Carlsbad Caverns

Since the kids had Friday off for the "Vernal Holiday" we went down south to explore Carlsbad Caverns. Here are some pictures of the adventures. It would probably be more fun to have the kids narrate--but they're in bed.  So today it's just my boring narration.

The monument sign.  

We wouldn't be good tourists if we didn't stop to take a picture with the sign.

Here we are before hiking down to natural entrance.  Won't be needing those sunglasses for long.  It's a mile hike into the darkness, almost ALL downhill.  Then you take an elevator up! 

Now that's my kind of hike!

Hayden was a good sport in that backpack.  When he was bored he would toss his pacifier overboard, or kick his shoes off.  (Usually, I tie a string to his pacifier and secure it to the backpack, but I couldn't find the tie this time.  As result, his pacifier was dropped on the cave floor numerous times. )  He ended the hike with his shoes tucked in the backpack and his pacifier in my pocket. 

Down we go!

Some of the formations we saw. 

 (None of the pictures turned out very well because of how dark it is in the cave.)  

"Hold to the Rod!"

(& Hayden missing a shoe)

This formation was one of the kids favorites, and they loved spotting it all over the caverns.  Why?  Well, because it's called "Popcorn" of course!

More cool formations.

Here are my troopers.  Daphne said the caves smelled "funky"  and Sean kept saying stuff like, "Mom, these rocks are beautiful.  Mom, this cave is very dark and beautiful."

He's becoming very eloquent in his old age.

Good Grief!

 . . . is something I've been saying a lot lately.

A few days ago, Sean told me, "Mom, Hayden is my friend.  He's my best friend."  As a mother, I can't tell you how it warms my heart to hear that my children are friends!  I just love that.  I especially love it since Hayden is in a "find-and-destroy" phase which Sean finds extremely annoying, especially when his carefully placed train tracks are being demolished.  So a lot of times poor little Hayden, (who can't help being in this phase; it's just part of being 16 months) gets pushed, shoved, and shut out of the bedroom.  So when Sean tells me Hayden is his friend, I just melt inside.  

Well lately, I've been noticing the collaborative efforts of their friendship, which, on several occasions have led me to exclaim, "Oh good GRIEF!"  (Thank you, Charlie Brown.)  Sean has taught Hayden how to remove the drawers from the dresser in Daphne's room and climb inside the empty dresser frame.  Seems harmless enough but just I get tired of putting those drawers back into the dresser.  

Sean has also taught Hayden the joy of pulling all the cushions off our nice couches in the living room.  (The couches that are NOT jumping couches.) They pile them in the middle of the room and proceed to jump on them.  This is carefully timed so as to enjoy the activity when they are sticky, or smell like boys who've been playing outside.  (A very distinctive smell-- I'm sure many of you will know just what I mean.) 

Today when I walked into the kids bathroom, I saw yet another evidence of their friendship in that the contents of Daphne's hair drawer (rubber bands, ribbons, barretts, combs, and sponge curlers) were all over the floor.  (I mean, that's exactly what I like to do with my friends--how 'bout you?)

Hayden has also been carefully schooled in the art of sneaking into the garage and playing in the car.  What this means is that the next time I go out to the garage, the hazards are flashing, the rear view mirror is completely skiwampus, and all the lights are switched on.  It gets even better when I start the car.  (IF I can start the car.)   The heater or air conditioner will be blasting full force, the blinkers will be flashing, and sometimes the windshield wipers will be on too.  

I can tell these two little buddies are gonna be TROUBLE!

good thing I love 'em.

Tidbits

1. Dirt 

Well, I got a little overzealous in my planting of the spring flowers.  I was tricked by the warm weather we enjoyed a few weeks ago, and got excited a little too early.  It's been really cold here the last several days.  So Arthur brought my pots in last night to protect them from the freeze.  This morning in the rush of getting children out to the bus stop, I forgot to put them back outside.  And when I got back from the bus stop, I'd forgotten about them altogether.  I was upstairs when I heard Hayden laughing at something that was just hilarious.  I thought "how cute!  Sean must be entertaining him."  But it didn't add up because I didn't hear Sean.  Finally it dawned on me:

I don't know about you, but when I see pots of flowers inside, the first thing I think is, "Wouldn't it be awesome to throw that dirt everywhere?"  I mean, honestly, what else would they be there for?  

