Moab, Utah

Moab is a cool town. It's just outside of Arches National Park and not too far from Canyonlands, so it serves as a base camp for both. We explored both and I will post those separately. While in Moab we went to a place called Hole 'N The Rock. Construction started in the 40s to create a sleeping area for the Christensen family and a diner for passersby which slowly grew to a 5000sqft, 14 room home, all dug/blasted out of a giant rock. It's pretty incredible, unfortunately they don't allow photography during the 12 minute tour, but it was very interesting, and kinda creepy. There are some interior shots posted HERE. The wife stayed in the house for 17 years after her husband passed and the house remains exactly as she left it, including about 12 creepy, antique dolls specifically placed around her bedroom. The owner dabbled in taxidermy at one point and the animals (his beloved pet donkey and two horses he found dead) are still on display in the house, it's safe to say he never mastered the craft. There is a rope hanging from the ceiling in one room, used during construction to ring a bell warning the diner patrons to hold on to their plates as they were about to blow some dynamite. Yah, these were different times!

The property is full of creative, kitschy items, from a jeep made out of license plates to a big foot (and I mean a plaster 3ft tall foot). Oh and both he and his wife are buried on the property!

They also have a zoo there which we had to visit. All of the animals could be fed, some thru tubes for safety, but the camel would take a carrot right out of your mouth. Asher was super brave and did it twice, only after insisting that I go first.

Journey preferred to feed the animals with her hands.

The three of us rode a camel, which was pretty exciting and bumpy!

The Moab Art Festival was fun, but of course the kids' favorite part was enjoying the playground.

Asher was pretty excited that I bought him a new shirt with a matching one for their baby doll!

You've probably heard the quote, "no matter how tough you are, if a toddler waves at you, you waive back", well when your sweet, little girl asks you to ride a dinosaur with her, you do it!

All cowboy'd up at the Canyonlands PRCA Rodeo! Not only did we enjoy the competitions, the kids also enjoyed the carnival and riding the "diggy trucks".  For the next 5 days, Asher asked to return to the rodeo and he refused to take his wristband off in the hopes for another visit. Oh and the rodeo was literally next door to our campground, so those last few nights we drifted off to sleep with the sounds of cows and horses just outside. Some may be bothered, but we thought it was pretty cool!

 Horses4Heroes is an outstanding organization that we are happy to be a part of. 

My kids have been riding horses with them for over a year. You can read about them HERE.

So, my kids have always been good sleepers. They slept 11hrs at night and napped 3-4 hours a day... until we moved into the RV. Now, they refuse to nap except when we are driving and it has really turned my sweet, laid back kiddos into crabby little turkeys. I have been determined to get them back into a nap routine, and this particular day I spent a full 90 min trying everything I could think of to get them to sleep. At one point I separated them. Asher laid on the couch while Journey squeezed up to the space under her bedroom door and screamed and cried (because they were separated). Asher stood, held his finger up to me, then laid on the other side of the door and had a hushed conversation with his sister. He then stood up and told me he would go in the room so she could sleep on the couch. He no sooner closed his bedroom door behind him, when he dropped to the floor and started "crying" just as Journey had been. When I called him out on the fake cry, he laughed, and then continued his cry. I let him out of the room and they said they would sleep on the couch together. I look over and see this...

Yep, those turkeys were holding hands on the couch. They never did nap. 

So we played with Legos instead. 

This was also the first time we actually broke out toys, other than a couple dinosaurs and animals since we left Vegas! They have been so busy exploring that they didn't even miss their toys!

While at dinner, we picked up vouchers for free dinosaur bones at Lin Ottinger's Rock Shop which sells rock, of course, real dinosaur bones, fossils and other things. I could have spent hours here, but expensive, irreplaceable breakables + 2 overtired three year olds is a recipe for disaster, so instead, we followed the dinosaur prints to pick out their free dinosaur bones. It was fun and they enjoyed seeing all types of things and learning about different fossils, bones and rocks.

The shop was surrounded by cottonwood trees that happened to be shedding their cotton. It really looked like a serious snow storm. The kids had fun chasing the little puffs thru the air.

One night we took a walk along the Colorado River and over the bridge to watch some of the tour boats go by. We also saw a few bats flying overhead. Asher loves water and throwing rocks in the water is one of his favorite activities.

As Daddy was hooking up the RV to depart, the kids and I watched a dove build her nest. We found it interesting that she didn't pick up just any twig, she dropped lots back to the ground in search for just the right one, carrying them back one by one to build her nest in a nearby tree.