New Mexico

We have completed the first week of our trip.  And we've also finished visiting our first state, New Mexico.  The desert in April feels GREAT!  High of 80's and lows of 30's at night.  Once we arrived at Bottomless State Park near Roswell, NM we were just relieved to have made it to our first destination.  Another little surprise was that we had good enough internet for Joe to work from the rig instead of having to drive into town everyday.  The state park we stayed in had 7 spring fed lakes and was located near the Pecos River.  Gorgeous clear water, and red cliffs surrounded us all around.  There weren't many campers there, besides us.  Everyday after dinner we all did a little hike together or just walked around to look at things.

Day 1- I took the girls into town to The Roswell Visitors Center, a free museum, and then spent the next 3 hours visiting several stores trying to get a phone and line added to our plan for Joe to work with.  I got enough literature at the visitors center to plan out the rest of the week.  Note to self, ALWAYS go to the Visitors Center on the first day!

Day 2- Ranger station and hang at the RV.  Played outside a lot, did a mile hike to see Lost Lake on Daddy's lunch break, and played at the playground.  Kids got a little more sun then I would have liked despite their hats.  Note to self, ALWAYS carry sunscreen and APPLY regularly!

Day 3- Free Zoo, Park for picnic lunch, and visit the Nature Preserve.  The nature preserve was really neat!  We watched a film on the park and did the auto tour around the wet lands.  I let Loralai sit in the front seat for this and she got a kick out of it.

Day 4- Finally took the girls swimming at one of the Bottomless Lakes.  Salty!  And cold!  Not Barton Springs Cold, but still very cold!  Loralai built a dam system in the sand and Juliet nursed for half an hour while looking around her.  We go back to the RV to collect Joe and visit the UFO Museum.  Blah.  Then dinner at Martin's Capital Cafe for some local food.  YUM!

Day 5- Drive to Bluewater State Park.  Short one night stay, but we all hung out on the lake's shore and skipped rocks for awhile and it was beautiful and special.  Bean through the biggest fit when we left the lake.  We hunted for our Easter Egg's in the morning and said "Good-bye" to NW.

The desert is beautiful in a way that I do not fully understand.  I've never spent much time in a desert before this week.  The nights and mornings a very cool.  The sky's are brilliant at night.  Although, after a few days, I was wishing for more trees and green.  Also a little disappointed that on all of our hikes, we didn't see so much as a lizard in the way of wildlife! 

It was a great start to our trip, as we are still very much feeling things out!  Somewhere around day 3, I started doing a little learning time with Loralai where we work on Math and Letters.  I'd like to build on that in the upcoming weeks with more time for art and sensory play.  May try some geocashing too and I plan to have the felt board made this week.  I did start her very first behavior chart and it's working out nicely.....for now.

Easter on the road was a little, tiny bit lonely.  We had a lot of fun dyeing the eggs and decorating them at the RV dinning table.  Then I hid them around our camp site the next morning.  A special prayer at dinner that evening, and that was about it for our Easter.  Since we were driving most of the day, I have some Extended Easter plans for tomorrow.  ;)

Loralai is starting to feel a little homesick.  She keeps asking, "Will my friends be there?", when I tell her we are going somewhere and she's desperate to meet ANY kid she sees!  She's also said a few times that she wants to go home.  This is a huge change for her and I'm sure it feels like we've already been gone a really long time to her.  I just try to help her meet EVERY kid that will stand near us long enough for me to start talking to them.  Other then that, we talk to Nana on the phone a lot and play with Mommy, Daddy, and Bean (who never seem to play "right" it seems). 

We just arrived in Flagstaff, AZ (about an hour from The Grand Canyon) today and will do some exploring tomorrow.  We are now ahead 2 hours earlier then our regular time in Austin.  Which means, Joe technically has to now get up at 5am for work each day!  LOL...  We'll see how he does tomorrow morning....  Staying at "Black Bart's RV Park".  http://www.blackbartssteakhouse.com/rv.html Nice having full hook-ups, including sewer so we don't have to worry about filling up our tanks during the week.  $28.65 a night means we are still coming in below my estimation for $30 a night.  :)

We miss you guys!!!!!  Muah!