We’re headed East to reach Florida for Christmas. I knew I wanted the kids to see New Orleans, but we needed another stop, and just a quickie. We’d heard many times that Crackerbarrel and Wal-mart both allow for free boondocking in their parking lots, so we thought we’d give it a shot in Sulpher, LA. We planned to stop at CrackerBarrel. In theory, this will save some Money! The problem is, if you eat a meal at Crackerbarrel, and you have extra time before or after to shop there too, odds are you’ll spend more than you would at a campground.
In the back parking lot of the CrackerBarrel in Sulphur Louisiana… weird.
That’s just what we did. The kids were so excited by the “talking toucan”, that we ended up with one (among other things). Oh well. The camping was horrible too. Drunks walking by talking about joy riding on our bikes, refer truck parked in front of us running all night, road noise, and just generally feeling exposed unlike any campground. We didn’t sleep well!
The next day, we took off, and headed on east, planning to stop at Avery Island and the Tobasco Factory. The drive wasn’t too bad, and we enjoyed driving through the sparsely populated bayou. Traffic was light at Tobasco this day, and we had a nice laid-back visit. (and learned a ton)
Bus Parking at the Tobasco Factory. We were lonely!
Kane heading into the Tobasco Factory welcome center and tour.Bottling Line.These guys were in the salt business before. Somebody sent him some pepper plants as a gift, and the rest is history!Truly an international company at this point.
The day the peppers are picked, they get mixed with avery island salt, and put into mash barrels.After 3 years of aging in the barrels, they add the vinegar, and stir for another 28 days !
Mash is being mixed. Kids enjoyed trying to smell it through the vent holes.Tabasco Company Store out back!Pepper Ice Cream?These are bottles packaged for Switzerland!At 51 cents, the smashed pennies are a nice souvenir… and a good workout.
Well we’d not been to a big city for awhile, and so we were excited to be both out of the desert and in a nice city for a bit. We didn’t have a ton planned, but we knew we wanted to see the Alamo, and the River Walk for sure. We had no idea we were in for such a treat with the weather. Also, I had Facebook messaged our old neighbors that we had not seen for 14 years or so… Craig and Christen Wilson. Luckily, they lived in Boerne (just outside San Antonio), and they were free for dinner one night.
We camped in a really nice RV park near SeaWorld. There were tons of seasonal campers there, and I can see why. Great service, nice people, great weather, landscaping etc. This meant any exploring in the city would be a 45 minute drive, but it worked out great.
Our first day, we headed downtown to hit the River Walk, the Alamo, and one of the other missions south of town. The weather was perfect for exploring the city on foot! We were all so happy, soaking up the glorious sunshine!
We had a great lunch at a Mexican restaurant right on the river, then we made our way over to the Alamo. The Alamo was really set up nice, and we enjoyed the movie, as well as the artifacts (weapons!) in the museum. Too bad there are no cameras allowed inside!
After that, we jumped back in the jeep and went south to one of 5 local missions, the San Jose mission, which is also a National Monument. We did the movie, and another Jr Ranger program there, and got to explore the old Mission. The Church was beautiful, and still in use. We lit candles and prayed for our friends and family back home in the midst of challenges.
The next day, we really just messed around. We did some school, Kim did some shopping, and I took the kids to the movie (Frozen… it was the best Disney film I’ve seen for years). Then that night, we met our old Neighbors for Dinner. It was so nice to catch up and hear about how their life has been over the last few years. It brought flooding back some great times living next door to them back in O’Fallon years ago.
No time to linger, we had a date set to get to Panama City Beach Florida for Christmas!
Kids at the River Walk. Kane must have been chilly in the shade, his arms are pulled inside his shirt!
The mexican restaurant where we ended up having lunch.
Table for 4, on the river!
Boat tours like this come by periodically, and we tried to eavesdrop on the history of the area.
Waiting for girls to come back from restroom, and fighting off the birds!
Everybody loved the weather… sunny and high 60’s.
Kat had fun talking to the birds on the river. Pidgeons and Ducks!
