FriesenFour

It was a big day of driving so we wanted to get an early start. Levi was the first one up about 7:20. He had only been up once in the night and didn't really need anything, just some reassurance and refill of water (even though he wasn't out). We were on the road about 9:30. It was a little later than we hoped, but it would work. Sarah sat in the back with Paul for the first parts of the drive to help him with homework. Our first stop was the Bonneville Salt Flats rest stop just east of Wendover, UT. We played in the salt for awhile and drew some pictures in the salt. The boys tried to use their sand toys, but the salt was a little too hard. It had been ... read more

After a solid night of sleep, we had a somewhat pathetic hotel breakfast before driving south out of Rock Springs and back into Utah. Our first gorgeous views for the day were of Flaming Gorge National Recreation Area. We enjoyed the beautiful scenery and drove over the dam before stopping at the Red Canyon Visitor's Center to get more information and walk along the rim of the canyon. The park rangers were very excited to see us and give the kids free Smokey the Bear stickers, bookmarks, and balloons. After our short walk along the rim, we had our picnic lunch at the picnic tables in front of the Visitor's Center. Then we started the drive south into Vernal, Utah. We didn't get far before we saw some "wildlife" that wasn't all that wild. A lost ... read more

Today was packed tight with new adventures! Both boys got up once in the night to request a refill of their water cups but otherwise everyone slept ok. After a hotel breakfast, we were on the road around 10 am to drive the 10 miles to the Crazy Horse Monument. The mountain carving for Crazy Horse will be the largest in the world, but is still in progress, only the face is finished. It has been in the works for over 60 years now. Paul got to take home a piece of the rock blasted off the mountain. By noon we were rounding the corner and entering the huge parking garage at Mount Rushmore. We walked to the end of the Grand Terrace and enjoyed the view of the four historical Presidents. Then we went downstairs ... read more

The adventures of today started in the middle of the night when Levi woke up with a fever. He was up twice and was hot and irritable. Luckily he was a pretty good sport all day and we were able to force some medicine into him as needed. He really wishes he could get normal naps in his bed. He never naps very well or very long in the stroller or the car. Poor kid! Despite our many efforts to get an earlier start to our day, it was still 10:15 before we had the car re-packed and everyone loaded up. We started out by heading to a Denver suburb North of town to visit at mall with a Hanna Andersson store. This store is one of Sarah's favorites for kids clothes (and occasionally matching mom ... read more

We all got a good night sleep last night! Todd was feeling a little better in the morning and neither of the boys were up in the middle of the night. It may have helped that we had our own room in the suite and just didn't hear them. This was our first full day in Denver and we intentionally left it unplanned, but knew there were lots of options. We decided on the Denver Museum of Nature and Science since they had dinosaurs and an exhibit on Egyptian Mummies. Paul has been reading a story book on this trip about a mummy so he was looking forward to learning more about them. It was about 11:00 when we got into the museum. There were many more things that interested us once we were there. We ... read more