Monday's Fun, Fun Day

I don't have a way to get my photos off my camera until we get home, but I am trying to remember to snap a few with my phone so I can post along the way.  The quality of my phone photos are not the best, but it's better than nothing, right?

Monday morning we set out for the Sandia Peak Tramway for their first ride of the morning.  We tried to ride last night, but the winds were too strong and they had to shut it down.  The tram is the longest in the world at 2.7 miles long.  I takes you to the top in 15 minutes so it's moving at a fast clip!  We walked the trails for 2 hours looking for birds, but being 10'378 feet  of elevation, it's COLD and the kids cried uncle.

After our trip back down the mountain it was lunch time.  After a picnic back at the campground we headed to the aquarium and botanical garden.  After an exhausting day of walking, we finished our day with a quiet round of cards back at the camper.

Here are some more photos from the peak...

Heading up to the top... 9 am first run of the day.

 Tiny house on the bluff... used to house workers in the 1950's during the construction of the tram.  What a view to wake up to every morning!

 Snow still at the top of the mountain!

 But Amanda wasn't heavy enough to sink down like Logan!  There was an icy crust over the snow that she was able to walk on top of.

 The only family picture at the top... just before we headed back down at lunch time.

 On the way back down I thought it was pretty cool that you could see the shadow of the tram we were riding in.

 Passing another tram on it's way up the mountain.

 Here we are heading into the docking station at the bottom.

Now some photos from the Aquarium and Botanical Gardens:

Amanda and Logan were fascinated by this large-nosed puffer fish.  He was very playful too.

 Touch Tank with very informative staff person.

 Watch out, it squirts!

 Logan could have hung out here all day.  He LOVES a good aquarium!  He parked himself right in front of the biggest aquarium for at least 20 minutes!

 Groupers, Sea Turtles, Divers, and Sharks.  What more could a 9 year old want.

 But Amanda was not impressed.  She waited non to patiently until Logan was ready to move on.
 Then off to the children's garden we went.

WATCH OUT FOR THAT DRAGON!!!!

 In the ant tunnels:

 A Giants Garden!

 Don't get caught in that spider web!  You'll be a goner for sure!

 We made our way through the maze...

 ... to the giant birds nest.  Hope the momma bird doesn't come back soon.

Monkeys In New Mexico

Yesterday we packed our bags and our camper and hit the road for our spring break trip to New Mexico.  10 hours later, we rolled in Tucumcari, NM at a historical Route 66 Motel.

(above photo was taken at a rest stop... Cool South Western Architecture)

Here are some more photos from Tucumcari...

Logan hanging in our historic motel room, listening to the old style radio and doing some reading.

 Amanda and I messing around the grounds of the motel...

 Then we got Logan to join us as we looked around the historic town.

 (acting silly like Mater)

 Lots of cool cars to look at around town.

 100% refrigerated air!!!!  HA!!!

Here are some other landscape photos from New Mexico... very different from the Great Plains.

 LOTS OF TUMBLE WEED

 And I thought Kansas was windy!!!!!  With very few plants and lots of exposed dirt, dust storms are very common... and no fun for the eyes!

It's Fixed!

My computer has been down for the past few weeks and I have been going through major withdrawal.   Our schedules have been very busy, a lot has happened, and now I can get back to recording all these events on our blog now that I have my laptop back.  I realize that a lot of my posts are boring and inconsequential to "normal" folk, but I have discovered that I enjoy recording the day to day stuff for future reflection so I'll post-date the events from the last few weeks while the memories are still fresh.  You can choose to look back at those posts if you like or not... I'll never know one way or the other!  : )

Pinewood Derby 2013

Saturday Logan's Cub Scout Pack hosted their annual Pinewood Derby Race.  This year Logan went for speed rather than style.  He entered this Flaming Skull car... a simple wedge with color shifting paint and bright blue wheels.

 

 Amanda wanted to enter this year as well.  She wanted a white ice cream truck complete with cherry on top!  The kids were very helpful this year in the making of their cars.  They both participated in sanding, polishing the wheels, and painting/decorating.

 Eric and I volunteered to organized the race this year so I missed a lot of the earlier races as I was running around a lot, however during the outlaw races (when anyone can race) Logan entered his Batman car from last year to race against his sister's ice cream truck.

 Seeing as how he has been playing with the car all year... crashing and wrecking it over and over again... it was no wonder that his sister whooped up on him in the races.  Better build one from scratch next year, Logan, if you want to beat your sister!

Eric also entered a car this year.  He named his car Black Sunshine and it was smokin' fast.
Faster than Logan and Amanda's cars by far!!!!

So the results!

Logan took 3rd place in his den and was the 3rd fastest car in the entire pack (out of 30 boys)!  His den swept the finals with 1st, 2nd and 3rd place all going to Bears!  Go Flaming Skull!!!

Amanda took third place out of 16 cars in her outlaw race!!!

And Eric took second... he only missed being in first place by .02 seconds!!!  : (  But no trophy for him.  Only the first place adult took home a trophy this year.

Amanda's School Music Program

Amanda had a school music program Tuesday evening and she was a hoot to watch.  If you have the time you can check out the series of videos.... there are 8 in all.

Great Grandma and Melting

 Thursday we got a phone call that Eric's grandmother was in the hospital.  She had suffered a severe stroke in her sleep and the prognosis was not good.  We tied up lose ends at home and took the kids out of school early on Friday to head to KC to visit and support the family.  The kids did okay at the hospital Friday evening, but it is no place for two very active monkeys to hang for long periods of time.  Eric ended up leaving me and the kids at my mom's house on Saturday while he sat with his family at the hospital.  There wasn't any sign of change so we expected her stay in the the hospital to be a lengthy one.  We headed back home on Sunday.

Back home, things were melting... the dogs had missed us and needed to use up some energy so Casey took Logan on a walk.

 

 And the cat tried to avoid the wet snow as much as possible... 
(he kinda looked like a pile of snow himself).

And Amanda set up a cookie stand at the end of our driveway to finish selling off her girls scout cookies.  

She DID sell more than she ate, however her and Logan have been her two best customers this cookie season.

 That evening we got the call that Eric's Grandmother had passed away.  We were sad to hear the news, but glad she wasn't going to suffer any longer.  She will be dearly missed.