The Long-Awaited Vacation

Our family leaves Albuquerque several times a year, but it is always for a purpose. Sure, we have fun while we're gone, but we always have a person to visit or family to spend time with. So, this year, we decided to do the family visiting while on a vacation we would choose just for fun! My brother and his family and my parents joined us in San Diego for a quick "long-weekend" vacation. We had an absolute blast, although we packed WAY too much fun into a short time.
On Saturday, my parents and I drove out to Phoenix to meet up with Jeff and Tina. Dave flew into Phoenix later that evening. (He got off the driving hook because he stayed to work on our remodel). Sunday we loaded up all 10 of us and set off for San Diego. 7 hours, one McDonald's visit, and about 3 emergency potty stops later, we arrived at our hotel near the beach. We wasted no time getting dressed and walking down to Moonlight Beach in Encinitas. The water was warm, the waves were great, and the beach was crowded! Michaela and Ryan, being completely free of any fear of the water, immediately raced into the waves and began swimming and body-boarding. Garrett raced to the edge of the water and stood there for several minutes, inching farther out slowly. At first, he was adamant that he did NOT want to body-board, but Dave finally convinced him to try. After that, we had to wrestle him away from the waves. He was hooked!
Paige, on the other hand, took one look at the waves and decided that she would rather just dig in the sand. We left her on the towels, expecting her to eventually follow us into the water. She did wander down to the very edge and stuck her toes in, but she ran away every time a big waved crashed. I picked her up so she wouldn't be afraid, and she endured the water for about a minute or two before beginning to chant "No more waves!! No more waves!!" There's no surfing in her immediate future.
After doing the obligatory burying of the kids in the sand, we returned to the hotel to wash the sand out of everything we owned. (I'm not sure I could ever get used to that!)
On Monday, we hit Legoland, which was by far the thing Garrett was most excited about. He LOVES Legos, and he envisioned an entire park brimming with Legos for him. We had fun on the kiddie rollercoasters and at the water spray area. Garrett even rode a robotic arm ride with Aunt Tina that turned him upside down!
Tuesday brought us to Sea World. We were wowed by the Shamu show, although we were fairly disappointed that we didn't get soaked, despite sitting on the fourth row of the "soak zone." The kids fed the dolphins, the manta rays, and the sea lions, and picked up starfish in the tide pool. We crowned the day with a rollercoaster ride that had us all screaming and soaking wet.
We had a fantastic time hanging out with our family and spending tons of money on theme-park food and stuffed toys for the kids. It's times like this that make being a parent lots of fun (although the meltdown following 3 days of no naps was almost not worth it!). I got goosebumps watching the Shamu show with Garrett and seeing the awe in his eyes when he watched the whales. And there's nothing like Paige's giggles at the seals and sea lions doing "hip-hop" dancing at the next show. God has created such amazing variety and beauty. We truly serve an awesome God! What a time to remember! I could leave you with all 135 pictures that I took, but I will show mercy and only post a few highlight pictures!

On Noah's Ark

We had a little experience tonight of Biblical proportions. Well, not really, but it felt like it. Dave had planned for us to spend the evening finishing off the concrete forms for the remodeling. About 4:30 or so it began to cloud up and sprinkle a little, so he decided we'd just do some of the work tonight. A little later, my mom called to say it was pouring rain at her house, but we still just had light rain. About 5:40 or so, the skies opened and dumped so much rain I was afraid we would float away. I asked Dave if we would have any problems, since the trench we dug was only partially filled with concrete. He replied "No, as long as it doesn't fill up completely, we'll be OK." (Hear the ominous music??)

Granted, it doesn't look that bad in this picture, but please remember that the trench was 18 inches deep! AT LEAST! It had some concrete in it, but I would guess this was probably at least 8-10 inches of water.

When the lightning finally died down enough that we weren't afraid of being electrocuted, we headed out with buckets to start bailing water. We managed to get most of it out before the rain and lightning started again, but it left the rest of the yard looking like this:

Yes folks, we'll be building a diving board for that swimming pool tomorrow. Until then, I'll be there in the trench with my bucket, waving to Noah as he floats by on his ark.