2. Preschool Fieldtrip to Albertson's:

So I thought I was doing awesome arriving at Albertson's 5 minutes early.  (No small feat for me, who is usually five minutes late.)  I didn't think anything about being the first one there (also very unusual for me) since I was so incredibly punctual this morning.  Well, after 10 minutes, I thought, "There's no way everyone but me is running late this morning."  So I went home to check my email and sure enough, I was at the wrong Albertson's.  And I made it to the right Albertson's 20 minutes late, instead of 5 minutes early.  What can you do?  

(I'm getting more and more spacey lately. . . . I could write an entire blog about some really spacey things I've done in the last three months!  Later maybe . . . )

Anyway . . .
When we pulled up to the grocery store for our field trip, I had a hard time convincing Sean to get out of the car.  You could tell he was thinking, "What is this?-- a trick?  You tell me I'm going on a field trip and you take me grocery shopping?" But I have to say, this field trip was so cute!

Our "tour guides"  Mark & Jesse (I think those were their names) were great with the kids.  Each child got a little Albertson's grocery bag and at every station they went to they'd give them something to put in their bags.  Bananas & apples at the produce station, cookies from the bakery, string cheese from the deli,--- they showed them the ovens they bake in, and the big freezers and refrigerators where all the milk and ice cream and things are kept.  (Since those refrigerators and freezers have to be constantly running, they said their average electric bill is $50,000.00 a month!) They got balloons from the floral department, and toothbrushes from the pharmacy, and capri suns from a very friendly check-out lady.  It was such a cute field trip!  Who would have thought?  

Thanks for planning it Sarah.  We loved it! Hurray for Albertson's!

3.  Photo shoot

Sean took  over 100 pictures yesterday. He took tons of the couch, several of Hayden, a few self-portraits, practically a whole album of his wooden train tracks, and quite a few motion shots--that is, he was in motion and everything was blurry.  Here is one of his best.  

For obvious reasons, it is named, "Feet."  

Sugar Cookies

Yesterday afternoon we had some friends come over to play and make sugar cookies. The kids rolled out their balls of dough, & cut them out and everything! Surprisingly, they looked pretty good, and were very tasty. One of our little friends, David, knows the true purpose of a sugar cookie; his frosting layer was about three times as thick as his cookie layer. I was trying to get a picture of it, but he was too quick putting it in his mouth. :)

Wild Wednesday (narrated by Dallin)

On Wednesday we went to the zoo.  We didn't really care about seeing any animals.  We just wanted to climb on stuff.  Here is a picture of us and lots of our friends climbing on a throne and taking over the world!  KID POWER!!!  DESTROY ALL EVIL!  

Lots of us retired but queen Daphne & Queen Brynn still saved the world.

We got captured in a cave, but we escaped.

We ran away and fed the ducks.

Who's this handsome devil?  IT'S ME!

Spring Break Adventures (by Dallin & Daphne)

Dallin:  Today we did a bunch of chores.  We did not like it.  But we got to go to the Aquarium after.  We had a great time.  Let's get to the real story so you know what the whole adventure is about.  

Dallin: One day we went to the Gardens next to the Aquarium. We were by two fountains. Me and Daphne took some money out of the fountain and threw some back in. I made a wish that the water would be warm.

Daphne: I wished that I could be a princess.

Dallin: But it didn't happen. And then we went into the Aquarium after we ate lunch.

Daphne: And we had fun playing with Bakugans. (???? Mom: We didn't play with Bakugans at the Aquarium.)

Dallin: That was just a joke from Daphne. Then we walked over to the Aquarium and took money out of the puny fountain and threw it back in.



Dallin: Then we walked into the aquarium. We looked at the fishes really fast.

Daphne: I hid from the eels because I'm scared of the eels.

Dallin: Then we went to the sharks and looked at them for awhile. Then we decided to go home.

Daphne: No--then we decided to go get icees and popcorn.

Dallin: We were sharing the icees. Then Mom gave Hayden some icee. Hayden loved it! When we took it away from him, he yelled at us, and then he asked us politely for more. He said, "ga-ga?"

Dallin & Daphne: WE HAD A GREAT ADVENTURE!!!!