After church on Sunday we thought would be a good time to get a picture at the Rexburg temple. It was a really bright, beautiful day. This temple was completed in 2008.
Back to the trying to get the ultimate group picture shot. Maybe not the best time to do it after they had sat just sat through 3 hours of church and were hungry.
A family shot.
Nope, it wasn't going to happen today. Look at Grant in this picture, is his face melting?
Elaina really wanted a picture with her and Claire.
Sunday afternoons after church are hard for our family. They have pent up energy and we generally want to rest. I knew that Grant and Mateo needed to take a nap, so I wanted to find something that we could do with the other kids that wasn't too wild. I found a place called Mesa falls that was about half an hour away. Natalie had been there and said that it was really pretty and an easy walk. Danny volunteered to stay home in case Grant woke up and Natalie also stayed home to work on her blog. So my mom and I loaded up the kids in the van and set out for an adventure on the Mesa Falls Scenic Byway. It took longer to get there than I thought it would because it was quite a curvy road. I was glad that the kids didn't get sick. They had a visitor's center at the waterfall that had all sorts of historical information about the area along with animal pelts and heads.
There were a lot of pelts that the kids could touch. While it was interesting to feel the fur of each of the animals it was a bit creepy. Their heads and feet were all there with the pelt.
The top of the falls.
And down the river.
Claire and Elaina got too hot to continue and sat on the platform before the stairs.
Meanwhile, Andrew and Chris raced ahead.
What, a picture of me?
Our next stop was lower Mesa Falls. It was a few miles down the road.
You view Lower Mesa Falls from much farther away. You are way up on a bluff above the falls. You can see the to the right of the falls that there are some trails that you can hike down. It was a long way down there and quite steep. We were ready for that kind of hiking especially with how hot it was.
On the way back, we stopped at a turnout on the road that had views of the Tetons. They are washed out in this picture though.
There they are in the distance.
On the way back from the falls I saw a sign in St. Anthony that said that the exit to the Sand Dunes was coming up. I had gone to the sand dunes way back when I went to college at Ricks for one very cold year. I asked if my mom if she minded if we took a slight detour on way back. We told the kids we were going on an adventure and an adventure it was! The signage to the sand dunes was either non-existent or not clear. We drove through and around a lot of farmland and houses. We could see the dunes in the distance as we got closer, but there did not seem to be a direct route there. Finally we found them and the kids bounded out of the car. The dunes are quite large and seem to come out of no where. The kids immediately started to climb up the first dune next to the car. Here are Claire and Chris making their way up.
Andrew made it to the top first.
The dunes themselves were about 50 feet or so above the road. After they climbed up they raced and rolled down. I checked the car to see if we had any cardboard or anything to slide down on but we didn't.
They wanted to explore some of the other dunes which meant that someone had to go with them. So I climbed up and took this picture at the top. The sand is quite fine and it wasn't hot because it was about 6:30 in the evening at this point.
The wind made some really cool designs in the dunes.
Off they went exploring.
As I was looking around taking pictures they took off. Theirs were the only footprints in this area. There were people on dune buggies and ATV farther away on other dunes.
This seems like they are far away, but I quickly caught up to them.
Andrew jumping off the dunes.
I'm tall and skinny!
You can see the ground on the right side of this picture.
A shot to prove I was there.
When I finally caught up the kids they were making snow angels in the sand.
A perfect angel.
It was time to go home so the kids headed down the hill. At the bottom was black lava rock which was not fun to walk on with bare feet.
Then up and over one more dune to the car with grandma waiting for us. For whatever reason they decided to go face first down the hill. Had I know we were going, it would have been fun to bring one of Natalie's sleds or some cardboard to try to slide down on. We tried to get all of the sand brushed off but, like going to the beach, it was everywhere. Of course the road we took back went straight to Rexburg from the dunes. The kids really want to go back there again sometime. Later in the day was definitely a good time to go because it wasn't too hot. When we got back the kids told Natalie that we went on a fun adventure. Mission accomplished!
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