This hat that Kat got for early Christmas present, will never again look this good!
Making our way to the Alamo.
Remember this!
Old cannons at the Alamo, not sure they really did much good against Santa Ana’s men.
Beautiful trees around here tell us we are not in the desert anymore!
Filthy Beggars.
I wonder how long this will continue?
More missions, more national monuments, more jr ranger badges!
We spent last weekend in Fort Pierce, Florida. We camped at a county park called Savanna Recreation Area. Awesome county park that had full hookups, laundry and wifi. Kane was ecstatic that the lake/swamp was almost at our RV due to the flooding from the rain storm the days before. He couldn’t wait to break out the fishing gear!
The water was close
Caught one!Our neighbors gave Kane some worms to use. He was so excited to fish as soon as we set up.
Look who else wanted to fish…Untangling the line
We went Archies for burgers at a cool little “biker bar.”
Saturday, the boys rented a canoe and canoed through the swamp and tried to catch some fish. Great time, but no fish caught, but they spotted an alligator! The girls headed to the Fort Pierce Farmer’s Market and Library.
Fresh Strawberry Smoothie!The produce looked so good! We bought strawberries, peppers, and a mango.
I love her love of books!We love going to the library!Love watching her read.
While Kat and I were out, we picked up a boogie board to take to the beach. While we were doing this, Kane was fishing by the RV and caught about 5 bluegill which Scott cooked up for dinner. Later in the afternoon, I took our kids to Pepper Beach Park. The waves looked huge! This was the first time for our kids to be in the Atlantic! Much bigger waves than the gulf. Kat stayed close to shore and rode the waves by laying down on board. It was so funny! I loved watching her hop through the waves! Kane was determined to catch a good wave to ride the board to land. It was so fun seeing his excitement when he caught the right wave and made it to the beach on the boogie board. I can already picture him on a surfboard. He was not scared when waves crashed over his head. I was! I stood in water for the first 30 minutes to make sure I didn’t lose a kid. 🙂 I love seeing their joy playing in the ocean! I feel so blessed to have these moments with them.
Sunday, we caught church in the morning, then the kids and I headed back to Pepper Beach Park for some more boogie boarding. I whipped up my second cherry pie of our trip and my life that night. The boys were very happy about this(Kat does not like fruit pies, but loves the vanilla ice cream that comes with it).
It’s official, we are headed to South America on February 4, 2014. Lima, Peru to be exact! We booked our tickets today. I am so excited, but I had butterflies in my stomach as I pushed the button to buy the tickets. So much to do to get ready!
We decided not to go to Thailand, Laos and Cambodia or Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos in February. There are protests and civil unrest going on in Thailand. We did not want to take any risks with our kids. We started to plan on going to Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos instead, but as soon as we started looking at doing that, we saw that there is political violence going on in Cambodia. It just is not meant to be, for us, to go to Asia!
Other big news: we sold our RV! We can’t even believe it!! How can our time in our RV be up? How did 6 months go so fast? Our buyer signed the contract this past Monday, January 13th. He is picking it up in St. Louis on January 30th. Scott and I are both so sad to be leaving our home. We have truly loved our time with our kids and seeing our beautiful country! God has been so good to us!! Such an incredible trip… I can’t believe our RV time is over.
We visited 36 National Parks/Historical Sites during our 6 months on the road. We are ending our trip at a Theme Park: Universal in Orlando, Florida. Tomorrow is our last day here and we will start working our way back to Missouri. We have only 4 nights left in our RV home till we have to winterize and start packing things up and cleaning it out…
We have a few more posts to add to the blog: San Antonio, New Orleans, Fort Pierce, Fl and Orlando, Fl. They will be coming soon! We hope to continue our blog in South America. We will not have access to wifi like we do in the USA, but hope to be able to provide updates.
Hope you are doing well and your New Year is off to a fantastic start!
We stopped by Biscayne National Park on the way to the Florida Keys after leaving the Everglades. We saw just a teeny tiny piece of it since 95% of the park is underwater. We visited the Dante Fascell Visitor Center. We visited the museum, watched the movie and our kids completed the Jr. Ranger Program to earn their last National Park badge on this trip.
