Red River

We just got back from a weeklong vacation with Clarke's parents and grandparents in Red River, New Mexico. The cool temperatures were so refreshing and we made some great memories! Here's a rundown of our trip:

Saturday (July 9th): We were on the road by 6:30 am. Huston got excited before we even got on the highway, yelling "Look, a new gas station!" as we passed a very familiar, not at all new gas station. About 1.3 minutes into the drive, he said, "This is taking a long time," and I thought, "We have more than 11 hours left. This might have been a bad idea." Huston, however, ended up doing great on the drive. After we got back he told us that he liked the long long long ride to New Mexico, and indeed, he did seem to enjoy just looking out the window. He never really played with any toys, but on the way up he held his new bubble machine (seen below) for almost the whole trip and kept saying, "I can't wait to get to New Mexico so we can play with my bubble machine." Arden was mostly awful on the drive. Nothing kept her entertained for more than 30 seconds, so there was lots of screaming and unhappiness. It was a relief to finally make it, and much joy and giggling ensued when we arrived to find Mimi and Grandpa and Granny and Papaw, and when the bubble machine was finally opened.

Sunday (July 10th): Relaxing day around Red River. Huston immediately became fascinated with the ski lift and he loved watching it go up, watching the wheels move, talking about why it was stopped, talking about what time it turned on and off. He figured out that he could see it perfectly from our bedroom window, and spent the rest of his nap times just staring at it. We kept telling him we were going to go on it and he seemed scared and didn't want to, but his fascination got the best of him and at the end of the day Sunday he finally announced that Bear Bear wanted to go on the ski lift, which was the plan for the following day. We had lunch in Red River at a not-very-good place called the Old Tymer's Cafe, walked around to a few shops, and I went with Clarke to a park nearby to play a few holes of disc golf. Unfortunately, he couldn't play most of the course, or the course at the top of the ski lift, because the mountains were closed due to extreme fire danger. There's a random picture below of Arden with her shoes off. She kept saying "rocks, rocks" and "dirt, dirt" and wanting to play in the random piles of dirt and rocks. She stripped her own shoes off so she could really experience it.

Monday (July 11th): We rode the ski lift in Red River! It was all going so great. Huston was being brave and holding on to Bear Bear. Arden was not squirming too much, which was good because I was terribly afraid of her falling. The weather looked beautiful and we were having a really good time. Then, as we approached the top of the mountain, the freezing rain hit. And I don't mean freezing as in cold (though it was), I mean actual frozen pieces of hail. We were stuck on the lift for a few long minutes, as our children screamed and cried and as we got good and drenched and there was nothing we could do about it. It was a relief to make it to the top, where we got out and had lunch at the restaurant at the top while we semi-dried out. After lunch, Arden pooped and I hadn't brought any diapers (not having anticipated these events), so I cleaned her up and put her pants on with no diaper. I told her, "Arden, don't pee," and she said, "K." The next thing I knew, I was picking her up to go back down the lift, and she had peed all over her pants. It was quite an adventurous morning to say the least. In the evening we took the kids back to the same park where Clarke had played disc golf so they could play on the playground. There were tons of adorable chipmunks running around, which Arden started calling "munk chips."


Tuesday (July 12th): Clarke and Truitt and I went on a white-water rafting excursion. I begged not to go, but Clarke really wanted me to, and I'm glad I did. For some reason, I was really fearful about it, but it turned out to be fun. No pictures of this event yet (though I might buy some).

Wednesday (July 13th): All-family excursion to see the Rio Grande Gorge Bridge and then to have lunch and go shopping in Taos. Arden was not that impressed with the bridge or gorge, but Huston seemed to like the view as he said, "I've never seen this before."

Thursday (July 14th): Date day! Clarke's dad went on another rafting trip, and we left the kids with Melinda and Granny and Papaw and headed off to Angel Fire, where Clarke had discovered there was a disc golf course that was actually open. We rode the ski lift up (so much more enjoyable without worrying about holding onto your small children) and I had fun following Clarke around while he played. It was just gorgeous. It ended up raining on us most of the time, but it wasn't too bad until the end. He had to give it up around hole 16 and we had to take a bus down the mountain because we didn't want to wait for it to stop raining. We had lunch in Taos and a delicious triple chocolate pie for dessert, found a cool toy story called Swirl where we spent a long time, and saw a movie (Horrible Bosses) before we headed back. Such a fun day!

Friday (July 15th): We ended up going back to Angel Fire to play the same disc golf course, this time with Truitt and Melinda tagging along. Huston got a bit exhausted from all the walking, but Arden loved touching and examining every tree and rock and flower we stumbled across. She is such a nature lover! As we were finishing the course, Melinda got a call from Granny saying that we were being kicked out of our condo, even though we had expected to stay until Saturday. Silly me somehow didn't make the right reservations or forgot what day we were supposed to leave or something, so we had to drive back to Red River, pack up the condo in a huge rush, and get out of there. I felt absolutely terrible! We ended up eating lunch around 2:30 and not leaving town until after 3. The kids took a nap, which was nice, but we were trying to make it to Abilene before we stopped and Arden wasn't having it. Just outside of Abilene she screamed so hard and worked herself up into such a fit that she threw up all over herself. We had to stop and clean her up and then we stopped at McDonald's for dinner at 9:30. Praise the Lord that after all that mess, both kids slept the rest of the way home. We didn't end up getting back until 3:30 in the morning!

One of my favorite parts of this trip was the good family time. Huston loved waking up and having breakfast with Granny and Papaw. Arden loved playing with some beads and jars that Melinda brought and reading books with Granny. Clarke and I loved playing "fishbowl" with his parents and grandparents. It was just good, quality, slow time together. When Huston woke up at home the Saturday morning after our trip, he started crying and saying that he wanted to go back to Red River. He keeps talking about going back there someday and playing with "the three remotes - the one from my room, and the one from Mimi's room, and the one downstairs." Apparently our remotes just can't compete with Red River's.