Amazing Race Part 7

As of today we have officially been home for 1 week....seems like a lot longer as there have been many naps, loads of laundry, errands and play dates in the past week. We are still being asked several times a day about our trip and still sorting through our favorite pictures and videos!

So...from Albuquerque, we followed our next clue to the Petrified Forest National Park. We immediately drove up to the Painted Desert and could not get over the view. We all kept saying " this feels like another planet"...all those different colors in perfect layers...for miles and miles. Ribbit even asked " do they speak Texan here?"....hehe.

Adam kept saying " pictures don't ever do it justice, you have to see it with your own eyes!"

See the petroglyphs....it was the neatest thing to see artwork from long ago!

In the "treehouse" that used to be an awesome old diner in the state park.

We drove through the park and stopped at almost every view, hike, picture place, ruins, etc. It took us over 3.5 hours but we could have easily spent a day searching and discovering. The kids loved working on the Jr. Ranger badge as we drove from stop to stop. We really wanted to do some hiking and picked the Blue Mesa Trail through the Bad lands.....it was HOT AS HADES....I mean my sweat was sweating...it was steep and we were both carrying kiddos....but we did it and it was well worth it. We lovingly named The badlands "Elephant Butt Skin" because of the color, wrinkles and well the resemblance. We talked to some college kiddos there who were working on paths and retaining walls as part of the volunteer efforts...bless their hearts. Even though we were talking down into a small valley the wind was crazy and tore our hats off several times. Adam was of course a wealth of knowledge, as usual (we have our own built in tour guide anywhere we go) and taught the kids all about the layers and formations and pointed out all that was wrong on the signs...........ya know, that may annoy some people. BUT NOT ME. I want to teach my children, I dont' want to leave it up to the world to tell them what and how creation came about. I definitely don't want them teaching them what they call "truth" or what could be a truth for the moment. I want us, the parents, the ones God put over them to teach them these things, to speak them over them day and night and to always point them back to the Creator. I can't expect others to teach my kiddos, that's my job and I love that Adam owns it anytime he can. I can't expect a fallen world to teach my kids to love and honor God above else.......Parents have to be the lead faith trainers and teachers...its how God set up..the family unit is the way education, truth, stories, morals, honor, respect is taught and handed down.

See those layers behind us....the sun was a tad bright..hehe.

At the top of our hike back out of the badlands....WHEW IT WAS HOT.

Look at that really neat petrified wood dad. This was on our hike in the badlands.

Our favorites from the Petrified Forest National Park....

Goober-the hike through the badlands
Ribbit-The petrified wood
Little Man-the pueblos at the archaeological  site
Mom-Petroglyphs
Dad-Badlands

Elephant Butt Skin .....:)

We thought we had some awesome hair after all that wind and sweat :)

Notice Goober holding his hat and Little Man's hair blowing pretty hard across his face!

MASSIVE PETRIFIED WOOD

Being sworn in as official Jr. Rangers!!
Ribbit also earned her "Geology" badge for American Heritage Girls that day!!

Our final stop was at the museum to get their Jr. Ranger Badge. The lady swearing them in was AWESOME and took her job very seriously. As she handed them their badges she also handed them the next clue...which sent us to Holbrook, AZ for the night :).