Ranger telling us about the different skulls of animals that live at Biscayne. That’s a pelican!Hands on LearningLionfish(not native) are a huge problem! They are destroying the reefs and eat anything in sight.
Kat wanted me to take her picture by this sign.Visitor Center
We spent 3 full days in Marathon, Florida. Our first night, we had dinner at Keys Fishery on the water. We had no idea it was going to be so chilly, but the delicious fish made up for it. Kat had fish bites, Kane had grouper sandwich, Scott snapper sandwich and I had hogfish sandwich.
It rained on and off the first day, so we hung out at the RV. During one of the breaks, Kane helped Kat rollerblade. It was so sweet watching them together!
Kane helping Kat rollerblade.
Our second day, we headed to the Sea Turtle Hospital. This was the first sea turtle hospital in the world. It was started in 1986. It was so informative! Most of the sea turtles injuries are caused by marine debris(ex:strings from balloons, nylon ropes, fishing line), water pollution, boat strikes. They had 36 patients when we were there(13 permanent(can’t be released into wild) and 23 other patients). They have 30 Green, 4 Loggerhead, 1 Kemps Ridley and 1 Hawksbill turtles.
Surgery Room
Marine Biologist telling us about each turtle.
Scott took our kids fishing off the bridge in Marathon on our last day there. They were so excited! Unfortunately, it was a day for fishing, not catching.
Kane cooked dinner with Scott’s help after they got home. He made spicy honey chicken, mushroom & barley soup, potatoes and fruit salad for dinner. It was delicious! Kat who does not like mushrooms even liked the soup! Way to go, Kane!!
Cutting up apples for his fruit salad.Yummy chicken!Dinner time!
Kane and Kat were so excited to get to Everglades to see alligators and crocodiles! We arrived on Friday night and dry camped the first night, since we did not have a reservation till Saturday with electricity. As soon as we got set up, our kids and I hopped on our bikes and headed to the visitor center. We got a beautiful view of Florida Bay on the way there. Unfortunately, the Visitor Center was closed, but a passing ranger told us to head over by the marina and look for the crocodiles there. We could not get there quick enough! Success: Our first crocodile and black turkey vulture spotting!
View of Florida Bay in the Evervglades-Flamingo.Going for a bike ride to Visitor Center.
Osprey
Black turkey vulture. It’s a crocodile!
It was a rainy second day. Mid afternoon, the kids and I loaded up our bikes and headed to the Snake Bight Trail to bike the path to the bay. We went about 1/4 mile to the trail. What a surprise-it was overgrown and no way could our hybrid bikes make it down this trail! No problem, I decided, we can head to another trail on the biking list: Bear Lake. We had to drive 2 miles down a very muddy, wet rode. Unloaded the bikes again and realized another trail that could not be biked on with our bikes! Oh well… we sure did try!
We started our day with the Mangrove Wilderness Tour. Before we left the marina, we saw multiple crocodiles and two manatees. The boat took us up the Buttonwood Canal through mangrove forest up to Coot’s Bay then on to Whitewater Bay. On the way back, we saw two bottlenose dolphins. We learned a little about the mangrove forests, air plants, birds and animals that live in the Everglades.
Boat cruise into the backcountry.Kane loves his daddy!Look whose driving the boat!The crocodiles were out today!
Great Blue HeronLots of mangrove trees
After lunch, we headed to Snake Bight Trail to do the hike on our feet(no bikes this time). We put on our mosquito spray and headed out. Well, I think our mosquito spray attracted the mosquitos, because within 5 minutes down the trail we were covered in mosquitos. And I mean covered! We turned around, I put the mosquito head net quickly on Kat and we booked it back to our Jeep. We gave up on hiking and headed to the Visitor Center to see the exhibits and for our kids to turn in their Junior Ranger books.
Going for a hike on Snake Bight Trail…Heading home-too many mosquitos!
