Road Trip Part 2

I'm currently hiding from the boys after a long day of potty training. Mostly "Let's try to pee. NOOOOOOO. Let's at least sit on the potty. NOOOOOOO." You get my drift.

Now I have help. Patrick has arrived to make sure I don't get too much done, but I'll try to persevere and get up some more pics of our trip.


The second day in Durango, we drove back about 45 minutes to the entrance to Mesa Verde National Park. It is one of the largest Indian cliff dwellings ever discovered. Too bad it was another 20 miles back a little twisty turny up and down road, which explains Patrick's rather low opinion of the trip.
Once we got to the largest of the ruins (and the most accessible), it was really neat. I was amazed at how much was still intact. I expected foundations, but there were numerous large adobe walls still intact.

Christopher and Daddy ventured down into a kiva whose roof had been reconstructed. Mommy and Patrick stayed topside.

Patrick finally started earning his keep grinding corn for tortillas.

My two giant handsome boys together. Not sure why they aren't looking at the camera, but oh well.

Christopher decided to do a little trailblazing on the way out of the canyon.

The natives are getting restless, so I'll try to put up a few more later.

Enjoy!

The Great Four Corners Road Trip - Part I

We've been back for over a week, yes, but I'm just getting to uploading pictures from our adventure in late July / early August. We took a 6 day road trip through the Four Corners area to Durango, Colorado and back. Overall we drove nearly 1400 miles and saw all sorts of neat things!


Here is Christopher the night before we left with his new suitcase packed and ready to go with the important things - trains, crayons, books.





The first day we drove to Gallup, NM with a quick stop at the Painted Desert Visitors Center. After deciding that we didn't want to drive 20 miles each way out of the way to see the Petrified Forest part, we sat on the "Dinosaur Tree" outside the museum for Daddy to take a picture.


We then went on to Gallup and checked into the hotel and brought in our things.

After we settled in, we went into "downtown" Gallup to the main drag, the old Route 66, just like in Cars!

The next day we got up and finished driving to Durango, Colorado, arriving mid-afternoon. We decided to scope out the Children's Museum, which turned out to be more of a playroom of sorts, but was great for the boys to just get out and run around. Here is Christopher unloading his groceries.

Then we walked a few blocks downtown to find dinner. On the way we passed this GIANT boy sitting on a bench. When did he get so big?

Here's my little love bug and I at dinner. He fell asleep in the stroller so he was snuggly for a minute or two.

And of course, the coolest place in town, Christopher's hide-a-bed. Who would've thought a sleep sofa could be so cool - but I guess a bed that disappears into a sofa during the day is pretty magical when you're 3.

This is a monster post, so I'll put up some more tomorrow. Until then, Enjoy!

Random Pics of the Week

We've done nothing with a capital N this week, since we're going away next week and (of course) Christopher has come down with another cough. So, here are a few pictures of the usual - playing on the trampoline at open gym and giving checkups.

Now take a deep breath...

Jumping like a bunny

Not sure who knocked who over

Look Mom, I found this cool ball. How 'bout I chuck it at you?

Yeah, I'm pretty big stuff.

We're leaving for about a week's vacation to Durango, CO on Thursday. Hopefully we'll do something fun there so we can post it for you!

Enjoy!

Haircut!

Patrick got his first haircut yesterday! I think it was more traumatic for Mommy than it was for Patrick. He just sat around looking bewildered but not fussing or squirming too much.


Christopher is old hat at the haircut thing, but makes sure we remember ice cream afterwards.


From Friday, we moved the trucks into Christopher's room so the piano tuner could come, then found him on his bed playing with all of them at once.


And just for those of you who think Patrick is still fat, here's a skinny boy flexing for the camera, and showing off his driving skills. There was an incident at dinner tonight involving spaghetti and spilled milk that resulted in him losing his clothes. Mommy nearly cried over spilt milk since I finished scrubbing the floor not two hours before dinner!
Enjoy!

The Doctor is In

Grandad and Grammy's package for Christopher's birthday came yesterday and since then, Christopher has been tooling around the house with his stethoscope around his neck saying, "I'm Dr. Christopher. I listen to you." Patrick, in particular, is totally confused by this. Daddy snapped a picture of him last night, so I thought I'd show you the family's next friendly health professional. Look out Aunt Cindy, you may be taking orders from him soon!

Here he is on his birthday showing off his new Cars sheets.

And just because he can't tell me not to (yet), here's Patrick rockin' the Mardi Gras beads.

PS. Aunt Jenny, your package came too. I haven't snapped a picture yet, but lets just say that suitcase will have a LOT of miles on it before we take our first trip!

Enjoy!

Birthday Party!

We celebrated Christopher's birthday on Saturday a few days early. He had a great time playing with his friends and got some really neat presents. Here are a few pictures from his big day.

A neat Cars book from Grandma & Papa

Cranky!
Frank the ill-tempered combine from Cars
Lightning McQueen cake (he actually knew who it was, so I consider it a success!)

After a few tries, Daddy helped blow out his candles
Playing with the big new train setup

His real birthday is Tuesday, complete with doctor visit. I'm anxious to see how tall he his - he now comes up past my belly button!

Enjoy!

Fourth of July

I thought I'd put in a few pics of our Fourth of July fun. We went to the park in the morning before it got too hot and went to see fireworks that night. The boys both enjoyed the fireworks, although Patrick decided it was too late (they started at 9PM) and fell asleep about 10 minutes into the show. Christopher kept asking where the fireworkers were. There are fireworks, so somewhere there must be fireworkers, right?

Two happy swinging boys

Waiting for the fireworks. The lightsticks and ice cream from the grocery store were money well spent!

Watching fireworks with Mommy and Daddy

Enjoy!