Death Valley- Day Three

I hope you aren't sick of my camping re-cap. I use this space not only to share with all of you, but as a journal of sorts and it is so important to me to get these memories down before they fade off into the mommy-brain ether....

On Saturday we had a mellow breakfast and got out early to check out the sand dunes.

The wind was still around that day though so they weren't quite as fun as I remember them being from last time- sand in your eyes and in your waiste band aren't all that great.

Poor O. decided that it was a good time to fill up his diaper and had an epic 'field change' to beat all field changes on the top of a windy, windy sand dune. Sand shouldn't be part of any diaper change but it was nearly a blowout and had to be done.
We did get in some kite flying though (perfect weather for that!) and football with Grandpa back in the parking lot. "TOUCH DOWN"!

It was again agreed that a dunk in the pool was necessary so we brought all the lunch stuff , plopped down on a big blanket and had a picnic. We then jumped in the pool to clean up and cool down-though Saturday was not nearly as hot as the other days, so we didn't stick around as long as we had before.
After a quick splash, we headed back to camp for nap time. That is when the funniest part of our trip began. Daddy-O's sister R. headed out for a run (she is training for a marathon and despite the heat, needed to get her miles in for the day). It was Daddy-day care time....
O. fought his nap at first, but finally went down. However, E and N were another story all together. Putting two kids in a hot tent with bouncy air mattresses for a bed and expecting them to doze off quietly to sleep is just plain crazy.
N (the 18mo) figured out the zipper on the tent. We watched, with stifled laughter, as one little, pudgy toddler foot popped out the tent door and then another. I wish I would have had my camera out, especially when, at one point E (the 3.5yr) opened this little 'escape hatch'/"doggie door" on the tent and shoved N right on out and onto the ground. We were trying so hard to just ignore the silliness and continue playing our game of Uno, but the cocktails that the boys were enjoying were not helping the giggles and made keeping quite extremely hard to do.
Finally, T. decided that it was futile and let the kids just skip nap time for the day. He got out the bubbles for them to play with. For some crazy reason or another the wash buckets of water were filled and dumped, making the most spectacular "chocolatte-chocolatte" you have every seen.

I was sort of sad, yet totally relieved that O was still fast asleep for his nap during all of this desert latte making... hee hee.


There was an easy dinner of wieners and burgers that night.

Then off to the play ground for cookies, face painting, swinging, basketball and glow sticks. It was a prefect last night to our awesome camp trip.

On Sunday we packed up camp and headed out for the 7hr drive home. One last group shot of all of us was snapped before we hit the road. Daddy-O and I (and O.) also did a quick visit in the museum and gift shop. We purchased a couple of t-shirts and a new book about deserts for O. (Something we always like to do to support the parks is get a t-shirt or book.) O was amazing on the long ride and slept, sang, read his books and spotted "moo-cows" and "neigh-neighs" along the way.

I am was so glad to have had a little break from work and reality. And even more happy that I have such an awesome set of in-laws to join us on our trip. We had a great time exploring. I think I laughed more laughs then I have in a long, long time. I never had cousins in the same town (or side on this side of the country for that mattere) while growing up, so getting to do this sort of thing with O, and his cousins E and N is a total treat and an only child's dream come true for her kid.
Thanks Death Valley for being a warm sunny spot in our late winter early spring days. It was well worth the drive to get to your intense landscape and beautiful scenery.