Dirty Dash 2012

On Saturday I ran in the Dirty Dash - a 3.5 miles mud run. I ran with three other friends, which was super fun. The weather was actually a little chilly, but once we got moving I didn't notice it.... until we showered off afterwards and then I was COLD. The race was great - mud pits to run through and climb out of, walls to climb over, water slides, tubes to crawl through, etc. I went back later for the kids to do the Piglet Plunge (just one mile with a few of the pits and obstacles). Ben loved it. Megan was totally fascinated and slightly obsessed with picking the dried mud off, and Nathan was pretty much over it after the second mud pit (it took some convincing and carrying to get him through it...HE HE HE). Good times. I haven't done any kind of race in years and this definitely got me itching to do another one.




We didn't rinse off very well after the kids race - it was already drying (which I thought might be a better condition to drive home in), but then we had to rinse off before we showered.

First Day of School

School is back in session. The kids were all thrilled to start.

Caelan is in 4th grade with Mrs. Jorgensen. She started before any of the other kids. I asked her if she wanted me to walk in with her, and she said, "she could go in by herself."

Ben is in 2nd grade with Mrs. Huffaker. His best bud switched schools, but he has made some new friends and it enjoying his class.

Megan is in Kindergarten with Mrs. White. This is same teacher that Ben had two years ago. She walked in on her first day and found her name tag. Sitting right next to her was her friend from dance class. Then her very best friend walked in the door and Megan realized that her name tag was in the seat on the other side of her. She and Presley were elated. (That seating arrangement didn't even make it through the day, but it sure made the morning fun - HA).

Nathan started preschool at Parky's Pals with Ms. Denise. We have pretty much been counting down the days since Megan's last day at that school in May. He was dressed and ready to get in the car 30 minutes before we had to leave. He is loving it.

The Big Summer Rendevous

We had a great summer trip in July/August.We were gone 18 days, we traveled through 10 states, we attended 3 family reunions and we traveled almost 4,000 miles (and our van made it without a problem the whole way). Here are some of the highlights of the trip:

*Camping at Carlsbad State Beach - we were literally right above the shore and we could hear the waves crashing at night. We stayed here during the Sorensen Family Reunion. We spent an entire day at the beach. Of the 7 hours we were at the beach, Caelan was in the water for 6 of them (she is our little fish). Sean went out in the water, intending to just wade for a bit, but a wave caught him and took him down. Unfortunately he was wearing his glasses, which were taken right off with the wave. Luckily we found an Optometrist office that gave us a trial pair to take for free. We enjoyed another day at the park visiting, playing volleyball, eating yummy food etc.
*Caelan made friends with a bunch of my cousins' daughters, which was fun to watch. Nathan also made a friend, Brinlee. They played and played together. One day she fell and got hurt and Nathan put his arm around her and walked her to her dad (it was so cute). I sent my cousin a message after we left the reunion telling her how fun it was to watch those two little ones play together. She wrote back saying that Brinlee had been telling her that Nathan is now her boyfriend. HA! Love it.
*We hit up Los Hermanos on our way from southern CA up to Northern ID, which is always tasty (and brings back fun memories).
*The trailer story (but that deserves a post all on it's own)
*Camping at Farragut State Park (about 20 miles outside Cour d'Alene, ID). It was beautiful. We played at the lake, went boating, had campfires, took a day trip to a mountain resort, found a delicious ice cream parlor and got homemade ice cream cones and had a fun time visiting.
*We made the next trip to the final reunion in Boise, ID. For this reunion we stayed in an empty house with some mattresses for beds.
*For this reunion, the Taylor Reunion, we had a couple of swimming pool parties, we watched "How To Train Your Dragon" outside, and I actually got to watch a little bit of the Olympics....finally.
*We spent one day floating along the Boise river. There were only three decent drops and Grandpa Sorensen fell right out on the first one, which gave us all a good laugh.
*We spent one night camping at a Reservoir about 30 minutes away. The grassy campground was right on the lake, and the water was super shallow so the kids spent lots of time way out in the water. We boated and jumped off the dock and made smores and had a fun little overnighter.
*I met Corbin in Eagle Mountain, UT at Charity's house and we caravanned together back home to New Mexico.
Fun, Fun Trip!

