Persimmon Gap Sunset

Rain!

 

Sam took a picture of his robot

 

Sam shares ice cream

 

Sam gives Awyn an Ice Cream Kiss

 

Maybe I'm a little grumpy

Today I had to work in the morning. That was fun. I like working, and I enjoy my job. But I think maybe I used up my happy pills at the front desk. This afternoon we needed to go to Alpine to get some rather needed groceries. It's been almost a month since we went last, and we were rather out of veggies and fruit and yummy things. I did OK at the grocery store, where minimal niceness was needed. But when I was walking across the parking lot to the Alco (a less than 30 second walk) some lady in her car yelled at me that my baby should be wearing a hat. My response was less than polite. I very snippily told her that I doubted my baby would get a burn or sunstroke inside Alco, where we were heading. Sure, I probably should have had a hat on her bald little head. But that 30 second trip would have been 2 minutes of chase-and-pick-up the hat. So why bother?

Awyn shows off her Two Front Teeth

Awyn has recently poked through 4 teeth on her upper gums. She isn't a toothless baby anymore, as this brings the total up to 6. The headband is something I just put on her head because I was stuffing them into the pockets of the faux-boppy pillow I made for a baby shower. 

This boy can sleep anywhere!

 

Rock Wall

Sam shows his rock wall climbing skills after eating sugary things from the Easter Egg hunt. 

Awyn wants Easter Candy

Awyn thought Easter Candy would be a great thing. She couldn't figure out that wrapper, so the candy went back to its rightful owner. 

More Happy Easter

 

Happy Easter!

Sam didn't care so much about hunting for eggs as he did suckers. The suckers didn't count toward your egg total, and there were many of them poking out of the gravel. Unfortunately for Sam, most of them were Blow-pops, gum filled, so he won't be eating them. 

Awyn's after-bath curls

See, she does have hair, and it's kind of wavy. But in order to really see it, it has to be dark and wet. 

My snuggle bunnies.

 

Surprise!

Sam signs surprise, one of his new favorite signs. He thought all the presents and food and friends was a surprise. He also uses this sign for Enterprise, any of the Star Trek ships. 

Ooh, Presents!

Sam loved opening presents at his birthday party. We held a book exchange, where everyone brings a wrapped book, the books get put into a pile, and then they each grab a book and open it. I like it for the way I don't have to clean up the toys afterward. Sam has more toys than any 3 boys put together, so I thought we'd try this. 

Sam and frosting

Sam liked the frosting almost as much as the cookies, and really got into the decorating. Note the Cookie Monster T-shirt. Eric thought it appropriate for Sam's party. 

Javelina Cookies

For Sam's birthday party we decorated sugar cookies cut out in a Javelina shape. (I confess, it's really a razorback, but a little frosting can disguise that) It was a lot of fun, and much sugar was consumed by all. We let the kids dig in with knives and decorate their own cookies.

On the South Rim

Last Saturday I hiked the South Rim Trail. It's a 13 mile loop through the high Chisos mountains. I've never felt up to it until now, so after 2 years of thinking about it, I just did it. We had a friend visiting from Seattle. Liz flew to the east side of the state, visited some friends and family, and then drove out to Big Bend National Park. We wanted to show her as much of the park as possible. Lucky for us, I'd bought a day of babysitting at a benefit auction around Christmas time and hadn't used it yet. So we left the kids with another family for the day and we all had fun. After our hike, we ate dinner at the lodge, then drove out to the hot spring and soaked our sore muscles for a while before picking up the kids. We had lots of fun visiting with Liz, and I hope she feels up to visiting us again. 

Eric on the South Rim. He led us on a great hike. 

Liz Weldin on the South Rim. Forgive me, Liz, but I wanted to post photographic evidence that you did indeed visit us, and survived a grueling 13 mile hike through the mountains. Let me know if you want me to remove it. 

Truck

Sam just had to drive his truck all the way back to the jeep after I picked up the mail. 

Another person through the Gap

This is a gov't pickup, driven by some park volunteers from Washington State. They were out picking up trash and checking on campsites and road conditions. 

Through the Gap

This is I think the end of the Gap, but I bet Eric will correct me. 

The Black Gap

We decided to head home via the Black Gap road, so name for the feature we are about to drive through. It has been really the only time we've felt the need to put on the 4 wheel drive. At that, we heard an ominous hissing and squealing, just like a tire being cut on a sharp rock as we neared the bottom, and we did have to stop and inspect it. 

Find the Sam

So can you see him trying to blend in with the rocks? I think that's the Sierra Quemada (and yes, I butchered the spelling) behind him. We were out on the river road camping, just east of the Mariscal Mine. It was a fun trip. We made a tarp taco of all our stuff and bungeed it onto the rack on top of our jeep. I think some of the pictures I've taken will show this, but I'm posting as I look through them. I think I mentioned this camping trip in a previous blog entry, so I'm not going into detail here.