but it needed to be done.  AND I had lots of laundry to wash and dry (I started drying on the clothesline and I absolutely {HEART} it!  I'm so green!). 

That afternoon, Steven's Uncle Don called and chatted with me for a bit.  He said he'd heard we had the coming week off and would we like to visit him while he's in St. George?  What!?  Like an actual vacation with a road trip!?  We've never done that!  Well, not one that lasted more than an hour that is.  We jumped at the chance!  Very quickly our staycation turned into an official vacation!  EXCITING!!  We did all kinds of travel preparations Saturday afternoon, then went to the Real Salt Lake soccer game that evening. 

Side note: I {HEART}soccer games.  LOVING the World Cup!

We couldn't leave until after church on Sunday since we were both in charge of things on Sunday in our callings.  But once completed, we hastily packed and were out the door. After 3 pit-stops (Sandy, Orem and somewhere in the middle of Utah) we arrived in St. George.  I think it was about 5 hours drive.  Practically, the whole way there Allison asked every 15 minutes, "how much longer?"  NO LIE.  She was so excited she could hardly contain herself.  You see, Uncle Don has a pool in his backyard.  A dream of hers.  

We woke up Monday morning, made breakfast and went off running around with Uncle Don for a bit.  He took us to his new house being built (sadly this one won't have a pool...Allison is heartbroken).  The layout is gorgeous and Uncle Don has excellent taste.  Then he took us to a duck pond not too far away from his new house.  By this point, Isaac had fallen asleep, so I hung out by the car and opted to be the photographer.  Funny thing...the ducks could have cared less that we had bread to feed them.  Either their bellies were already filled from other kids' bread or ours just wasn't good enough for them.  Either way, we'll go somewhere near our house to feed the ducks soon.  Somewhere where we know the ducks can appreciate a fun gesture!  Haa!

Uncle Don had house building details to attend to, so we went off and had some St. George fun as a family.  First on the list: the Dinosaur Discovery at Johnson Farm.  It was pretty cool.  It's an actual dig site that they built a building over and created a museum of sorts for everyone to enjoy.  About 1/2 way thru, Isaac kept proclaiming "I done.  I ready to go."  As interesting as it was, unless you're really really into dinosaurs and such, it's not THAT exciting.

This was the first display that Isaac was incredibly interested in.  WOW!  A dinosaur leg!  He kept pointing to it and trying to get us to look at it.  What a cute smile on this kid!!! 

He didn't quite like me holding his leg up that close to the dino leg, though.  Funny kid.  He prefers enjoying from a distance...with everything. 

Allison was trying her hardest to look as fierce as this dino head.  I think the claws really add to the terror...

This little dinosaur caught Isaac's eye...I still don't know why really.  Behind him you can see the actual dig sight the building was created over.

Inside this glass cube, little fishy impressions were housed.  The magnifying glasses were definitely helpful since they were so tiny. 

At the end/beginning, there were kiddie tables so the kids could trace and color a dinosaur to take home.  These two kids LOVED that part the best, I think!

Our family photo shows the dig site behind us, too.  We didn't get to see anyone working in that area, but there were some paleontologists working in the back a little bit.  THAT would have been even better!  I'm still amazed that dinosaur remains can be found so many years after they lived and that we are still able to learn so much from them and about them.  Absolutely incredible!