Massacre Rocks Idaho Trip Part One!

Friday Tony got off work early and we headed up to meet my parents at Massacre Rocks State Park in Idaho.  Elizabeth was so excited to sleep over in the motorhome and to have lots of picnics!  Both the kids had a great time outside playing in the dirt and with sticks and rocks...though Devin looked pretty beat up by the end of it, it's not easy being off balance all the time!  But they both had tons of fun!  The sunsets were gorgeous!  Saturday morning we took a little trail with a couple fun tunnels that had awesome echoes, that Elizabeth took great advantage of, to some wagon ruts left from all the wagons coming along the Oregon trail.  This trip fit in so perfectly to Elizabeth's lessons, as we were discussing how God created the earth and all the beauties within it, and of course for Pioneer Day we'd been talking about pioneers.  So the pictures on the plaques were very great at helping her understand that.  We saw a lot of the beauties God created on our little hike as well!  After lunch we drove into American Falls to pick up some things we needed from their little market.  We were going to go to their little museum first but apparently it's only open on Thursdays or upon request...gotta love small towns!  So then we went over to the park and let the kids play for a good long while.  Elizabeth made a friend named Payton and they had a lot of fun together!  Then it was over to the market. Then back to the motorhome for dinner!  Elizabeth loved that we got to eat most of our meals outside on the picnic table...oh the simple pleasures!  After putting the kids to bed we played some fun games of Ticket to Ride usually until around midnight...it's such an addictive and fun game!!  Sunday after breakfast Tony and I went and played 9 holes of their frisbee golf(frolf)course, and when they said it ain't your mama's frolf course...they meant it!!  It was insane!  Trees and bushing everywhere, oh and of course they have to start by warning you of the rattlesnakes....so every time walk up to your fribee on the ground your ears are waiting to hear the rattling, and you quickly and cautiously grab it from the ground!  It was up the side of the mountain and then down again, half the time you couldn't even tell where the goal was!  My frisbee really liked trees ;)  Tony was actually getting really good towards the end!  Lets just say I'm gonna stick to the snake free Wii version I'm better at!  After Frolf we noticed a little trail that went down to the Snake river, so we put the frisbees away and walked down it to the water...it was so peaceful and beautiful there! We enjoyed the serenity for a while then headed back to the motorhome.  For lunch we drove to Register Rock where there where lots of nice shaded picnic tables and open grassy area to throw frisbees around, it was sooo much fun!  After a while though the wind picked up too much to continue throwing frisbees so we went over to Register Rock, a big rock where pioneers along the Oregon Trail stopped and signed their names.  I was surprised that Elizabeth recognized that they were names on the rock and how well she understood what they were!  My dad even took and showed her a tree that broke a rock!  That sent her mind a spinnin'!  It was nice that we were all alone most of the time so Devin wandered about freely, and once other people started showing up he was done...but luckily we all were to.  That evening after dinner as it started getting darker my mom pulled out some fun glow toys for the kids, Elizabeth got a purple glow wand and Devin got an orange glow sword!  They had tons of fun with them until bedtime, after which we once again played a few more fun games of Ticket to Ride!  Monday we started packing up the motorhome to head to Castle Rock/City of Rocks, but first Tony and I went back into American Falls to get gas and a couple things we forgot to get the last time we were there.  We let the kids check out the visitor center, where Elizabeth got a really good lesson about life as a pioneer.  Then we headed off to the next part of our trip!

 I absolutely ADORE this picture!!