Riding the Bus

I promised the kids that we would ride the bus downtown sometime this summer.  With only a few days of summer vacation left, we hopped on a bus and went to the library.

The kids LOVE riding the bus.  It's free and fun and ends up being the outing for the day.

Evacucation Part 1: Albuquerque

We were evacuated for more than a week.  We left Sunday, June 26th and came home on Monday, July 4th.  The town was actually under a mandatory evacuation from June 27th until Sunday, July 3rd.

We spent from Sunday, June 26th until Thursday, June 30th in Albuquerque staying at Uncle Brad's house.  It worked out perfectly for us to stay there since Karen had just taken Brendon a week earlier to Utah for BYU summer semester and is staying there until August.  My cousin, Kristin, had her first baby the night that we evacuated.  Anyway...so Brad's 5 bedroom house was pretty much empty since Brad was at work all day.  He was super nice to let us stay with him.

My friend, Juli, and her husband, Josh, and their four kids stayed with us at Brad's house from Monday until Thursday.  That was a blessing to have them staying with us.  Our kids are best friends and loved every minute of their three day long playdate.  It helped them be distracted from the fire.  Kate and Sophi (both 7) knew what was going on and were concerned every once and a while, but they loved being together and doing fun stuff.

Dave was in New Jersey on travel from Saturday, June 25th until the following Tuesday.  It was such a blessing to have my parents with me and Juli to talk to since Dave was gone.  I would give Dave 30 second updates throughout the day when he had a second to call.  It was nice when he was back in NM with us.

Monday we (my kids and mom and dad and Emmy) went swimming at the West Mesa Aquatic Center in Albuquerque.  It's a really popular pool, so you have to go early to buy tickets.  Kate loved going down the water slides and Jack loved playing with Grandpa.

The kids had a "sleepover" every night on the floor of the living room. (This is probably the last time Jack and Anna will be allowed to have a sleepover.  They are planning on getting married when they're old enough.)

On Tuesday we took the kids to the children's museum, Explora.  We met some more of our Los Alamos friends there.  My dad was a HUGE help!  He sat in the craft area with the girls for a long time and followed the little boys around.  I'm glad he came with me!

Jack figured out by himself how to fly the airplane.

 Kate and Sophi

Anna, Sophi and Ty

The girls spent hours in the craft room (Sophi, Kate & Emmalee). 

We took a little break from Explora and went to lunch at Burger King.  Ty had his nap for the day in Grandpa's arms.

 This could be Jack & Anna's wedding announcement picture.  Aren't they cute?

 Almost all the kids:  Emmalee, Kate, Sophi, Stewart, Jack, Anna and Ty

We went back to Explora for a little while longer, then went to the airport and picked up Dave.

On Wednesday we went to another swimming pool that was really close to Brad's house.  Our friends, Megan & Justin met us there.  First we had a pizza picnic for lunch before the pool opened.

 Ty showed us the new way to wear a swim diaper.

 Getting ready to race.

 Kate and sweet Naomi

Thursday morning we left Albuquerque and headed to Colorado Springs for the rest of our evacucation.  

Melinda & Norm's Visit

Norm and Melinda and their boys came to visit in June too.  We love having them visit.

We went hiking on the Las Conchas trail (right by where the huge fire started two weeks later).  We usually hike past five bridges and stop and play in the water.  We were hungry so we hiked past two or three bridges and stopped and ate.  Then we were going to continue to our usual spot, but some hikers stopped us and told us that they'd seen a cougar a half a mile down the trail and it hissed at them.  So, we decided to head back a little ways and play in the water there instead of going on down the trail.

 The kids (and dads) loved throwing rocks into the water.

 The big kids and dads climbed up on top of the rocks and waved at us.

 The kids had fun playing in the water.  Kate wasn't afraid to get wet.

We went to Santa Fe one day and checked out the Plaza.

 We tried to snap a picture of this nice motorcycle and the lovely mailbox.

 Ty loved hanging out in the stroller that Melinda let us use.  I didn't think ahead enough to take one to Santa Fe.

We had fun during the rest of their visit.  We got a babysitter and had a nice, quiet, Mexican dinner.  We went swimming too.  The only downside of their visit, was that Anders had to get stitches.  He was a trooper though and didn't slow down a bit.

Looking forward to Norm and Melinda's visit next year!

Not Just for Skaters

Did you know that skate parks are not just for skaters?  They make great "bum slides" for little boys.  We have a skate park right in front of the library.  I really hate it, because it's usually occupied with kids that aren't the greatest role models for my kids.  But yesterday we went to the library for music and movement class and afterwards the skate park was empty.

Jack and Ty had so much fun! (Don't mind the not-so-quality cell phone pictures)

Okay, so this next picture is awful and fuzzy, but I wanted to share what my boys look like when we go to music and movement at the library.  Not so much movement going on with them!

Ty was sitting so still with his feet together and his hands fidgeting in his lap, so I had to take a picture.  Guess we should go more often so they're not so nervous.

Hiking to the Rio Grande

Today was the last day of Kate's Spring Break, so Dave took the day off.  We decided to hike from Overlook Park in White Rock down to the Rio Grande.

It's quite the hike -- straight down and then straight back up.  Well, I guess it's not straight since the trail is pretty much all switchbacks.  On the way down Jack told me how much fun he has having.  I'm pretty sure he fell 30 times on the way to the river and maybe 5 times on the way back up.

A little way down the trail.

We found a little place to eat our picnic lunch by the river and piles of horse poop.  (I guess we were too hungry to smile in this picture.)

Then we played in the water.  It was really hot, so the water felt great!

The kids loved playing in the mud and throwing rocks into the river.

Dave rinsed Jack off in the water before we left.  He got even more muddy after I took this picture.

The boys on the hike back up.  Ty fell asleep in the backpack.

Kate was a great hiker on the way back up the hill.  No complaining!  She was the trail leader.

We made it to the top!  You can see the river in the distance. 

It was quite the hike, but really fun!  Next time I'll bring a lot more water and not leave the sunscreen in the car.  Maybe the kids will even wear swimsuits to mud bathe in.

Bandelier

We went to Bandelier National Monument yesterday to take some pictures of Kate with Flat Sadie for her friend Sadie's school picture.  We've been to Bandelier lots of times in the last couple of years, but the kids don't seem to get tired of it.  

They love climbing the ladders to get into the caves.  Ty walked a lot on this hike and had to go up every ladder.  Dave carried him up the ladders since this is how high he can climb.

Ty inside a cave

Kate with Flat Sadie

 It was fun watching Ty walk by himself on the hike.  He would stop to look at random pieces of grass or to sit down on a little "seat".

 Ty had to be up on the big rock with the other kids.

 Since Ty walks slow, the kids ran ahead to hide behind something so they could scare us when we caught up to them.  Jack picked this great burned log to hide behind.  This is him jumping out and scaring us.  A few seconds later he started crying because we were laughing at how black he was.  

 Jack told me later when I was giving him a shower, that he looked like a man (because of his ash beard).

 I didn't have enough wipes to clean up the blackness (on his face, arms and legs), so Dave helped him do a quick wash in the creek.

Then Jack had to try to cross the creek which ended up with him having some really wet shoes.  Boys will be boys, I guess.