Mesa Verde 2015

 Fall is a great time for taking excursions.  The weather is mild and the crowds dwindle as school starts.  We drove to Mancos, Colorado and set up base camp at a cute little motel with a family sized room and started exploring Mesa Verde.  This is our second family trip there.  The last time we went Stephen was a baby and we camped.  Brad and I are not quite as adventuresome as the old days.  Having a roof and a bed are higher on the list than a decade ago.  We went on a guided tour with a ranger late afternoon our first day there.  We got up in the morning and drove back to the park.  We packed a picnic before we left home so that we could spend as much time in the park as we wanted without having to go in search of food to suit all of the family members with food allergies.  We did both the Cliff Palace and Balcony House tours on this trip there and finished with the self guided Spruce tree house cliff dwellings.  We met a member of the Zia Pueblo who was demonstrating weaving with yucca fiber.  He lives in NM near us and he invited us to visit his pueblo for another field trip when we returned home. We left after the afternoon of the second day and drove home listening to "The Mysterious Benedict Society" on CD and eating popcorn.  It was a great trip.  We bought an annual park pass so we have a few more places to go this year.  We have already visited Zion National Park, Arches and Canyonlands.  What a beautiful world we live in!

 Brad and the kids being silly while waiting for our ranger guided tour.

One of the cliff dwellings we visited was accessed by ladders.  One had a tunnel through the rock we had to crawl through.  The ladder was exciting.  Avery says she liked the really tall ladder best.

 

 This is the "really tall" ladder.

Avery climbing into a replica of a kiva.

These are metate found in the cliff dwellings.  There was one set up for kids to try.  We don't have a picture of it. Avery ground imaginary corn on it.

 

Moab, Utah June 2015

 We took a multi-generation family trip to Moab, Utah after the wedding of our third daughter, this spring.  We rented a cabin about 20 miles from Moab.  It was wilderness area.  It was beautiful with magnificent sunsets, wild scenery, and beautiful starry nights. All of our children came for a few days and we celebrated a birthday, took walks, watched Princess Bride on the deck with a projector and screen.  We roasted marshmallows, made cocoa, ate enchiladas we made at home and put together puzzles.  Our dog rolled in cow pies and had to be washed, chased bunnies and slept on the porch while we read books with pillows on the deck outside.  We visited Arches and Canyonland National Parks.  We had a good time despite spending a day at the animal hospital with our Chihuahua, losing our dog Napoleon on a mountain bike ride with Brad (we found him), and Janet getting lost and taking a 6 hour drive (it was a beautiful drive) before finding her way to Moab. 

 Hiking isn't Avery's favorite thing.  We chose the shortest hikes at Arches and the bigger kids went back with Brad for an early morning hike that was longer.  It was beautiful!

Canyon Lands National Park.

Spring time 2015

 May 7, 2015.  This is kind of gross.  Avery lost both bottom teeth today.  She is excited about this.  But the thing that she finds most impressive is seeing her own blood.  So you can ignore the paper towel with the chomp marks on it. This is an exciting milestone!  The last first tooth loss for this mom.  Her eyes are misting up...

It is only 1 mile to our church building.  This spring day we decided to walk to church.  The boys and Avery convinced mom that scootering to church was a good idea.  Avery is especially good at scootering!

 

Avery playing with Mom's phone camera.  Fun stuff :)

 

Oh blue eyes!

 Avery being cute.  Get a good look at those cute baby teeth.

  They will be missing soon!

Baby blues.  Avery has a super hero cape and mask that she saved up and bought with her own money.  When she puts the mask on she is all eyes.  Giant baby blue eyes.  Here they are with the freckles that make her Mom smile. Mom loves her freckles!

Afternoon at the Rio Grande

 This was actually a delightful day in January 2015.  We were talking about activities we would like to do in the upcoming weeks and Avery said going to the river was her favorite thing to do.  We have gone to the river a couple of times on the spur of the moment when the weather was so nice and we had an itching to get out of the house.  We had a fabulous time wading, counting the cicada casings from their last molt on the trees, climbing trees, and watching birds land on the sand bar across the river. We stayed until the sun was low and our tummies told us dinner was around the corner.  Red letter day!