Adventuring to Mesa Verde

We started our adventuring by heading to  Mesa Verde National Park - home of the Pueblo Indian cliff dwellings.

I though this was it...but we drove up another 20 miles of windy roads to get there!!

Our first stop was an overlook. If you look carefully, you can see the houses build into the cliffs.

We also checked out the museum. While there, the kids took a test as well as an oath - to be one junior park rangers!

After that...it was time for our tour of the Balcony House. This is the view from to top of the Mesa. We took some stairs and trails down to the ladder that would allow us to get into the cliff home.

Here's the ladder! 32 feet high. Grammy and Gage were terrified.

And here's the view from the cliff dwelling - which is 7000 feet high!

Notice...there is no wall in part of the cliff dwelling. It's just a huge drop!

Below is a picture of the "balcony" that gives this dwelling its name.

And a kiva - a home built down into the ground. This would have had a wooden roof on top (even with the ground. It had a heating and ventilation system too. Amazing these were built in 1200-1240.

The views were amazing!

We made it!

We made it to CO just in time to pick the kids up at school and go out for pizza. The silliness was off the charts. Here's Gage and Brady.

And Savannah and Emma!

And the giant Stella dog!

Emma and Brady slept over at our rental house. Grammy was in heaven :-)

The girls bunked up together

Breakfast involved powder donuts and silly faces

These guys were became good buds :-)

The drive to CO

The drive from NM was a mix of barren desert...

Beautiful red rocks

And mountains

Heading to New Mexico

Here we are...flying into New Mexico!

Albuquerque is the closest major airport to Aunt Becky. So, after we landed, we spent the day exploring ABQ. We found giant hollyhocks...

Giant sombreros...

Fancy sombreros...

Lots of Indian stuff

And lots of chili peppers!

We had dinner, walked around the old part of town, had a quick cold dip in the pool, and then settled in at the hotel.

Checkmate

Look who is learning how to play chess with mommy...

Spirit week preparations

A note came home the other day. Spirit week is upon us. That means the kids have a dress up theme every day for te next week. Savannah got to work right away. She has plans for decades day (she plans to be a 60s girl), what you want to be when you grow up, mis-matched day, dress for success day, and famous person day. 

Gage...not really interested. Well see if I can talk him into taking part in any of the events!

Bath time

Normally, Pep stays downstairs when we do bath time (because she steals - and then eats - toys from the kids' rooms). But, I let her hang out with us recently, and she was happy as could be. In fact, she kept jumping up and putting her front paws on the side of the tub like she wanted to take a bath :-)

Graduation

Adam and I had to attend graduation a few weeks ago (dressed in fancy regalia). We briefly considered letting the kids wear their Harry Potter robes and bringing them with us, but ultimately decided against it. Savannah did try a graduation cap on, though :-)

Bunny nest

A few weeks ago, we found a nest of baby bunnies right near the deck. Truth be told, Pepper found a nest of baby bunnies. She immediately ate one. Poor thing was squealing and she just chomped it up :-(

Adam built a bunny barricade out of banquet tables to keep Pepper out, and we only let her out on a leash, or under "close supervision".  

We peeked in on them every few days, and watched mama bunny come to visit them morning and night.

I'm happy to report that the bunnies made it and have moved out of their nest. They were the cutest little things ever, and so much fun for the kids (and me) to watch grow up so quickly!

Soccer

Soccer camp has been a big hit!

Spring stroll on college green

Spring has sprung in Athens!!!

Paris birthday party

It was two months late, but Savannahs Paris-themed party was super fun!

We made Eiffel towers out of wafer cookies and frosting...

We had a fashion show...

Kid shark tank

My students' project was to create a business plan for a company that would target kids. So....I surprised them one day and had 9 kids come into my classroom and pretend to be the Sharks on shark tank (the entrepreneur pitch tv show). The students had to pitch their ideas to the kids. If te kids thought the idea was cool, they gave them the thumbs up, and the students got extra credit. The kids absolutely grilled the students with questions and critiques!!

Easter

Dying eggs...

And hands...

The Easter bunny found us in OH!

Life lessons

This is what Gage learned: how to pour beer from a keg.