epic roadtrip 2010: days 2 & 3

day 2: spelunking (carlsbad, new mexico)

the carlsbad caverns were pretty awesome. grant talked me into going through the natural entrance and i agreed despite the forboding signs:

it started out pleasant enough, we even spotted some wild life:

but then we reached this gaping hole:

we zig-zagged steeply down the trail holding the girls hands, questioning our sanity. once we got in deep enough for it to get dark, hazel's courage failed her and she sobbed for us to get her out of there. it took her a while to calm down, but we managed to distract her by pointing out some bats that were swooping around.

once we got passed the naturally lighted area, hazel seemed regain her excitement at being there.

we were down there for 3 1/2 hours...

...covering 2 1/2 miles...

the kids were troopers until the last 45 minutes or so.

then the whining and squealing started.

yes, that's a ladder. no, we didn't have to go down it.

at the end of the trail was an elevator. it took us 750 feet up to the surface in about a minute.

day 3: [pseudo] aztec ruins (aztec, new mexico)

this morning (after a completely rude and unsolicited wake up call) grant stumbled upon some native american ruins that were directly in our path. so, of course, we had to stop:

we got to walk through a large part of the ruins:

it was a blast for those of us under 4 ft tall.

it was still interesting and fun for the grown ups, just hard on the back.

tomorrow is dinosaur day...

epic roadtrip 2010: day 1

i hadn't really planned on blogging much while we're a-traveling but grant packed the lappy and i couldn't let it sit all lonely-like in the boot...

here we are in carlsbad, new mexico (the first 3 pictures were taken just before we crossed over from texas), at the end of day one. it actually went surprisingly well. the girls were entertained by movies (one in particular) and handled being strapped down all day without much fuss. lucy, especially, amazed us by staying content in her seat for nearly 11 straight hours. hazel, at least, was able to stretch her legs to use a restroom. 

the biggest hiccup came when grant was pulled over for speeding (85 in an 80 mph zone) and driving in the left lane when not passing. it was our lucky day: he got off with a warning, thus keeping his record [mostly] clean.

the girls have finally submitted to a wardrobe change, gotten into bed and have calmed down......

kind of.

tomorrow we're off to see carlsbad caverns and then it's on to colorado...

what do you do in houston.....

....when there's an advisory for a heat index of 110+?


take the kids to the zoo, of course:

and what's a trip to the zoo without many, many pictures? a wasted opportunity, i say!

we met some friends there and, almost immediately, we headed for the indoor exhibits. in the first one there was the cutest little armadillo:

 it was scurrying back and forth, almost as fast as the chipmunks. he kept returning to bother this poor, sleepy springhaas:

the "'dillo" would pull one of the "rabbit's" legs out to gnaw on. without even opening it's eyes, it would respond with a well-aimed kick before rolling back up into a ball. i tried to get some pictures of the action but they turned into a blurry mess.

from there we headed to the next closest building, and one of hazel's personal favorites (she's such a weirdo), the reptile house:

we arrived just in time to watch these lizards get lunch:

one of the keepers just dumped a box of white crickets inside (you can see a few on the branch above the lizards). i moved hazel along before it got gross interesting. and judging by the size of this snake, i'd say we barely missed his feeding (thank goodness!):

out in the sunshine we visited the more cuddly creatures, like the newborn elephant, baylor:

and a big, fluffy grizzly:

at this point the kids looked like this:

poor, overheated, little button. she's trying to charm me into letting her loose but we all know if i did that, she'd just make like a tree and run away........or something.

**on a completely unrelated but super exciting note: hazel just did her #2 into the potty!!! (sorry to gross anyone out but this is big news!) i got pretty fed up with her earlier in the week and told her she would get no more diapers to do her business in. fast forward 4 days: she was desperate and had no choice but to sit on the toilet. success!! she is now happily eating her special reward: a push pop (i didn't see the humor in that purchase until grant pointed it out to me.)

an eon

happy 7th year of utter joy, grant!

when it rains....

......it pours:

i took this picture a couple months ago. this was during tropical storm/hurricane alex. the rain here, even when it's not the result of a hurricane, is unbelievable. it'll be a sunny morning when, without warning, the clouds that suddenly appeared are throwing down buckets of rain. 

anyway, this morning grant and i headed over to the leasing office to sign some paperwork. we put the girls in the stroller just as it started sprinkling. by the time we got to the office (90 seconds later, give or take) it had turned into a utah-ish summer storm. we initialed, signed and made small talk for 5 minutes. as we got up to leave, we saw that the light rain was now a torrental downpour. we made a run for it and this is what we looked like when we got inside:

the girls were in heaven and demanded to go outside to splash in their favorite puddle. so i allowed grant to have the honor of accompanying them. he was pleased:

and they were off:

predictably, they came back soaked, shivering and happy as clams:

beachy keen

another weekend.....another trip to the beach.

my older brother, jared, and his wife, leah, are in town for a couple of weeks and came with us. we didn't get there until mid-afternoon. that combined with it being a non-rainy saturday made for a very crowded beach. that didn't phase the girls:

there was a lot of digging:

and running:

and playing in the larger than normal waves:

jared and leah went first and then they watched the girls while grant and i went out into the waves. hazel practiced her diving pose:

and put on some goggles:

but ran away from the waves, dragging grant along:

lucy, staying true to character, was chomping at the bit to get in deeper:

we met a little, backwards-walking, hermit crab on the sand:

some very enthusiastic girls quizzed us on whether or not it belonged in the water, before they tossed him in:

since it was, as it always is, hot and humid, hazel made sure to rehydrate:

lucy preferred having leah bathe her limbs with the fresh water:

jared dug a hole to bury hazel in. it was pretty close to the water so it was very heavy mud. he piled it up high and gave her a ninja turtle body. then he teased her until she cried, saying we were going to leave her there:

lucky for her, we decided not to.