Off Like A Herd of Turtles

After our Albuquerque start, Eric realized that he forgot his toiletry kit with his glasses, contact case, razor, etc. Our dogsitter brought it down to the DQ just off the hill . Slowly but surely we will get the road trip started...

Three weeks before, we discovered the Eurovan's engine was about to die. It started stalling and our mechanic highly recommended we not drive it on our road trip. We sad about not having the camping and comfort of the Eurovan but knew making it home with three little kids was more important. So we got a Honda Pilot -- no engine worries, super safety, and lots of room for almost four weeks of car traveling.

Exhale, here we go! Summer Road Trip 2010! Time to drive north towards our first destination, Fort Collins, Colorado. It was a gloomy day in the car with rain and clouds so we took it slow. As we drove over La Veta pass, the tire pressure gauge, came on. "What is this little light thing?" I ask. New fancy option of the Pilot. I thought, "Oh no, we got a defective car. This light is mistakenly coming on." We drove the rest of the way to Walsenburg, CO, stopped of gas, and Eric said, "Lynn, we really have a flat tire!" Eric knew he could fix it but there was no tire plug kit at the gas station or any of the gas stations nearby. It was Saturday evening, rainy, and the lady in the gas stations gave us the number to an emergency mechanic who said he would charge us $50 just to come and look at it. So, we waited. Eric asked every truck driver who stopped and they said, "I just drive 'em, they don't let us fix 'em." So, we waited some more. Finally a nice minivan pulled up next to us with an older couple who had an old repair kit in their tool box. Eric and the nice man fixed the tire and, as we waved a big thank you goodbye, I looked at their plates...they were from Wisconsin! :) Another reminder why we were headed home -- helpful people!

First Stop...Albuquerque!

Road Trip! Off to the midwest we go!
First stop...Albuquerque?!

Our awesome friends from Wisconsin, Brooke and Jeff, also planned a summer road trip for their family of four. The only difference...they headed west. So we decided to meet in Albuquerque at the start of our trips. We swam at a hotel, let the kids watch a movie, and shared a bunch of stories. The next day we hiked at Petroglyph National Monument before we drove our separate ways. What a way to start our trips! It reminded us why we love the midwest -- good people! :)

Madison and Maddie -- 3rd graders to be!

Camryn and Gus -- 2-year-olds who both decided to potty train on the road!

Elise and Ashton -- cool 5-year-olds almost in Kindergarten.

Gus followed 10-year-old Callahan around and copied all his moves.

Twilight Camp

Maddie went to Twilight Camp to celebrate the end of another year in Brownies. They were detectives this year and solved lots of mysteries.

Basketball Girls

Since getting the basketball hoop in the cul-de-sac, Maddie and our neighbor Caitlyn really wanted to get better. So the girls spent an hour every day for a week learning some skills with the high school girls basketball team and their coach.

Lemonade Ladies

Maddie and our neighbor Caitlyn got busy planning, setting up, and running a lemonade stand. They were so successful the first day that they used the money to ride their bikes (alone!) to the gas station and get more supplies for the next day.

Elise and Ryan our other neighbor got involved.


Maddie then, on her own, donated $10 of the profits to a project sponsored at church for kids in Africa who cannot stay in school because of poverty. :)

Pool Time

We enjoyed the pool right away this year thanks to the record heat as summer began!

Bye-bye Crib!

Now that Gus looks like a big boy, he gets a big boy room!

These photos were taken his last night in his baby room.

Goodbye changing table. Diapers are almost gone!


The crib really is just a trampoline nowadays.

Ghost Ranch

We have lived in New Mexico for over 10 years but never been to Ghost Ranch. The Eidenbenz family invited us to hike with them in the box canyon to start off summer. It was a hot day so the shade and water were perfect.

Since 1955, Ghost Ranch has been an education and retreat center for the Presbyterian church that can be used by the public. Before that, Georgia O'Keeffe lived there in the summers from 1934-1949. She loved the landscape and so do we!

We ate lunch and played in the water at the top of the canyon.

Oops! Elise accidentally sat in the water as she got a stick.



We stopped at our favorite New Mexican food outside of Espanola.

Goodbye School, Hello Summer!

On the last day of school, Eric picked Maddie up on his motorcycle (!) and we all went to Sonic! After lunch, dad had to go back to work, but the kids and I went to our "sneaky spot" by a creek in the woods for 3 hours of letting go of school and saying hi to summer.

The kids screamed, hiked, sat, collected, floated, jumped, stared, balanced, yelled, laughed. It seemed very cathartic for them and me.

End of the Year Parties

Both girls had parties to celebrate the end of school.

Elise's school had a mellow BBQ at a grassy, shady spot where they shot off soda and mentos.

Maddie's class ate ice creams sundaes and played games.

I lead the kids in a rousing game called "Giants, Wizards, and Elves." It is like Rock. Paper, Scissors but with your whole body as a team. It was super funny!

School is ALMOST out!

We decided to celebrate ALMOST summer with the kids. We took them to the new pizza place in White Rock that has video games, pool tables, and air hockey tables. We wasted a bunch of quarters and had a blast!