Irony

Paige and Garrett spent 3 days last week camping with Grammie and Papa. Dave and I enjoyed our time alone, although it was a little weird. It was nice to be able to finish a sentence, but I couldn't seem to get it through my head that someone didn't have to be home at all times. Dave was going riding in the early morning, and I had thought I would go to the gym. I sat around for awhile waiting for him to return (our normal trade-off routine), before I finally realized there were no kids that needed someone to supervise them!
We had a nice date night on Friday and then bought me a new bicycle on Saturday. I'd like for our family to get a little more involved with Dave's passion for bicycling, so I thought it would be nice to have a good road bike instead of my incredibly heavy mountain bike. We found a good one finally, and I love it! There are no 100 mile races in my future, I'm fairly certain, but at least I can take part in the bicycle races when we go!
Saturday afternoon the kids returned home from camping. They had gone to Pagosa Springs and spent the time playing in the river and climbing the mountains. They came home without a scratch on them. Ironically, about an hour after they got home, Paige tripped over a pillow and hit her forehead on the corner of the hallway wall. It immediately swelled up to a giant goose-egg and bled quite a bit. We ended up taking her to the after-hours doctor, and sure enough, she needed a couple of stitches. Luckily, the doctor said that because it would only require a few stitches, they could use a special kind of glue instead. So Paige came home with purple-hued glue on her forehead and a pretty good bruise! It hasn't turned into a black eye yet, which I'm thankful for. It's just funny that everyone was perfectly safe with the dangers of the outdoors. Apparently it's the hallway you need to watch out for!

If I Never See A Shovel Again, That's Fine With Me

To paraphrase the Bible "From dust you were created, and to dust you shall return." I feel like I have returned to the dust this week! Not because I died, but because I have spent much of my week up to my knees (or deeper) in a trench in our backyard. When we embarked on this adventure of remodeling our new house, I told Dave I would be his "unskilled labor" force. I know nothing about framing or drywall or tiling floors, but I figured I could dig, haul, and move stuff as needed.

Well, little did I know that the offer would translate into digging a 18" deep, 16" wide, 50 foot long trench for the concrete footings. I started the week eager to prove my willingness to help. By Tuesday afternoon, I was calling Dave, begging him to rent a trencher, hire a laborer, or just come do it himself. After several days of digging (from both Dave and I...but mostly him), help from my parents, and about 35 gallons of sweat, the trench is complete!

My only consolation is that this is probably the hardest labor part of the entire remodel. So, I'll enjoy my tan and my big muscles...as soon as I can move again!
In other news, a rocket ship was assembled in our living room while the trench was being dug. The two little astronauts waved goodbye as they took off on their imaginary journey to the stars. Hopefully they'll come back to earth soon!

River Rats

To celebrate the Fourth of July and our niece's birthday, we drove up to visit Dave's parents outside Durango this weekend. It was pouring rain when we left Albuquerque, but the weather when we arrived was perfect. We enjoyed a wonderful weekend visiting with Dave's family, hanging out at the river, and setting off fireworks.
The kids were so excited, because they got to sleep outside in a tent. We were a little skeptical that they would actually stay in it all night, but they would do anything to stay with their cousin Autumn. So, they had a great night "under the stars", with only one nightmare and a few spiders to be killed. (We stayed in another tent nearby, just in case).
Friday night we set off our fireworks a little early. Garrett literally held the box of fireworks for the entire four-hour drive up there. By the time we arrived, he had memorized the name of every fountain, sparkler, and spinner. He was so anxious to set them off that he started asking about it immediately after dinner. Paige, however, was so "underwhelmed" (or so exhausted) that she fell asleep about 5 minutes into the display.
On Saturday we took the kids to the river where Daddy helped them make sand castles -which they gleefully flooded later. Paige even jumped right in the river with the big kids and they all pretended they were in quicksand. After they were soaked through and had a little rock-skipping lesson from Daddy, we forced them back home for some dinner. All in all it was a wonderful weekend. God has blessed us with a great family, a beautiful world, and a country to be proud of!