Introducing Henryosaurus

 This is Henryosaurus, the rearticulated dinosaur found in Bone Canyon. Desert Boy and my husband had a fun time putting it together.

 As you can see, Desert Girl doesn't quite know what to make of this fantastic creature with multiple sets of teeth.

I have a feeling that we will soon be adding to our unique dinosaur collection.

A January Hike

 It was a beautiful Friday afternoon and I had spent too much time sitting all week, so I took the afternoon off to go hiking with the kids. Desert Boy was glad to go out, but had a couple tears because he wanted to have friends go hiking with us, and they were all busy with other activities.

 I'm not sure what Desert Girl was thinking. She was keeping warm in her coat. Not that it was all that cold--it was upwards of 50 degrees.

I wasn't entirely sure where to go, but ultimately decided to go towards a canyon not too far from our house. I couldn't get too wild, as I was driving the low-clearance two-wheel drive soccer mom van.

 On the way I spotted a large bird and noticed it had a white head. Brakes!! We stopped to admire the beautiful bald eagle. We usually have a couple that spend the winter near us, and it's always so cool to see them.

Then we continued on our way, and instead of going up into the canyon, decided to climb a "mountain" that juts up from the bench on the way up to the canyon. The "mountain" doesn't have a name, but when I deigned to call it a hill, Desert Boy was quick to disagree.
"That's a big mountain," he said.
Okay, I wasn't going to disagree.
"Do you think we can climb it?"
"Yes."
Good. Because I knew he could. But it would be better if we wanted to.
Before we started the hiking challenge, we had the fording the creek challenge. In the low-clearance two-wheel drive soccer mom van.

Momentum was our friend, and we made it across. Good thing, too. It would have been really embarassing to have to go for help and tell someone we had gotten the van stuck in the middle of the creek.

 Before I had gotten out of the van and Desert Girl strapped on me and the camera ready, Desert Boy and Henry had charged up the mountain. This mountain is known for lots of rattlesnakes in the summer, so it was nice to be climbing it in winter and not have to worry about them at all.

 When I finally caught up to Desert Boy, he was trying to scale the sharp limestone on a "huge" cliff. He made a good start of it, but eventually slid right down the face of it. He skinned part of his hand, getting a "blood owie." Then it was time for more tears because I didn't have a bandaid with me. I know, what an unprepared mom I was!

I convinced him we could continue, and despite great protestations, we ascended.

 We could measure our progress by how much smaller the sheep camp below looked.

l

 Yep, it's tough to climb a mountain with a blood owie. Really tough.

 I was amazed that there wasn't any snow. And looking up the canyon, we could hardly see snow at the higher elevations.

 We hadn't gotten too far when the kids decided it was snack time or else. So we plopped down and they happily sipped and munched away. Afterwards they were slightly more willing to continue.

 They got much more excited when we found some fossils.

 Here I am holding one for scale.

 Then the whole mindset for the hike changed. Now we were on a mission to find cool fossils.

 And cool caves. This one was big enough for the kids to climb into it.

 It turned out it had a sunroof so I could look down at them. We found several other little holes to investigate, and Desert Girl got really good at spotting them. Unfortunately my camera battery died and the spare was back in the low-clearance two-wheel drive soccer mom van, so the photo taking part of the trip was over.

We made it to the peak and enjoyed the view. Then Desert Boy was really concerned about how we were going to get back down. I told him there was a special way. And lucky for me, there was. We went down a little gully, and on the way, we saw some bones. Desert Boy entered his dinosaur paleontologist mode and immediately declared we had discovered some dinosaur bones. He asked if he could take them home. I told him that if he carried them, he could. Then we found more bones. And more. It turned out that the gully was full of sheep bones, including some recent deaths with lots of wool all around them. Desert Boy had to pick and choose what he wanted and filled up his backpack. He decided he was going to make an Emmasaurus with that day's finds, and then we might have to go back to gather more to make a Henryosaurus and a Daddyosaurus and a Mommyosaurus.

 Here are some bones he had at the end, while he's looking at a large sheep dog with a blood-covered face that came up to check us out. Fortunately she was very friendly. I tried not to dwell too much on why her fur was blood red. It wasn't too appealing.

 I tried out my new camera lens.

Hurray, we survived the mountain! Then we went home and promptly all took a nap.

Fun with Triops

 We're starting the New Year with some new pets: Triops. My first thoughts about these creatures is that my parents really should have let us have these when we were kids.

They instantly stop fights because the parent just says, "Look at the Triops."
or
"What are the Triops doing?" 
or
"Are the Triops still alive?"
or
"Have the Triops grown so much that they're going to eat your head off?"
 and the kid is immediately distracted. They're also much more entertaining at breakfast than reading the backs of cereal boxes (which is what we did when we were kids when we weren't throwing dirty looks at each other).

 Every day I wonder if the Triops are still alive in their slightly murky water. Why is the water murky? Maybe because my husband feeds them hamburger. Maybe because I give them a little carrot once in awhile. Maybe because we couldn't resist adding some sand to the bottom, and the water has never been quite the same since.