2012 Summer of Fun

This year we made a list of some things we wanted to do during the summer, and then I kept track of things we could cross off the list (plus other fun things that we didn't put on the initial list). Here is our Summer 2012 List:

*Balloon Fiesta Museum
*Visit 3 new local parks
*Fishing (Caelan caught her first fish....all by herself)
*Nature Scavenger Hunt
*Make a volcano with baking soda and vinegar
*Bowling
*Board Games
*Make a fort
*Geocaching
*Splash Park
*Sidewalk chalk city
*Swimming and waterslide
*Cheap Movies ("The Lorax" and "Mirror Mirror")
*Library Story Time
*Bird of Prey presentation at Tijeras Library
*Water Balloons
*Sprinkler on trampoline
*Homemade icecream
*Jambo's Amusement Park (in Phoenix)
*Snow cones
*Slip n' slide
*Teddy Bear Picnic
*Visit and tour gold mine (in Colorado)
*Hike
*Make kaleidoscope
*Barbeque with friends
*Banana splits at ice cream parlor
*Mentos and Diet Coke experiment
*Free lunch summer program
*Sleep on trampoline
*Visit the aquarium
*Make rain stick
*Free Slurpie Day at 7-11
*Galloping Grace Horse Ranch
*Daily reading time
*Visit lego store
*Wii family competition
*Hinkle Family Fun Center Free Friday (golfing and arcade)
*Boating
*Float down river
*Camping
*Outside movie
*Garden
*.....plus our big summer vacation

Sounds like a pretty successful summer. Let's do it again next year.

Day at the Horse Ranch

I'm not sure how I heard about it, but at some point before summer I learned about a horse ranch that offers sessions for kids for free in the summer. I tried to sign up online, but they didn't have a date that would work for us, so I put us on the waiting list. Last week we were notified of an opening, so we went over to Rio Rancho and spent the morning at a horse ranch. It is a great place where everything is paid for by donations and fundraisers and all the workers are volunteers. The kids loved it. They got to:
*Ride horses (the highlight of the day)
*Groom a horse
*Hold baby ducklings and chickens
*Scoop up horse poop
*Pet goats and ponies
*Write cards to organizations that have donated goods and services
*Play in the play area which consisted of an outdoor kitchen, a saloon playhouse (with a tiny little piano inside and cowboy dress up clothes), giant tire, play trucks, playground equipment, a corn box (like a sand box, but with corn), water pump rubber duckie races and more.

I think all of the kids at one point that morning thanked me for taking them there. Good fun....and free. Can't beat that.

Independence Day

We didn't have any plans made for the 4th of July, so we asked if some people wanted to come over to barbecue that night. We ended up going to the Moriarty parade that morning, which was a pretty good parade for a small city: lots of horses and animals,tons of candy (I mean the kids had bags full of candy), some fun floats, just long enough. And before it started our good friend, Misty, did a little face painting on all the kids. Then we picked up some fireworks to shoot off later that night. 4 families came over that afternoon for food and fun. We smoked brisket and chicken drumsticks (both so, so yummy). We had star shaped watermelon and corn casserole and veggies and homemade potato salad and mashed potatoes and other fruit and cupcakes and homemade ice cream (of course - it wouldn't be the 4th without it). 19 kids were running around the house and they were all playing great together. At one point I think almost ALL of them (from ages 12 to 2) were playing the same thing. The adults chatted and played a game, and then it was time to head over to do fireworks. Moriarty, the city next to us, doesn't have any restrictions on fireworks. We went to the park and people were lighting up fireworks left and right. It was like it's own city show - it was great....and LOUD. We spread out blankets and ate popcorn and watched fireworks until the police department shut it down (people not be responsible, etc). Good times!!

Look What I Can Do

Crawling is right around the corner for this little guy. He's getting up on his hands and toes (like a good yoga "downward dog") and then he lowers his knees. He's rock back and forth and then lands back down onto his belly....but he's close. He is also a little roller. None of the other kids have been rollers. They could roll over, but then never really did it. The past couple of weeks Austin will roll all over the floor to get things that he wants.

And here are just some other pictures for fun: