Dinosaur World

We fell in love with Glen Rose, Texas!

On December 29th we packed up our car for a daytrip to Glen Rose. We have been talking about it for a year and finally had a chance to make it happen. We wanted to take Caleb to Fossill Rim and decided to see what else was in the vicinity. There is a lot! We chose Dinosaur World as our other destination and loaded into the car! We left the house at 8:30am (got home at 8pm), drove two hours and spent the entire day exploring a beautiful part of our home-state!

Our first stop was Dinosaur World and you could just feel Caleb's excitement as we got closer and closer. There was a lot more of "are we there yet" than on any previous trip...it was so much fun!

Dinosaur World is awesome! They have a walking trail with over 100 life-sized dinosaurs along the path. It was really neat to see how big and small they really were! Some of them left Caleb speechless with joy and others left him somewhat cuddly and unsure. It was a really beautiful day and the walk took about 30 minutes, so it was a great way to stretch our legs. At the end of the walk he got to play in dino-themed park and then dig for fossills (he got to keep three treasures). They also have a small museum with dinosaur eggs and claws and whatnot. Caleb didn't like that building since it was dark and had a strange noise from somesort of unseen vent. It was short.

Caleb's favourite part of Dinosaur World? Probably the pressed coin he got on the way out. Yup. He loves his coins.

After a nice lunch at a local barbeque joint, we headed off to Fossill Rim....more on that later...

Caleb might have stayed here the whole day...he just didn't know what was literally around the corner.

(Caleb took this one all by himself! He is quite an accomplished photographer!)

This is part of a whole series of photos that Caleb and Brian cooked up. We laughed, alot!

Do you see the deer?

We were checking out the giant dino when we heard leaves and twigs breaking. It really made us all jump! Then two deer wondered over for lunch. We spent a lot of time watching them and giggling at the whole scene!

Fancy photography by Daddy. He was laid out flat on the path!

CALEB'S FAVOURITE DINOSAUR WAS THERE!

MAIASAURA!

The dude was thrilled. Really thrilled!

Um. Boys. Don't look now...

He looks happy because he was happy. You have to go to Dinosaur World!

His treasures!

Not too sure about this part. But that marked the end of Dinosaurs. Now onto zebras....

Alrighty!

Wow! It worked! My pictures loaded and it looks like I have some catching up to do!

I thought I would start with the first week of our stay-cation. We tackled the job of taking down our Christmas decorations early in the week and were very proud with how well Caleb handled it...since this is far from his favourite part of the season. He seemed fine with it until he realized that taking the lights off the trees meant that they would be put away. Apparently he thought that taking them off the trees meant that they could be added to his toy stash... Perhaps someday we will be able to read his mind and see these things coming. We let him play with them for awhile, put them away that night and he hasn't talked about it since. Of course, we have yet to take the lights off the house so he may just think he has another chance...

We also played. A lot. You'll see...

About to dismantle his tree and handling it like a pro!

Such a goofball! I love this picture because it is says so much about our fabulous dude! He is so much fun!!!!

The dudes. Love it!

Caleb has been putting the star on our tree since he was one, but this may be the first time he has taken it off...

Cuddle time with Trey. Caleb LOVES to hold babies. Little Emily (13mths) still tolerates it for longer than she will even cuddle with me!

I Know...

I know, I know...promised posts have yet to show. Still figuring out the glitches making my picture posting an unhappy business. But they are coming! And piling up too! Did y'all know we just finished a two week stay-cation? I highly recommend it. Brian thinks he will take two weeks off every month....

Boxing Day and Trains

I just can't resist celebrating Boxing Day and my dudes are more than open to whatever that means. This year we decided to take Caleb to NorthPark Mall to see the Ronald McDonald House train display. Y'all, it rocked.

Even though the crowds would rival any Canadian mall on the 26th, which I wasn't expecting, the adventure to find parking was fun for our dude. I have lamented for years that we moved from Canada right before I was old enough to venture out with my Mom and the ladies on their Boxing Day excursions...but I really felt like I was experiencing it with my boys! Of course we weren't there to shop and that was just fine with me.

Caleb's eyes positively lit up when he saw the Thomas train! Mine lit up when we saw the Canadian Pacific train...Brian will say they were all his favourite. He hoisted the dude on his shoulders and they had a blast talking trains. We also had to take a potty break half-way through which took us right past the Aunt Annie's Pretzel Shop...with a viewing window. I can't say for sure which Caleb enjoyed more, the trains or watching the pretzel ladies...

It was marvelous!

Happy Belated Boxing Day!

I'm trying, really I am. I have some great posts for this past week, but our internet is acting up and I am having a miserable time getting the pictures to load. I promise, I am trying! We have train adventures, dinosaur adventures, animal safari adventures, the return of Grammy and Pop and New Years Eve balloon fun to share! Oh the frustration!

anywhoozle...

Happy New Year Everyone!

2012 really does feel like a new year. I didn't used to see the big deal with new year celebrations, but I get it now. A fresh start. Moving forward. It feels like a new beginning! I pray that this year you feel God's glory, His mercy and His grace.

Love you all!

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas Loved Ones!

Freshly home from the Christmas Eve Service. For us, this is the start of Christmas!

Ready for bed in our matching Polar Bear PJs!

(an annual tradition inspired by some very clever friends)

Good Morning Rudolph!

Waiting for Daddy....

Caleb delivered us our stockings! Such a happy dude!

(Santa may not be a part of our Christmas morning, but we still do stockings!)

We break for breakfast after stockings. I made some snowman milk drinks to make it a little more special. They didn't make as big an impression on the dude as I had hoped....but he loved the donut.

How do you wrap an aquarium? Cut the flaps off a box, wrap it and plunk it on top! Worked like a charm!

Caleb has been asking for a fish for weeks now! We got him two guppies, each sporting some yellow. He immediately named them Shripareen and Shrimp. He has a way with names (remember his pillow pet TeaPoe?). We, (well, mostly Brian) woke up this morning (Boxing Day) to a dude insistent that his fish were starving and needed to be fed.

Daddy lurves his ice-cream! A lot!

It was a beautiful day with my dudes!

We played a lot with Caleb's new toys!

Our Happy Birthday Jesus cake.

Very excited to say that this one got made at home and was completely free of artificial food colouring. But the dude then got some m&ms later in the afternoon and we paid the price for that....

Happy Birthday Jesus!!!!

(the cupcake was my gluten-free treat)

One of Caleb's favourite books, How the Grinch Stole Christmas. We were winding down at this point and fighting the effects of the aforementioned m&ms. And let me just clarify, Caleb does not get naughty with food colouring, just extra hyper. And if you know our dude's energy levels, he doesn't need any help in that department!

Putting out our advent candles. I think the dude will miss the candles and advent calendars. He certainly will not be a happy dude when the trees come down...

HAPPY HOLIDAYS EVERYONE!

The Love of Christ

There are not any posts for last week; it was a rough week. Christmas does not mean that we are stuffed into a protective bubble that shields us from the real world. But it does remind us of the extraordinary love of our Saviour and of the hope and promises that can only be found in Him. Some of our dearest friends are truly suffering right now and our hearts are breaking for them. This is what made sitting down to blog extremely difficult. Mary, Ty, Charlie and Joy, and Angie, Todd and McKenna, you are forever in our thoughts and prayers. My friend Chrystal sent me an amazingly comforting note just before Christmas and her words have stuck with me, so I want to share them with everyone else: she prayed that we would find joy this Christmas season in the midst of reality. We love you all so very, very much.

It is kind of hard to switch gears, but last week did have some joyful moments. The most significant has to be the birth of Baby Elizabeth (Beth). My cousin Lavonne and her husband Mark welcomed their first child on Wednesday. Caleb has been the only child in the new generation on my side of the family for four years, and in the past three weeks has now been joined by Baby Matthew and Beth! How exciting! All December babies!!! Beth is the first girl! Congratulations Mark and Lavonne! I can't wait to meet your precious little treasure. She might be walking and talking before we get back north and she won't have a clue who I am, but I love her so much already!

Caleb is my forever source of joy and he was a wonderful distraction all last week. We kept up our holiday baking and he had so much fun decorating cookies to hand out to our friends. These are the moments we are meant to treasure.