Roberts Family Blog

Hey all.  Today I am blogging about dinosaurs.  You know - Hayden's favorite animal   He has not quite grasped the word "extinct".  He's quite convinced that these animals still roam the land, and he would love to come face to face with his hero - the triceratops!!  And let's just be honest, who isn't fascinated with dinosaurs?  Well Sunday was our last day of the holiday season before starting back to work, and Nate came up with the idea to road-trip it to Dinosaur Valley State Park, which is about 2 hours south of us on the way toward Austin and Hill Country.  Nate is always complaining about how there is nothing to do outside in Texas, and I am always telling him that we just need to be creative and explore a bit more, so this was our active effort to enjoy the outdoors in Texas, and quench Hayden's thirst for a dinosaur experience

"Dinosaur Valley State Park contains some of the best preserved dinosaur tracks in the world" - this is their tagline, and they surely don't disappoint!  Nate and I were blown away by this park, not only for the beyond cool dinosaur footprints, but also for the scenic beauty and remoteness.  We felt transported to a natural wonderland and it was just fantastic to actually be able to let the dogs run wild along the trail, and to hike with our sons!!   We ran into a total of 6 people the entire day, and were able to see some really interesting dinosaur tracks and Hayden was thrilled to don his hiking stick and check out the world around him.  He kept saying "that's so COOL dinosaur footprints!".  Here are some photos of our hike at the park.

To see the site with the best preserved tracks, you actually had to cross a swift-moving river.  I had worn comfy, but certainly not water-proof shoes, while Nathan had been much better prepared with his actual hiking boots.  He set out for a test-run across the slippery rocks and deemed it safe for Hayden.  It was really sweet, because Hayden was just so thrilled to be "crossing the river with daddy to see dinosaur footprints!", while Pierce and I stayed dry and safe on the near shore.  Well I'm actually not entirely sure that Pierce wanted to stay dry, as he was very determined to squirm out of my arms and into the river!  This little boy is on the move. 

One of the most thrilling parts of the day was leaving the park and seeing the life-sized brontosaurus and t-rex.  Hayden approached them with much more enthusiasm than I would have imaged from this little boy who is afraid of baseball games!  He kept telling me "mommy the dinosaurs are pretend" which seemed to be his own mantra to give him courage   He posed for a few photos with the brontosaurus, but he was really reluctant to get too close to the dino with the mouth full of teeth!  I just LOVE this photo, because Hayden was NOT going to let this dino out of his sight!  I just love this little boy and all his quirks

So all in all it was just a perfect day, and I was so proud of how well the boys behaved and listened.  This is just what Nathan and I have been looking forward to for so long with our children - seeing them enjoy the things that we so very much enjoy - like hiking and being outdoors. 

As I am typing this and adding photos - Hayden is "oooh those are BIG dinosaurs.  Dinosaurs say RwARRR".  Could it get any better than this?!?