Here’s a pic of our campground. Definitely, not as beautiful as many of the other National Parks.
Our campsite
Kane had been wanting to hike the Anhinga Trail since we arrived. Unfortunately, it was about 35 miles from our campground toward the Ernst Coe entrance. In our National Park book, it rated the Anhinga Trail as the best hike in the park. So as we were leaving to head to the Florida Keys, we stopped at the Anhinga Trail. We saw so much wildlife! Great call by Kane!! 🙂
Kat loved these cormorants.
TurtllesWe saw lots of alligators.Kat spotted a alligator.
Kane trying to capture a pic of this little alligator.Sawgrass prairie in the background.This one was huge!We saw lots of alligators.
We arrived in Naples on December 30th in time to bring in the New Year! Scott brought up the idea of trying to go to Thailand and Laos for the month of February then we would go on to South America. Boy, were we excited thinking about how we can make this happen.
New Year’s Eve day, I ran around to get groceries and get ingredients for Scott to make a Thai dinner. Have you ever asked for galangal at a regular grocery? Well, at the one I was at, they looked at me blankly and had no idea where I could find it, as well as Thai Basil Leaves and Thai Chiles. Thank goodness for the internet! I found a small little Asian store about 25 minutes from where we were staying. When I found all my ingredients at the Asian store, I was so happy! The little things excite me these days… 🙂
Scott made Tom Yum Soup and Drunken Noodles with chicken for dinner for the first time. It was fantastic! I was dreaming of all the yummy Thai food we would be eating in Thailand. After dinner, we watched Free Willy for the first time. We felt so blessed in 2013 and are so excited about our adventures in 2014. God has been so good to us!
Galangal-it is in the ginger family, but has a stronger taste.Thai basil leaves-they smell so good!Drunken NoodlesTom Yum Soup
New Year’s Eve Dinner 2013
Movie Night!
We kicked the New Year off with canoeing at Collier Seminole State Park which is south of Naples near the Everglades. We signed up for a guided nature float down the Blackwater River. This was the first time that we had each took a kid alone in a canoe. Kane went with me and Kat with Scott. I was a little nervous with the prospect of alligators in the river, but the guides did not seem worried at all. About 10 minutes into our trip, we spotted our first alligator and only alligator of our trip. It was a little freaky paddling by it!
Our first alligator spotting of our trip and on this canoe trip!
We saw one alligator, lots of Great Blue Herons, snow egrets, ibis, turkey vultures, mangrove crabs, gar and we learned about the red, white and black mangrove trees. Kane and Kat did great in the front of the canoes! It’s hard to believe they are big enough to be in the front, not in the middle between us.
Going through the mangrove forestScott and Kat
Driving home from our canoe trip, Kane spotted an alligator on the side of the road by a ditch filled with water. We turned around and pulled off the road and went to take a look. I LOVE our kids excitement over spotting wildlife! We took a couple pictures, but when the alligator slipped into the water, we decided on heading out in case, he was coming toward us for lunch.
See the alligator across the ditch?Kane spotted this alligator from the car. Here’s a closeup.
We headed to Naples Beach in the afternoon for a hour. It was a very busy place! It was such a beautiful afternoon in the 70s. The last time, we took Kat to a beach in Florida, she would not get in the ocean. I can remember her saying, “Momma, I don’t like the waves!” Well, things have changed. She loved the water! You could just see the spring in her step. Kane looked like he was looking for fish as he walked out. When a flock of birds flew over, he was enthralled. Kids made sandcastles and I buried Kat in the sand, as Scott read 12 Years a Slave(he couldn’t put the book down). As the sun was starting to go down, it was the perfect picture! So Thankful for this time with my family!!
Testing out the water.
Joy!
Can’t put the book down!Team effort building a sand castle then they each ended up making their own.
Kane checking out the birdsCan you find Kat?
Thank you God for these two precious kids!
We are starting the New Year with each kids picking one night a week to cook. Kat had pizza night tonight! She made pizza(which she had to roll out), green beans and fruit salad. It was yummy!! Way to go Kat, Kat!
