Dinosaur Days with Jonas

Ever since summer started, I've been wanting to have a Dinosaur Overnighter Party with my cute little grandson Jonas.  Back in May, Scott and I rode our bikes on the Ogden Parkway Trail.  The very beginning of that trail goes pass the Dinosaur Park and you can see some of the awesome dinosaur replicas and hear them too.  I know Jonas loves Dinosaurs so that bike ride started my brain gears going planning up a fun Grandma/Grandpa day with Jonas.

The hard part was finding a time in Scott and I's schedule that worked with Stephanie and Clint's schedule too.  I mean, if we're going to take Jonas overnight it should offer some benefits for Stephanie and Clint to have some fun too, right?  Well, we finally discovered a day that would work...it was Scott's long weekend off work and it happened to be Stephanie and Clint's anniversary too!  And then Scott and I were going to a wedding reception in Bountiful on Thursday so that worked out perfectly to have Stephanie meet us there - kind-of like a half-way point.

Anyway, we had a blast with Jonas!  Yesterday (Friday) morning started with Dinosaur pancakes (which Jonas wouldn't eat :(  In fact I had a hard time getting him to eat anything!) and the fun continued from there.  We made a stained glass dinosaur (thank you allkidsnetwork.com), dug for plastic dinosaurs in the sandbox, went on a dinosaur shoot with our trusty rubber band gun, read dinosaur stories, and ate lunch in a dinosaur cave (our 2-man tent set up in the front room).

He doesn't look too thrilled does he.

Jonas didn't like the sticky contact paper touching his skin so he did his best to avoid contact with it!

Jonas totally loved "digging for dinosaurs"!

One happy dinosaur hunter!

Rewards from a successful dinosaur dig!

Shooting Fun

The shooting display

That night we squeezed in a late night visit to Tiffany and Jeremy's house, and enjoyed some ice cream and marshmallow roasting (I know...it was Jonas' bedtime but we couldn't get out there any sooner!  And I was a somewhat responsible Grandma, I did get Jonas down for a nap for 2 1/2 hours in the afternoon...thanks to Grandpa who took a nap with him!)  It was Jeremy's birthday too, so we had to wish that "dinosaur" a happy birthday, ha, ha. He's entering his 35th year of life, as Jeremy says.  I suppose he's not a dinosaur...yet!!

Then finally today, Scott, Jonas, and I all went to the Dinosaur Park in Ogden.  That place was awesome!  Oh my!  The first thing we saw when we walked past the front counter was a group of triceratops who looked alive!  They moved, their skin wrinkled, and they growled!  Jonas immediately clung to Scott and wouldn't let go!!  If I hadn't known better, I would have thought they were real too!  Once we got past those dinosaurs though, Jonas was willing to walk by himself and he even warmed up enough to touch the touchable baby dinosaur at the playground.  I recommend this place to anyone who loves dinosaurs!  They have several nice picnic areas and you can bring in your own food!  We barely looked through the fossils and rocks because our main objective was the big dinosaurs outside.

The picture's a little dark but these were the automated dinosaurs...they really seemed real!!

Jonas was a little unsure standing for a picture in front of this guy!

Help!!

A new pet?

Picnic fun...Jonas did like the grapes.

Silly Grandpa!! ;)

So check out their website at http://www.dinosaurpark.org/  You'll love it!  We had two great dinosaur days with Jonas!  Now I just have to hope Stephanie will let us take him for another overnighter in the future!  I'm already starting to think up a theme!  It will be fun when Alexis, Lily, and Jefferson get old enough for "Grandma Overnighters".  Sheesh!  I think I just might have to retire because I'll be having too much fun with my grand kids!! ;)