It's a Beautiful Morning

Saturday, June 27, 2009

Family Reunion

We had a family reunion with Gordon's side of the family. This time (for the first time) it was near us. Nearly everyone was able to make it and come to explore our corner of the country. We shared some of the ancient history and natural beauty of New Mexico. We also ate a lot of food and played some vicious card games.

In the first pictures we are exploring Bandelier National Monument. Where there is several cave dwellings and kivas. Some to look at and some to explore.

From 2009_06_12

The next day we went to explore Nambe Falls. No one had been there to check it out and we wish we had. The waterfall was still fun to see, but the hike wasn't quite what we hoped. The picnic area wasn't too kept up either. But where there is water and family there is still fun, so we managed to get in a lot of playing.

From 2009_06_13

Friday, June 26, 2009

Catwalk

To continue our exploring of New Mexico we ventured down to a hike called "Catwalk". We camped in the nearby Gila wilderness at a fabulous campground. The campsites were very secluded and the kids could run and explore. The campground had stacks of firewood for us to use, that was really nice. I forgot our camera for this campout and had to rely on our friends shared picture for our photo-journaling.

From Catwalk

We felt the hike was one of the best family hikes we'd ever been on. The incline wasn't very steep and the views were beautiful. There are fun bridges to cross that the kids just loved. There are several spots were you can get into the stream and play, and most of the hike is in the shade. We are excited to go back here again!

From Catwalk

I wish I had more pictures to share (good thing our next trip here is soon.)

On a side note, on our drive went right by the Very Large Array. I would love to have pictures of our family in the amazing place. I think we will check 15 times to make sure we have our camera with us before leaving on another trip.

Here is a photo from the Very Large Array website.

From downloads

Friday, June 19, 2009

A day at the park

I'm finally breaking into June! How about that? Blogging about the current month!

Here we are at the park, just a normal day, but I brought my camera.

From 2009_06_09

More from Mesa Verde

Here is more of Mesa Verde.

From 2009_05_23

It rained a bunch the second night and we were pretty wet, my nieces ended up moving in to their car since their tent flooded. Rain like this must be what keeps this mesa green! But we persevered and had another fun day together.

I got up first and found a few mule deer browsing in our campground!

Can you see the deer?

From 2009_05_24

Thursday, June 18, 2009

Camping at Mesa Verde

We "met in the middle" with my family to explore Mesa Verde in Colorado. It took us all a while to get there and we chose our campsite in the dark. We were glad it turned out to be a good one. We stayed in a group site together, which was really nice. The groups sites are more spread out from one another so you can wander more and not be bothered by noise as much.

From 2009_05_23

It was at this first look out that we figured out you need tickets for tours to get close to most of the ruins. And most of the hikes include 100+ ft ladders to climb up and down to get to them. So we spoke with the ranger and she told us of some family-friendly areas we could get close to without dangerous hikes or paying for a guided tour.

Here we start our hike:

Me with my sister, Angela, and Abigail on my shoulders

From 2009_05_23

Grandma with Corinne on her back

From 2009_05_23

My sister, Amber, with her husband, Steve

From 2009_05_23

Angela with Annika on her back

From 2009_05_23

I think the kids loved having so many options for piggy-backs during the hikes!

Here are Ashley and Megan

From 2009_05_23

My sister Hannah and her husband, Will

From 2009_05_23

The kids in front of the ruins

From 2009_05_23

One of the fun things here was climbing down into a Kiva (an underground room).

From 2009_05_23

Inside the Kiva (pictures are taken with a flash, it was pretty dark in there)

From 2009_05_23

It started to rain a bit while on our hike, but we had checked the weather before coming and were prepared

From 2009_05_23

Here we are being rebels just for a picture!

From 2009_05_23

I think half of the hike Eve kept Aunt Angela busy as they hunted for the best dandelion puffs to blow.

From 2009_05_23

This was day one, I'll have to do day two on another post!

Wednesday, June 17, 2009

Happy Birthday to Me!

I've made it to the year of womanhood eternal (29). I'm guessing it'll be the best year of my life, since this is the age that women claim to be forever after.

From 2009_05_18

Not only did I get cake and ice cream I got to have my first day of classes on my birthday! That's right, I'm a student again trying to learn and study enough to be a business major. I don't know how long it'll take me to finish. It really depends on my class load, which will vary each semester as I look at our plans for the next couple of months. Like next semester, where I'm looking at having a baby, two surgeries and going to Boston to celebrate Gordon becoming a Fellow (no we haven't gotten the official results, I'm just being optimistic.)

Our hike to Tent Rocks

Note: This adventure happened in early May, I'm really behind and will try to catch up.

We were hoping to go camping this weekend, but as it turns out our trip had to be demoted to a hike on Saturday morning. We went with some good friends to Tent Rocks, a place we had been and enjoyed, but they had never been to before. Here are some of the pictures from our adventure: