Digging and Family and Dads

We had the craziest most awesome weekend, full of, well… everything.

My son has been waiting to go on a dinosaur dig for years. He’s only 8, but he’s been waiting for years. You all know how much he loves them. Well, his dream came true. The Dinosaur Center in Thermopolis took us on an excellent trip to a dig site just a few miles out of town. They were working on a Diplodocus hip they had found a few weeks earlier as well as some other random pieces, so we got to just jump right in and help them with their normal day. It was soooo awesome. My son was in heaven. It was tedious work, but the payout was fantastic. We didn’t find anything huge, except a tooth (which my son was extremely jealous about, because he father found it.) Our guide did uncover a rib bone as well, which was pretty amazing to see. We as a family would do it again in a heart beat, as I think we like that kind thing. Grandma and Grandpa found it interesting, but getting up and down and in and out was a little harder for them. But I know they enjoyed seeing the joy in my kiddo’s face.

Andrew and Duncan were fantastic guides. They were super patient with my little one and the three of them could jabber on and on and on and on about everything. We got to go in the back  of the museum and check out some of the new bones brought in and then drill on another. They took my Dino Dude on a guided tour through the museum (which he has spent sooo much time at already) and again the three of them just jibber jabbered on and on and on. My little one and having a paleontologist to talk to is like peanut butter finding jelly.

My camera overheated for the first time ever, so I don’t have a ton of photos, but that’s ok, I got to enjoy digging instead!

While we were in Thermop, we attended a family reunion. It was held at the Taylors, who rent the house down the road out as vacation house. It’s right next to two natural mineral pools, just for your enjoyment. The house itself is huge and when it rained we were able to go inside and have a massive game of Nerds. I got to spend some time with family members that I have of course met before, but never really got to know. That’s always fun. And my brother in law and I were the last ones out of the pool . I don’t swim often, but as I often think and say, if you are going to do something, do it big and right. So I got nice and wrinkled. Thank you so much to everyone who helped cook and put this thing together for everyone.

The three of us older children stayed at the cabin for the night and of course I was up at the crack of dawn waiting, with a cup of coffee, for the sun to come up. It was so amazing as the river was steamy and beautiful, as rivers sometimes get when it’s chilly at night.

And then we were off again. We stopped to have lunch with my dad and wish him a “Happy Fathers Day” and then jump back on the road to get back in time to hit the dinosaur exhibit that was traveling through.  The Dino Dude and I went together to give daddy a little break for the day. Of course it was overpriced and of course we had seen most everything there already, but it was still fun. Can’t really beat taking pictures inside the mouth of a giant t-rex.

And I didn’t want to forget to wish my hubby a happy fathers day too. He’s a pretty awesome daddy and we’re lucky to have him!