On Thursday, January 2nd, I needed to run some errands(post office, bank, Target) and Kat needed more clips for her Rainbow Loom bracelets, so we headed out to Naples.
Kat’s first visit to Michaels!
You may not know this, but I do not like shopping. Well, I could tell I have deprived my daughter, because when we got to Michaels, I realized that she had never been there before. A girl who loves arts and crafts had never been to Michaels! Well, I am sure that will change in the future. 🙂
That night I met Diane Hobbs, the mom of one of my best friends growing up, near Fort Meyers. She has a home on Sanibel Island now. Diane and Kenny were always so good to me! I have the best memories hanging out at their home. I also went to the Florida Keys twice with them. Such great memories! I just adore this lady!!
So happy to see Diane Hobbs!
Here’s a pic of our campsite. I think this was our most expensive campsite of the trip. RV park was beautiful and clean. Kids enjoyed the pool our first afternoon there. I don’t think it was worth the cost, but we had a great time there.
Here’s a couple pics during school time on January 2nd:
Kat practicing her Spanish with Rosetta StoneI love hearing her speak spanish!
Originally, we were going to head to Carlsbad Caverns after Albuquerque, but changed our plans with the temps being in the 20/30s and freezing fog. We decided to head to Big Bend, but stop in Fort Davis, Texas for 2 nights. We planned on trying to make it to McDonald Observatory(it has some of the darkest skies in the US) for the 7pm Star Party. The Star Party is a nighttime program where you learn about the constellations and they are pointed out, as well as, viewing through the telescopes. Sometimes you can even see Saturn’s rings! Oh, I wanted to go, unfortunately, we did not realize we would be moving into C.S.T. there, so we did not make the night program. It is only offered twice a week.
The next day we started at Fort Davis, which is a National Historical Site. Fort Davis was a key defense fort in west Texas. From 1854 to 1891, troops stationed at the post, protected emigrants, freighters, mail coaches and travelers on the San Antonio-El Paso Road. The San Antonio-El Paso road was the most southern route to the west and the gold fields of California. Primarily, they were protecting the travelers from the Comanche and Apaches. It is one the best remaining examples of a frontier military post.
Men’s Barracks
Looking across the lawn to the Commanding Officer’s Quarters from the Men’s BarracksCommanding Officer’s QuartersTools of the doctor
Cool game that you spin and move your wagon forward. It tells you something that might have happened to you on the trail.That’s the Commissary in the background.
Map of San Antonio-El Paso Trail.
We ate lunch in the car on the way to the McDonald Observatory for the last tour of the day. We were the only ones on our tour, so it was like a private tour. We learned about the history of the Sun, its formation, and what they expect the Sun to do over its expected 5-6 billion year remaining “lifetime”. It was cloudy or we would have seen a live feed from the sun, but they showed us a still picture from the day before. We learned so much! Did you know the sun is 108 Earths wide?
After the sun presentation, we headed up the hill in a shuttle to the top of Mt. Locke to 107″ dome. We got to see the 107″ telescope and hear about its history. Then we headed over the the Hobby Eberly Telescope. They were working on it the day we visited, because they are going to start a 3 year project to search for dark energy. They will collect data on at least 1 million galaxies that are 9 billion to 11billion light years away, yielding the largest map of the universe ever produced! Isn’t that incredible and mind boggling?
There are a lot of factors that determine the quality of our experiences. In some cases, it’s not fair to rate a location purely based on our overall enjoyment. Oft times, the way we approach a place determines how much fun we have. Big Bend was a “perfect storm” of National Park enjoyment.
Part of this is the Park itself does have a ton to offer. At it’s core, it’s an incredible specimen of desert (the Chihuahuan Desert), but it also has a river, mountains and… access to whole other country!
On top of that, WE OWNED this place. I feel like we left no stone unturned at Big Bend, and I for one, had no expectations for the National Park, and it blew me away.
