On the third day of our trip, we visited the Petrified Forest National Park, an amazing place.  In this spot, hundreds of millions of years ago, logs settled into a lake or riverbed and became covered in silt, becoming preserved forever.  The colors were vivid and spectacular.  Erik initially thought that they were trees.  However, after touching one and trying to move it (photo 1), he said they were rocks.  He was pretty confused for the rest of our visit, unsure if they were trees or rocks.

Erik trying to push a tree rock

Erik sitting on a 200+ million year old tree

On our road trip, we stopped by the Grand Canyon, someplace I always wanted to visit.  I had no idea how incredibly huge this place was.  The massive opening stretched on for miles, and in some parts I could barely see the bottom. 

 
Panoramic view of Grand Canyon

Joseph, Norma, Great Grandpa Foote, Erik, Grandpa Foote

Great Grandma Bascom, Norma, Erik, Chris, Joseph, Great Grandpa Bascom

Grandpa needed a cistern put underground to collect rainwater for irrigating.  Chris and his cousin, Jonathan, dug a 4 foot cubic hole (that’s a lot of dirt) for the cistern to fit into.  Of course, Erik had to help too.

Chris and Jonathan inside the pit

Erik helping to cover the cistern

As part of our break between assignments, we had the chance to spend some time in Idaho.  Norma’s parents have a cabin in upstate Idaho, and we spent a few nights playing in the snow and sledding.

We were even able to build our first igloo.

Erik really liked being able to go sledding as the pictures and videos below show.