We always make a visit to “Dinosaur” Grandpa’s house during our sunny sabbatical in St. George. Why do the kids call him that? You’ll find out just as soon as Grandma LaVerna gets Ellie’s fingers untangled from the string puppet collection…
Back before Ryan & I were married (slightly after dinosaurs roamed the earth) my Grandpa was grading some land he owned in order to sell it. While he was digging he came across an incredible find: Dinosaur footprints!
Once upon a time St. George was covered in water. The dinosaurs walked through the shallow parts and left their footprints in the mud. The footprints filled with silt, millions of years passed, and ding! This is what the bottom of a dilophosaurus foot looks like…in 3D!
At this point he thought, “Why stop digging?” He got some extra help and revealed hundreds of tracks from many different kinds of dinosaurs.
The kids were more & more impressed with each footprint. Hey Ro-saurus, how do you measure up?
If it hadn’t sunk deep into their cortex yet that it was their great-grandfather who made this awesome discovery, the cartoon was sure to do the trick:
“Hey Grandpa, that’s you!”
Needless to say the kids were pretty excited that Grandpa has his “very own” museum. But they were also kinda jealous. “How come Grandpa gets to find all the dinosaur tracks?”
Have no fear kids, you can be a prehistoric paw prospector too! Fire up the back hoe and the grader. Wait Ellie, not at the same time!
The master digger gave Drew some tips on where he might find some T-rex treads.
Brinley decided role-playing was a worthwhile technique. If I was a scaly, 200-ton lizard, where would I roam?
Looks like drew may be brushing off a great specimen! On the other hand, Eleanor is trying to use the brush as a shovel…
The unveiling continues, with Brinley controlling the bristles. Hey Rowan, this may go quicker if we could use your hair. Whaddya say to that!?
I think Ellie overheard us and bugged out before she got “delegated”.
Sorry Ellie, just like inside the museum, you can’t take that footprint home either. Nice try!
what a fun post. and a great tribute to Dinosaur Grandpa and grandma! They loved having you come thru and being your guides. How fun it is to have your Grandpa so famous!
Your kids are such cute little paleontologists!
Angela and I had fun catching up on your blog. we visited that museum just a few months ago 🙂