Doin' the Dunes

We, and two other families, are involved in a Saturday kid swap. We each take a Saturday to watch all of the kids and, in turn, have two Saturdays off to do grown up stuff. Today was our day to watch "the boys". Jamie had two soccer games in the morning and then we (Bill, Julie, Jamie, Justin & Ryan) headed to the Great Sand Dunes National Park & Preserve. Parker had a birthday party to go to in the afternoon so he didn't get to go with us this time.



We met the Get R!eal (Colorado's youth movement against the tobacco industry) group from the middle school at the Sand Dunes for lunch.

After lunch, the middle school group left and we were ready to PLAY! The boys changed into their swimsuits, we unloaded the toys and headed for the dunes.

We crossed Medano Creek and found an empty spot on a small "island"...perfect for digging in the sand and playing in the water!












Medano Creek flows in waves caused by surge flow.

Water accumulates, especially when sand ridges called antidunes form below the surface. When they break, the increased water volume surges and creates waves of up to a foot high.

The weather was nice, a little cool with a slight breeze. The water was not as cold as we thought it would be but once you got wet, the breeze felt very cold.






The boys kept busy building rivers, dams, waterfalls, volcanoes and just digging holes to sit in. Ryan took his job as the water carrier very seriously!

Bill took a nap!







Julie took photographs but because of the sand and water, didn't dare let anyone else use the camera. So, no photos of Julie...

Justin was the first one to get too cold to continue playing in the water. He and Julie went for a small hike up the dunes but didn't go very far because the wind was blowing the sand around pretty good.























Except for the minor (ha!) excitement caused by lost car keys, we had a great day at the "beach". Luckily, the keys were found and we were only an hour late in getting Justin and Ryan home. We were invited to eat pizza at the Astalos' when we dropped off the boys, a very welcome treat.