Heron Lake

June 16-18, 2011

Heron Lake Camping Trip

Arthur was asked to be the Astronomy Merit Badge Counselor for Scout Camp.  He told them that that weekend was one of two we'd blocked out to take our family camping.  So they said, "Well, bring the family along!"  And we did.  And had a pretty good time.  I'd never been to Heron Lake, so I really enjoyed camping at a new place.  The kids loved walking out to the lake from our campsite and playing in the mud or trying to skip rocks.  And I am proud to say that for the first time in my life, I skipped rocks.  I've never been able to do it, but Arthur gave me some pointers and I got pretty good.  My top "score" was six skips!  I skipped so many rocks that my arm was sore for two days after we got home.  Hayden was out there trying to skip rocks too, and after one of his best "skips" said, "Whoa! Mom!  That was like 2 dozen thousand points!"   

Anyway, here are the pictures of our Heron Lake Camping Trip:

Not long after we got there, Sydney looked like this.
And that's just what happens when you go camping with a 1 year old.

The streak continues--Arthur has never caught a fish in New Mexico.

 

S'mores

Our view from our campsite--(sigh)

Hike to the river

On the suspension bridge--Hayden was a little wary of it.

Rio Chama

 

There's always plenty of fun to be had when mud is involved.

Brazos Cliffs

    Borrowing the Scouts' rowboat

skipping rocks . . .

. . . and more rocks . . .

 . . . and even more rocks.  Arthur was amazing--
he could get his rocks to skip more than 10 times!

Hayden's shoe got so stuck in the mud that his
foot popped out of his shoe when we tried to get him out.

Just hangin' out at camp

waiting for breakfast

Sunset on Heron Lake--taken by Daphne

State Fair

Last week I took the kids out of school to the State Fair on the 2-for-1 day.
We went with our friends the Schmutz's.

Here is Sean helping to make a leather key chain. He chose a truck imprint and loved help his new friend "bam-bam" on the key chain.

Daphne was near tears when she found out we couldn't take any of these darling baby animals home. That sweet girl desperately wants a pet she can cuddle with, but I am already a little overwhelmed with the brood I have. I don't want to clean up any more poop than I'm already cleaning up, ya know?

Hayden loved this sweet grilled corn.
He got really mad at me when I took it away to taste some, so I quickly gave it back!
It was good stuff. I love fair food!


The kids got to pick one ride before we headed home.

All the kids at the fair!
Daphne, Bobby, Dallin, Loralyn, Lydia, Ray, & Sean

2007 Albuquerque Balloon Fiesta

This is one of my favorite things about Albuquerque. Every year at the beginning of October they put on the annual Albuquerque Balloon Fiesta, the biggest ballooning event in the world. It is so much fun, and I think I like it more than the kids. We woke up this morning at 5:15 and headed out to Balloon Fiesta Park. It's normally a 15-20 minute drive, but with all the traffic for the fiesta, we arrived there a little after 7 a.m. The cool thing about Balloon Fiesta is that you can walk around the field and actually watch the whole inflation process from rolling it out to take off.


There are a lot of "special shape" balloons, but I think wind forecasts may have scared some off this morning. The one shape in particular that we all wanted to see was the new Darth Vader balloon from Belgium. But he must have left early because we didn't see him there today, much to Dallin's disappointment. (Mine too, I admit.) But we found a picture of it to show you all because it really is an impressive balloon. Hopefully he'll come back next year.


We did get to see a lot of other cool ones; Clarabelle the cow, The two bees who take off holding hands, give each other a kiss, and then fly separate directions, a scarecrow, a haunted house, and of course the traditional tear-drop balloons are fun too.




After the balloons have all taken off (there are hundreds of them on a good wind day--it's really spectacular) we share breakfast burritos (with lots of green chili) and fresh squeezed orange juice. Mmm-Mmm good! After such a fun morning, we will all enjoy a good nap this afternoon.

Photo and video editing at www.OneTrueMedia.com