Valley of Fire

Over President's Day weekend we went camping in Nevada at a fun place called Valley of Fire. It was the perfect time of year to be there...lows in the 40's, highs in the mid-60's... it was more like the Valley of Perfect Temperature! but I am sure that if we had gone later in the spring or summer, then the name would be quite appropriate. This was the first time that we took out the motor home that we were given for a long trip instead of just for a drive. I thought it was pretty neat to be able to pack food and gear into the cupboards and closet instead of just in coolers and bags; it was like we were playing house on the road! Don't you love our 70's shag mobile?! The two pictures above shows us parked next to our uncle with his new RV. It was so much fun! We brought Emmett's car seat and had him buckled up for most of the trip and the other kids kind of ping ponged between laying on the upper bed, sitting on the couches, and front seat driving with daddy. Poor Scott drove the whole way there and back and I just kept him stocked up on drinks and munchies. It was so much fun being there - we let the kids play on the mountain side all day long and they played like billy goats up and down the side of the mountain. We met up with Scott's cousin's family and his Aunt and Uncle who gave us the RV. The cousin's kids match up to ours perfectly with one oldest daughter who is 11, an 8-year old son, a 6-year old son, and then a 3-year old son. So each of my kids has a cousin counterpart who they palled around with all day long. The girls found castles in the rock wall and made sand cakes and fairy homes, the older boys rode bikes around the motor homes and played pioneers, and the middle boys played in the sand and went lizard hunting. We went hiking each day and got to see some petroglyphs in a place named Mouse's Tank, and climbed really high rocks at Rainbow Arches.
On the first day, when we had been there only about 30 minutes, Owen and his cousin Riter were playing in the loose sand when Owen wanted to dig a hole. I hadn't unpacked the buckets and shovels yet, so he and Emmett went to find their own... yeah, we spent an hour picking irritating hairs out of Emmett and Owen's little hands and Owen's rear end! (I'm still not sure how the ones got in his rear, but they were definitely there _I think he fell back and sat on one) Just as an FYI - it is a good idea to keep duct tape in your camping supplies for just such an occasion! It did a great job yanking out a lot of the fine red hairs. After that, we didn't have anymore run ins with cacti! The big boys had fun burying Emmett in the cool sand, and Emmett loved the attention from them! He ate so much sand that weekend I was pretty sure his diapers were going to be filled with sandpaper! He would throw the sand up at his head and giggle and do it again. He was so funny to watch!

The rocks were so beautiful there - soft edges, round crevices where water had eroded them, fast lizards scurrying around, and soft sand ready for the digging! We climbed, hiked, crawled, and shimmied our hearts out!

We had such a fun time there and are looking forward to our next trip in the RV; wherever that will take us!