We did two great hikes (Boquillas Canyon and Lost Mine). We got “rowed” across the border by a Mexican, and rode Donkey’s into Boquillas for lunch. We built a tree swing at the campsite. We watched a meteor shower. We floated the Rio Grande in a guided raft. We backcountry camped in the middle of nowhere in 23 degree temps! We saw a wild rattlesnake and tarantula. It was amazing!
This is one place that we probably don’t need to visit again, not because it’s not great, but because we kind of maxed out our first visit.
Arrival – Boquillas Canyon – Boquillas Mexico
Drive day is postcard day!
Kids had the idea to use their rope to make a tree swing at the campsite.
Non-descript campground, but we enjoyed the grassy area with trees behind.
Neighbors recently retired, had pet chickens!
First adventure, Canyon hike
Nice easy hike over the hill to the river and into a canyon
Pretty sweet to realize… that’s Mexico over there!
Approaching the canyon
Some great views down near the canyon
You could literally throw rocks into Mexico
Unique to Big Bend, donation stations on the trail. We saw this guys canoe on the other side of the river…
Beautiful Canyon
Kate and Nate… fellow travelers (with cats!)
Walking down to the river crossing… a bit anxious
Riding the International Ferry
We sprung for 2 donkeys!
Short 1 mile trip to town
Lunch! Tamales
Tacos
We bought Kat’s, and they gave us Kane’s
Town of Boquillas
Time to go back!
Chickens in Boquillas… tomorrows tacos
Bike ride – Lost Mine Trail
Day ended with a bike ride
Beautiful Day!
Mosquito Fish!
More Mexican “Honor System” Sales
Watching the meteor shower at the Hot Springs
Start of the Lost Mine Hike
Uh Oh!
MLB trying to catch brother/mother.
Nice self-guided nature tour.
Gorgeous views!
It got quite cold, so Kat borrowed my jacket.
Rafting Rio Grande – Tarantula – Backcountry Camping
Ready to Go!
Guides loading up the boats.
Typical view for the day
Side hike in Mexico… this house fell into a sinkhole!
I’d been looking forward to visiting my Aunt Joyce and her partner Beth since we left Kansas City for a few reasons. First, I don’t get to see Joyce very often. Second, Joyce and I both got the recessive “Yoxall Dry Humor” gene. Even though I don’t see her very often, I always feel comfortable, and I know there will be laughs. Third, Joyce and Beth play and sing amazingly together and I knew we’d hear some great music. Fourth, Joyce and Beth live on an an honest to goodness farm in New Mexico, and I just knew the kids would love visiting.
Originally I told Joyce to look for us in early/mid October. That was a bit ambitious, as we arrived on December 6th. This was less than idea for Beth as she was in the throws of her peak season for selling Bee’s Wax Candles, handmade soaps, ornaments etc. We arrived on Friday, and she had open houses Fri/Sat/Sun. Joyce assured us we were welcome anytime, and could assimilate. Assimilate we did! After the first night, I felt like we were one big family.
Friday night, we had agreed to go out for Tex-Mex, but when we arrived at SparrowHawk Farms, Joyce had enchiladas in the oven. We got reacquainted, and got to explore the house. It’s a really cozy adobe house, arranged as a series of connected hexagons. The front room was set up as the shop, and smelled amazing. The next room over was the work and inventory room. This is where the wax is filtered and prepared, where the candles etc are made, and where the products are organized on shelves for restocking the store. The next room over is the Kitchen, then from there, the rooms fork with the music (and pinpong) room, then Emily’s (Beth’s daughter) bedroom on one side, and the “winter family room” (with the wood stove), and a couple of other bedrooms on the other. It’s a very inviting, cozy, comfortable home.
Within 5 minutes of being there, Beth had the kids setup in the family room with crafts and games. She was born to entertain kids I think. The kids had the time of their lives. On Sunday as our visit was wrapping up, Kane suggested that we henceforth plan to visit Joyce and Beth “every year on spring break”! We had a nice dinner, visited for awhile, and returned to the RV. We had considered boon-docking at the farm, but the driveway is way too narrow. The RV park (and Horse Hotel) 10 miles south of them in Bernardo was great though and a good value.
