We finally made it down to the Johnson Space Center!
I have wanted to take the kids down to NASA since we moved back two years ago but it was finally time now that Henry is not napping any more. They really liked it but we only spent one half day there and that was about all we could handle. We will have to go again next summer and perhaps we can spend a bit more time there then.
Grandma's trip to Texas wouldn't be complete if she didn't get out the sewing machine! I hope Anna was taking good mental notes because everything I teach her about sewing will probably be wrong, or at least not as good as what she can learn from my mother.
Anna & Sarah worked hard all week preparing the costumes, set, and choreography for a mini-performance of Cinderella today. They were both so excited and proud of their work and they can't wait to do it again next summer!
Watching vehicle-shaped grow-capsules growing.
Isn't she a doll?
Sarah was quick to learn how to cross her eyes.
Thank you, Grandma, for teaching the kids this important life skill.
Anna & I just aren't that good at it, sorry, Anna!
I have to do this every time and it still doesn't always work.
Waiting for the trolley to pick us up.
Checking out the cool new colored pencils.
Painting his airplane: he loved this!
Nice "smile" with your kite, Henry!
Kite-flyers.
Anna taught herself how to play Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star on the bells that she & Sarah gave Henry.
Ice cream!
Henry wanted to go to Chipotle for lunch and ride on the trolley for his birthday. He also wanted to go out to Red Robin for dinner and thought it was pretty cool when the waiters sang Happy Birthday to him. Happy birthday, sweet Henry!
Henry chose a devil's food cake with angel frosting.
I think the girls were a little disappointed that Henry doesn't need help opening presents any more.
I asked Henry to choose what he wanted for his birthday cake and one thing led to another and we started baking it... and then just decided to go for it and celebrate tonight so we didn't have to stare at the cake all day tomorrow while we waited for Craig to get home from work.
I can't believe he is three years old! It seriously feels like yesterday when I was hanging out on the couch watching my jet-lagged mother take care of the girls while I finally rested before getting induced at the clinic in Okpo. I know I'll never forget the nurse announcing that I had a "prince" and counting every one of his fingers and toes for me. He was "Mr. Wonderful" then and he still is (okay, he's also pretty good at being a little brother and a two- (now three-) year-old, too!).
We love you, Henrique! (Henry-honey, Henry-bear, Hen-a-ree-ah...)
We made it to Amarillo for dinner tonight. We have a longer drive in front of us tomorrow but we're all just ready to get home so it will be OK. Henry loved that we could see the trains passing by outside our hotel window tonight.
Started the day with Grandma.
Hummingbird.
We spied a patch of SNOW!
I really never thought I'd see this happen again.
Craig & the kids picked me up at the airport and we all went up to my parents to spend the next few days before we make the drive back to Texas.
The kids and Nana stayed back at Nana & Papa's house while Craig & Brian went to Avon (yesterday) to be at the start of the ride.
They went to watch for Craig at the finish.
He did it and he is smiling!
Okay, maybe he doesn't smell very fresh. Not many people would after three mountain passes and 120 miles of riding.
I should get Craig to write out his whole story here, but here is what I've got: 11 hours, one split chin and sore wrists (one crash).
Not my best half by a long shot but I think the fun was in the challenge. I am sure if I lived closer I would do it again, but I will probably pick a different destination race next year.
Jessica & Jaynie had an excellent pre-race hydration plan going here.
It is taking me a while to get used to not having one of my kids with me (especially Henry since he really is almost always right next to me). I am relaxing and enjoying myself though! I'm a bit nervous about the hills for this half but it is what it is!
I flew out to Oregon to see my friend Jaynie and run in a half-marathon with her and her sister on Sunday. Should be a fun weekend! I wish that I could have been there to cheer on Craig for his ride in Colorado, but I'm also glad to have the weekend to myself (and it should be noted that my race was planned before his ride!).
Anita took the kids to the park while I went on a slow, oxygen-deprived run.
We met up with Corrine & the kids at Jump Street.
Back at Nana & Papa's for a relaxing afternoon and evening.
Goodbye, Santa Fe!
Henry fell asleep with his elephant stuffed into the bottom part of his partially-unzipped convertible pants.
We made it!
We drove up to Anita & Brian's today and picked up Craig's Triple Bypass packet on the way. Henry actually slept for a while in the car today which was a nice change!
Organic pancake batter in a can. Craig was right: this was the perfect thing to take camping!
I took the kids on a walk while Craig got set up to go on a bike ride.
Then we went into town to see the rail yard.
We took a long walk to get to this caboose but Henry just wasn't feelin' it.
Everyone loved seeing this truck driving on the tracks.
Lunch with Craig after his ride. We didn't last out here very long because it started raining pretty hard and we had to run our food back to the van and eat it there. We came up with a new plan for the rest of the day: drive over to the Rio Grande and go for a hike there!
A little more than an hour away, we were super hot at the Rio Grande Gorge hike. This was much better than soggy at the camp site though!
The kids were thrilled with each cactus patch we came across.
Back at the campsite for dessert after dinner in town.
The kids all fell asleep much more easily tonight after we wore them out properly today. We are all excited to get going to Nana & Papa's tomorrow but sad at the same time to leave New Mexico.