Fortunately, Triops are quite hardy. They lived when the dinosaurs lived. Whatever killed the dinosaurs, the Triops survived. It probably helped that their eggs can be dormant for up to 30 years. 

 The above photo was taken a couple weeks later than the first two, and the Triops has grown in size, to almost half an inch. It's really cool looking.

 They live in our water pitcher, for perspective. And to future house guests: if you see this water pitcher on the table, DO NOT drink from it unless you ask first. I'm not sure what Triops taste like, but I imagine the sensation of something going down your throat and wiggling its way into your stomach is not pleasant.

 We have one Triops that looks like a classic Triops, and then we have a bunch of these shrimpy-looking things (as my friend Anna calls them. And a million thanks to Anna for starting us on our Triops adventure!). I should do a little research and figure out what they are, but when I did the research before, I didn't get much past the part where you could add sand and feed them carrots on weekends.

Photographing Triops has proven to be a challenge. This one looks like it's ready to jump out of the pitcher and attack.

Don't you want some? We need some Triops penpals!

2012: Eat, Drink, Be Merry, and Play in Mud

Thanks for checking out my blog in 2011, I appreciate those who have taken the time to read what I have written and checking out the photos. Writing this blog helps keep me organized. Even if I have just discovered a photo from back in September.

As for the photo, the kids just couldn't resist getting wet and muddy while Dad was out irrigating. I figure that's apropos for enjoying life: playing in mud takes us back to our roots, grounds us, and is one heck of an exfoliator.

So here's to a happy and healthy and muddy 2012 for each of you!

Children's Nativity Play-2011

 Friday afternoon was the dress rehearsal for the Children's Nativity Play to be held Christmas Eve. The kids were so excited to put on costumes, although Desert Girl wanted to keep her sparkling red shoes on with her sheep costume.

 As the children waited to put on their costumes, they watched a video from two years ago. Desert Boy had been a lamb that year, and all the other kids had had other parts. They thought two years ago was ages ago, and it was true that they all looked quite a bit different.

 Once everyone had their costumes on, it was time to take their places: King Herod on his throne, the angels on their cloud, the shepherds and sheep on Shepherd's Hill, Joseph and Mary in the stable.

 Desert Girl liked the pillows under Shepherd's Hill. The sheepherders weren't too concerned about keeping their sheep behaving well.

 Doug skillfully accompanied all the songs. I sure wish I could play the piano better--I used to take lessons from Doug but eventually gave them up because I didn't have time to practice. But I'm getting more tempted to make that time...

 The girls--and Neto--lined up to sing a song. Desert Girl was happy to stand up there even though she didn't know any of the words. I guess she's not so shy.

 The angels are always so fun to watch. One of the advantages of photographing during the dress rehearsal is seeing the orange socks! Oh, the lighting is a little simpler, too.

 Little Ella had fun wandering all over the stage and back and forth from the audience during the dress rehearsal.

 She found the other angels for this song.

 Desert Boy had several lines and was really good about memorizing them.

 The Three Wise Men made their grand entrance.

 Joseph and Mary (aka Megan and Kayli) had to check out what was happening over at the palace.

 Desert Girl was a little tired and ready to be held.

 The grand finale, Joy to the World.

 On the night of the performance, Isaac joined Emma as a sheep.

 This little lamb had fun playing with Grandpa before the performance.

My husband then videotaped the performance, but I haven't had much luck uploading the large files yet.

The kids did an excellent job, despite a wandering sheep and angel that caused a little havoc.

For the last song, all the kids were up on stage singing except for Desert Girl, who sat on Shepherd Hill making funny faces. I guess I could say she was basking in the limelight!

School Christmas Program

  The local elementary schools had their Christmas program Tuesday evening, and the preschool kids (with a couple helpers) started off the evening singing a couple songs. Desert Boy belted it out, but I'm not sure if Desert Girl ever opened her mouth!

 Those cherubic cheeks just make me want to pinch them! They won't have them for much longer.

 I'm not sure if they weren't hitting the right notes or if there was something else of concern to make Ava and Emma look so worried.

 Fortunately it turned out okay!

 Afterwards, the kids went and sat on the gym mats. They goofed around, and I thought this was a good "See no evil, hear no evil, smell no evil" pose. Or something like that.

 Next up was K-2. Yep, this is the whole class (minus one) for those three grades. Have I mentioned we live out in the boonies?

 Oops, I got distracted by my mega-cute niece Kayli.

 Time to watch the elementary school play, about inventions. It was fun to watch.

 Grades 3-6 went next. I think there are 17 students in that school, all in one classroom. They did a nice job and had fun with the fancy microphones.

 Megan and Melanie were obviously having a good time.

 Desert Girl always likes to visit her babysitter when she has a chance!

 Then Santa arrived, to the merriment of all the kids.

 Well, almost all the kids. Desert Girl wasn't too sure about getting close to Santa, even with Grandma's urging.

 Meanwhile, Desert Boy had no qualms about plopping down and telling Santa his whole list.

Hmmm, still thinking!

It was a great evening.
Tonight we're going to the children's Nativity play, which both kids are supposed to be a part of. It's always so cute to watch them.

We hope you have a very blessed Christmas!