Friday, August 15, 2008

I bring to you the Dinosaur Hunt

As you all know my little dude planned a dinosaur hunt for the family to go on. He put a ton of planning into what we were going to do and where we were going. He even packed a backpack with a few essentials. A compass for everyone, his book on dinosaurs that he carefully marked with sticky tabs important info, a bag of hot dog buns, a can of pineapple (little dude said that it is so you can eat the pineapple then if you get lost in the mountains and need something to drink you can drink the juice), and a bottle of water.


My little princess packed her backpack too with a girl's must have....her princess dress up shoes.

When there is any food involved little man is game for anything.


We got a later start than we had hoped, but we were not going to miss out on what little dude had planned. We drove up Butterfield Canyon and let Dude tell us where to stop. We only had to turn around twice before he found the perfect spot. When we first got out of the car little dude saw this fork and we so excited that he had found his first treasure.

Boy is he in for a surprise!


When we got all set up little dude grabbed his gloves and found a log to sit and look around. He found a trail leading up the mountain from where we were and decided to take us up there.

So here we are on a "Dinosaur Hunt" looking for fossils or dinosaur bones (humoring our kids) and pretending to be archaeologists. When we walk up the trail a little; right in the middle of the path there were REAL BONES! Yes, I know! Can you imagine the reaction of the kids when we find REAL bones on a "Dino Hunt"?
The kids were funny. Dude was a little weary of it, but Princess actually picked it up. They looked at it for awhile and decided to move on and see what else we could find. When we walked maybe 20 more steps here is what we found.....





So of course daddy had the kids get out the book to see if they could identify the type of dinosaur it was. They determined that it could possibly be a Stegosaurus that looked a little like a dear.
The kids can now say that they went on a dinosaur hunt and found real bones! Little dude was pretty happy about it.
He hiked for a bit longer, but it was starting to get dark. So we decided to go back to camp and eat the pineapple and bread.
This is an experience that we as a family will never forget. I am so glad that we gave Dude the chance to explore his idea. We all learned a great lesson that day! I keep thinking, what if we didn't take him? What if we didn't make the time to take him on this hunt that he put a lot of thought into? I really hope that I never get too busy to miss an opportunity like this EVER!

11 comments:

Melissa said...

That is the cutest story. What good parents, to let him do that! He is a lucky little boy. And it looks like you guys had lots of fun.

Amy Mitchell said...

Awesome pics! What a great day! Your kids are lucky to have such awesome parents...kids can be so fun and so many parents miss it!

EngineeringNerd said...

Freaking Awesome!!!

Aubrey said...

Oh my goodness, you are awesome parents. That had to be a lot of fun. What an imaginative little boy. He is going to have great ideas growing up.

Holly said...

This looks like tons of fun. Those bones were pretty big!

Becky said...

Oh Shannon, GOOD FOR YOU GUYS!!!!! Life gets so busy sometimes that it becomes easy to miss the memorable, IMPORTANT times in life. Bless both you and your hubby for taking the time and having the patient to do this for your son AND as a family!!!! Just think of the confiedence and pride that he got out of that adventure!!! :)

Kat said...

That is the sweetest story. I love letting my little guy do stuff like that.Your kids have gotten so big!!!

Glenn Amber Evans said...

Ok so that was the cutest story i have heard in such a long time. And to see some bones makes it that much cuter, you are such a good mom.

Carolina said...

Wow, what an adventure, with real bones and all!

Amy @ The Q Family said...

That's such a great ideat. Looks like everyone enjoys this experience. You guys are such a wonderful parent to let your kids explore his idea!

-Amy @ The Q Family

Unknown said...

BEAUTIFUL...looks like so much fun. Love the photos...wonderfully documented.