The kids were super excited to help Craig set up the tent.
The loved the little camp chairs we bought them.
We got the tent set up just in time before it rained.
Our nice site.
Note the dream catcher hanging in the tent.
The kids were so excited about camping! We got the tent set up and ate some food and then it rained for a while. When it cleared off we went for a little hike. But, we didn't really get a chance to burn off a ton of energy and Henry had a really hard time falling asleep tonight (the girls were pretty good about not interacting with him while he struggled with this). Hopefully tomorrow we'll have a chance to be more active.
This was the view from the hotel room this morning as I got ready to go on my run around Santa Fe.
Craig & the kids made a shopping list for our camping days and Craig went to the store to get the supplies while the kids & I went back into town to get some gifts for people and some extra souvenirs (I regret that I didn't get anything, but didn't really have an opportunity to look on my own).
Henry was particularly interested in drumming here.
We chose the shortest trail since there was no shade and we got pretty warm!
The kids just love to come across a bench for a "rest."
Some of the ruins.
Sarah was super excited to see some cacti.
Some of the dwellings.
Anna was the only one brave enough to climb up the ladder (Craig went with to take a picture while I waited below with Sarah & Henry).
Sarah really wanted to go up but kept backing out of it.
She's going for another attempt.
He would not be left behind by his big sisters.
Sarah finally went up the ladder so we let Henry, too. Here we are in the cave before Sarah & Henry really started pondering how they were going to get back down...
I could live with that view from my one-room home.
Anna is up helping the driver shut the door. She didn't want to speak on the radio, however. Once Sarah saw Anna do it, I could tell she regretted not going up, too.
The kids like the Route 66 song from the movie "Cars."
I liked this door and the kids liked posing for pictures in front of it.
We loved this bench that was on the path between our hotel and downtown Santa Fe.
We got lucky and a Corvette parade passed by the park we were visiting.
Anna spotted a copy of the poster that Nana has in her house.
We met up with Craig for a snack before and decided to venture outside of Santa Fe for our afternoon fun.
Wow! It was just a couple of blocks from our hotel to the main plaza in Santa Fe. All the kids were excited and I didn't hear any complaints from Henry about not having the stroller. We scoped out some souvenirs and saw some art and ate some delicious food.
Anna is mad here because I told her she had to slice the dutch baby herself.
Anna has been writing down our dutch baby recipe on the paper placemats at restaurants for a while. She is hoping that someone will see it and add it to their menu.... She just wanted to be able to order her very favorite food in a restaurant!
We spent a long time finding different shapes in the clouds.
Yay! We made it to New Mexico!
Sarah complained of having "car-seat bottom" when we got out of the car in Santa Fe.
The kids just thought it was hilarious that we ate at a restaurant called The Pantry.
Our awesome hotel: a song & dance performance was immediately necessary in the gorgeous weather on the deck.
The girls took the bed and Henry slept in his sleeping bag near the bed. I think the girls were actually jealous of him! Craig & I slept on the pull-out couch in the family room with the door to the porch open!
The kids really did a great job on the drive yesterday and today. We did make one random stop in the middle of Texas at The Most Disgusting/Scary Bathroom in the History of the World, however. I actually walked through a six-inch thick wall of cobwebs to get to the toilet! The kids were all super freaked-out about it and all bathrooms will look better after that one!
Santa Fe is so much smaller than we realized! There was nothing on the road near it and then suddenly we were there (not the urban sprawl of Houston). The weather is absolutely perfect and such a relief from the Texas heat that we hardly know what to do with ourselves!
I will take the kids into town tomorrow morning to explore while Craig gets a bike ride in. I didn't bring the stroller (on purpose) so Henry can get some good walking in, too. I'm curious to see how it goes.
Craig took off a little early today so we could get on the road to New Mexico! We made it to Dallas tonight and plan to stop at the Original Pancake House for breakfast in the morning so Anna can have Dutch Baby at a restaurant (a long-time dream for her).
My good friend from Minnesota (she's actually in another state now) came to visit today. She brought her two handsome boys with her and it was fun to see our kids playing together and catch up a little bit with her. Don't we look like we're still in 4th grade?
I dropped off the van at the shop yesterday to get it ready for our road trip at the end of the week and it ended up needing some stuff done to it so we were car-less for the parade this morning. (Craig did the Burn Your Buns bike ride again so he took his car to that and we didn't get to cheer him on.) The kids did a great job on the walk (Henry strolled) and it wasn't as hot as it was in 2010 when Sarah was so hot that she "sweated her temporary tattoo off."
We stayed up late for the fireworks (Henry's first time) and the kids were super-impressed even though Sarah wanted to go home and go to bed once it was dark out and she was scared of the noise once they got started. I wasn't going to let her miss out though since she was so disappointed last year when there were no fireworks because of the drought. Henry was amazed by the whole experience and fell asleep in the stroller on the way back to the car.
We had a great time at the pool today! This was such a much better experience than any of the other times last year I tried to take the kids on my own. Sarah is a stronger swimmer and Henry isn't scared and is a better listener. We stayed for two hours but if I had had any hope of that before we left, I would have packed a lunch so we could stay longer. It's was so nice to actually have fun at the pool today!