On Saturday, we tried to stay out of Beth’s hair in the morning, so she could prepare for her open house, had breakfast at the RV, and went over at about 10:00. It was a pretty low-key day, we hung out with Joyce while Beth worked. We got to watch Joyce cook authentic red chile with pork and papas fritas for lunch. Kim helped out making carrot cake with honey. After the open house started, Joyce and Kim took turns hosting guests in the kitchen for mulled cider and carrot cake. As you might imagine, Beth and Joyce have some interesting friends/neighbors! I had a nice time chatting with some of them as well. Saturday night, we were able to convince them to go to Petes for Tex-Mex. I’m glad we followed them, as I’m not sure I could have found Pete’s on my own, but boy it was delicious. Everybody was pretty tired after dinner, so we turned in.
On Sunday, Kim was wanting to go to Whole Foods for vitamins and Trader Joes, so she headed north to Albuquerque to do some shopping. So she dropped us off at the farm and headed north for the afternoon. The kids and I hung out, they made some ornaments, I helped with a couple of computer issues, and also got to help with hosting guests during the open house. It was a great laid back day at the farm. I got a chance to get a tour of the garden from Beth, and a tour of the rest of the Farm from Joyce. There is a real appeal to me for the farm lifestyle there. If only I had the skill and expertise to do anything that they do!
Aunt Joyce in the Kitchen
Dinner was cooking when we arrived, we just explored the house and got reacquainted
Wax heaters, this is where Beth prepared the wax for candle and ornament making. The smell in here is amazing.
Tapers and the dipper, so cool to see how this stuff is made!
Homemade latex molds for ornaments.
Can in the coziest room in the house, the “winter family room” with the wood stove
When Beth was not working, she spent her free time entertaining the kids. She either really loves kids, or she’s really good at pretending to love kids!
Within minutes, puzzles and origami
Kane finally completed the puzzle that evidently had only been solved once before in 20 years?
Hatch Chilies, not just decorations, but ingredients.
Saturday lunch, Joyce made authentic red chile. We made such a mess pulling the peppers from the pod, we had to go outside.
Kat, painting her candle holder
mmmm, spicy, and salty!
Making wax ornaments
Impromptu guitar lesson from Joyce
Done!
Beth is a beekeeper, so Honey and Wax are key. Kane used his own money to buy himself some honeycomb.
Honeycomb. Their honey is the best, mildest honey ever.
Kim helped Saturday by making carrot cake. Of course, there was no sugar… only honey.
Kat, so proud to burn a candle in her holder
The drum kit was my huckleberry
Eventually, Joyce’s quilting operation was removed from the ping-pong table and we had a great time. No quilts were made this weekend.
Saturday night, we went to Pete’s Tex mex. It was pretty amazing, in downtown Belen.
I had green chile enchiladas, with the optional fried egg over medium.
Joyces stuffed Sopaipilla looked great too
Sunday morning, we got a tour of the farm. The tree behind the house (with abandoned treehouse) is amazing.
Sadly, empty Chicken coop. They had to give away their remaining chickens after 80% were killed by neighbors dogs and coons.
Sunday afternoon we went to the wild bird refuge to check out the sandhill cranes. We saw a cool Harrier (kind of hawk) flying low over the grass looking for dinner.
Cranes are cool birds.
The second area we went to, had hundreds of cranes blending in with the grass, they were so beautiful.
Love the way their legs hang down when they are landing
Last place allowed us to get pretty close to these guys
Kat, with Joyce’s dog, Flash. It was a love/hate relationship, mostly love.
So fun to visit these guys
Joyce feeding the dragon
Games with Joyce Sunday night
Showing off their creations.
Monday afternoon, Joyce came over for some jamming with Sasquatch.
Kat making desert, reindeer cookies
Beth came over for a low-key “RV” dinner of Korean Beef, then we played a few games of farkel. (Beth and Joyce taught us new rules that we love… and called it Fagiolo).
